Durin the Deathless
- This page is about Durin the Deathless. For other dwarves of the same name, see Durin (disambiguation).
Description
Durin the Deathless was the eldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves. He woke first of the seven, alone beneath Mount Gundabad, and from him the Longbeards, "Durin's Folk", count their descent, particularly the line of their kings. The Longbeards call Durin "the Deathless" for his long life and the belief that he will be reincarnated in later ages. Ragna the Fierce was his wife and queen. Since his death in the First Age, five other kings of the Longbeards have borne the name Durin. The last, Durin VI, was the Lord of Khazad-dûm in the years before its fall, and it is from him the Balrog of Moria took the title "Durin's Bane". Prince Durin Stonehelmson looks to live up to his namesake.
It was Durin the Deathless who founded the great dwarf-city of Khazad-dûm. The story goes that, while he wandered Middle-earth, Durin came to the lake of Kheled-zâram and saw reflected there himself crowned with seven stars. He planted Durinul'aban, Durin's Stone, on the site and began the easternmost delvings under the mountains.
The Greymaul Rebellion
Among the stories of the Longbeards is that of the Greymaul Rebellion. In the First Age, Durin left his halls to seek a safer home for his people than Gundabad, under continual threat from the servants of Morgoth (he would find what he sought far to the south, in what became Khazad-dûm). In his absence, he named Mótsog, his closest friend and a great warrior, Lord of Gundabad. Mótsog then led a revolt against Durin as leader of the Greymauls, building his own stronghold in Sundergrót. The Greymauls ruled Durin's holdings until he returned and put Mótsog to death in a battle in the heights of High Sundergrót.
The story now is a cautionary tale among the Longbeards, a warning that even your closest friends might be tempted to treachery. A mosaic of the death of Mótsog can be found in Nabgûn-mazaru, in Erebor. [14.0N, 136.3W]
![[14.0N, 136.3W]](/wiki/File:Erebor_map.jpg){kind=link}
Quest Involvement
Durin appears in a number of flashbacks in the Legacy of Durin and the Trials of the Dwarves: Chapter 10