Moria

File:Moria-1.jpg

Moria (Sindarin for "Black Chasm") was the name given by the Eldar to an enormous underground complex in north-western Middle-earth, comprising a vast network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls or 'mansions', that ran under and ultimately through the Misty Mountains. There, for many thousands of years, lived the Dwarf clan known as the Longbeards. The city and one-time centre of dwarven industry was also called Hadhodrond by the Sindar, Casarrondo by the Noldor and Phurunargian in the Common Speech, all meaning the Dwarrowdelf. For over a thousand years of the Third Age it was widely known as Moria, "Black Chasm" or "Black Pit", from Sindarin mor="black" and iâ="void, abyss, pit". It is located in Rhovanion, adjacent to Eregion and Lothlórien.

• Level: 50-60
• Factions: Iron Garrison Guards and Iron Garrison Miners
• Introduced: Mines of Moria Expansion, February 2009.

Lore

The Dwarrowdelf was founded by Durin 'the Deathless' in the far distant past, long before the creation of the Sun and Moon. Durin had awoken at Mount Gundabad not long after the Elves first awoke, and as eldest amongst the Fathers of the Dwarves was acknowledged as preeminent amongst them, a status subsequently inherited by his descendants, the kings of the Longbeards.

From Gundabad, Durin's growing clan spread southward down the vales of the Anduin, all the while under attack from the orcs of Morgoth. According to legend, Durin ultimately found "a glen of shadows between two great arms of the mountains, above which three white peaks were shining". Within this heavily wooded valley, a long series of short water falls led down to a long, oval lake, which appeared to have a magical quality: "There, like jewels sunk in the deep shone glinting stars, though sunlight was in the sky above". Perceiving these stars as a crown glittering above his head, Durin took this as an auspicious sign, and named the lake Kheled-zâram, the Mirrormere.

The three peaks overshadowing the lake he named Barazinbar 'the Redhorn', Zirakzigil 'the Silvertine' and Bundushathûr, 'Cloudyhead'. The icy cold springs feeding it he called 'Kibil-Nâla', of unknown meaning, although to the valley itself he gave the name 'Azanulbizar', The Dimrill Dale. Durin chose the caves above Kheled-zâram as the earliest beginnings of his stronghold: Khazad-dûm, 'the Dwarrowdelf'.

All of these places became revered amongst Durin's people in later days. His descendants erected a rune-carved stone monolith at the site whereupon he had first looked into the Mirrormere, and although it had become indecipherably weatherworn by the end of the Third Age — broken, cracked and faded — the influence of Durin I, the founding king of Khazad-dûm, was never forgotten. Khazad-dûm waxed continuously in size and population in Durin's long lifetime, until it became the "greatest of all the mansions of the Dwarves", even before the return of the Noldor to Middle-earth. By that time, Khazad-dûm was already "a name and a rumour from the words of the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains" to all the Eldar of Beleriand.

After his death, the reputation of Durin's realm continued to grow, not merely due to his spiritual ascendancy over the other Fathers of the Dwarves as the eldest amongst them, or the Dwarrowdelf's growing size, but to its great wealth, which was founded upon the uniquely precious metal mithril, which was universally prized yet found nowhere else in Middle-earth.

Areas

Durin's Way

The Great Delving

The Flaming Deeps

The Foundations of Stone

Nud-melek

The Redhorn Lodes

The Silvertine Lodes

The Waterworks

Zelem-melek

Zirakzigil

Moria Deeds

• A summary guide to Moria Deeds can be found in the wiki category Moria Deeds.

Moria Deeds

Moria Explorer Deeds

Moria Instance Deeds

Moria Lore Deeds

Moria Meta Deeds

Moria Quest Deeds

Moria Reputation Deeds

Moria Slayer Deeds

Moria Deeds

Connected to

• Lothlórien
• Eregion

Named Creatures Flake Collectors List

Each of these creatures is the rare, signature, tougher, named version and all have a high change to drop a rare shard used in crafting.

Map

Related Topics

• See also Category:Moria Deeds.
• See also Crafting Instances - For some Info about the Moria Crafting Instances.

Trivia

• Snowlock: Berephon once said that the dwarven expedition to Moria in LOTRO was a temporary endeavor that would one day be resolved... Still true?

A post by MadeOfLions on 15 January 2015 explains:

I don't think you should expect the Iron Garrison to get wiped out, if that's what you mean. Rather, I'd say that the excursion into Moria is a pretty tenuous one, and they can't rightly be said to have reclaimed it yet -- and won't for many, many years. They'll have successes and they'll have failures, but I wouldn't expect a version of Moria free of dwarves.

MoL

• https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7301445#post7301445

• Snowlock: Bummer. Understandable, but I always wanted to see how Berephon was going to pull off that trick. Iirc, and maybe I don't, but I seem to remember him being fairly specific, that the expedition would fail and it was a story they'd tell.

MoL

I'm of two minds about this subject.

Here's the first: 'in the Professor's Middle-earth, of course the Iron Garrison didn't exist. Moria remained closed-off after the passage of the Fellowship, and the dwarves didn't try to go back until well after the War of the Ring.' In this world, if we *do* allow players into Moria with the Iron Garrison, it only makes sense for the dwarves to fail utterly, because that's how we restore the status quo. This story is likely quite depressing, but it does let us hit the Undo button on sending players into Moria. This is the Strict Constructionist approach.

Here's the second: 'A Middle-earth game that doesn't let you into Moria is leaving out not just one of the most iconic locations in all of literature, but also one of the most crucial parts of the narrative. Of course we need to find a way to allow players to experience it.' The creation of the Iron Garrison allows us a fairly reasonable way to see inside Moria without stepping all over the Fellowship on their way through. Since dwarves will eventually reclaim Moria, it makes a certain amount of sense to say that the Iron Garrison will serve as the baby-steps foundation of this effort. This is the Loose Constructionist approach.

As you might expect, our team was divided on which approach was best, which I think is healthy -- it means we really had to debate the finer points of each in order to come up with a solution. Nothing goes into the game without thought.

• https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7301543#post7301543