Song of Durin

• Durin:

  Durin I (Years of the Trees – First Age), also known as Durin the Deathless due to his longevity, was the first of the seven Fathers of the Dwarves, the founder of the city of Khazad-dûm, and the first king of the Longbeards. Durin was one of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves fashioned under a mountain by the Vala Aulë, who yearned for the arrival of the Children of Ilúvatar. The Vala instructed his creations in the speech he had devised for them when Ilúvatar pointed out that this was against His plans, and that Aulë, as a Vala, had no power to make animate creations. Aulë repented but Ilúvatar himself gave them independent life; and said that they shall sleep until after the coming of the Elves, who were to be his Firstborn. Aulë laid the sleeping fathers and their mates in deep places; but Durin the eldest had none. He was set to sleep under Mount Gundabad in the Misty Mountains during the Years of the Trees. (More: Tolkien Gateway)

• Mirrormere:

  Mirrormere was the lake located beneath the East-gate of Khazad-dûm. It lay in the southeast corner of Dimrill Dale. Mirrormere was the source of the river Silverlode. According to the Dwarves of Durin's Folk, after Durin the Deathless had awoken at Mount Gundabad in the north of the Misty Mountains, he travelled south until he came upon this lake. He looked down in it and saw a crown above his head, being the reflection of stars above, despite the fact it was day and the stars should not have been visible. Taking the crown as a sign, he founded the great city of Khazad-dûm beneath the mountains that fed Mirrormere. A pillar called Durin's Stone was placed along the banks of the lake to mark the event. During the events that led up to the War of the Ring, the Fellowship passed by the lake after escaping Moria. Despite their hurry, Gimli would not leave without looking in the lake. Frodo Baggins joined him, and both saw Durin's crown. ((Tolkien Gateway)

• Elder Days:

  Elder Days was a term that, during the Second and Third Age, properly referred to the times before the end of the First Age. In that context, the Middle Days were the Second and Third Ages, whereas the Younger Days were the foreseen Dominion of Men.

  However, in the Fourth Age the term began to be applied to all previous Ages, as the time before the Dominion of Men and the dwindling of the Elves and other races. Aragorn for instance, referred to himself as the last King of the Elder Days, according to the latter sense. (Tolkien Gateway)

• Nargothrond:

  Nargothrond was the stronghold built by Finrod Felagund which delved into the banks of the river Narog in Beleriand. Nargothrond was the capital of the realm of Nargothrond between Nenning, Narog and Teiglin, including the surrounding hills of Taur-en-Faroth and the Talath Dirnen to the north, as well as Tumhalad. Finrod was the overlord of all the Elves in the West Beleriand, except the Falathrim. (More: Tolkien Gateway)

• Gondolin:

  Gondolin, the great Hidden City of Turgon was concealed from friend and foe alike during the First Age by the Encircling Mountains, and guarded from trespassers by the Eagles of Thorondor.

  In the fiftieth year of the First Age, Turgon journeyed from his halls in Nevrast with his cousin Finrod. Ulmo guided him to the hidden valley of Tumladen, and there he founded Gondolin. The city was completed circa 116, and Turgon's people who had dwelt in Nevrast travelled there secretly, becoming the Gondolindrim.

  The city was inviolate for almost four hundred years; Turgon did not break his secret leaguer until the time of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in F.A. 472, and even after that disastrous battle he was able to return in secret to the city with the aid of Húrin Thalion.

  Morgoth finally discovered Gondolin through the treachery of Maeglin, and it was sacked in 510. Turgon was lost in the Fall of the city, but some few escaped the destruction and dwelt as Exiles at the Mouths of Sirion. (More: Tolkien Gateway)

• Western Seas:

  Belegaer, the Great Sea, or the Sundering Seas, also the Western Sea, was the sea of Arda that was west of Middle-earth. (Tokien Gateway)

• Moria, in Khazad-dûm:

  Khazad-dûm, latterly known as Moria (The Black Chasm, The Black Pit), was the grandest and most famous of the mansions of the Dwarves. There, for many thousands of years, a thriving Dwarvish community created the greatest city ever known. It lay in the central parts of the Misty Mountains, tunnelled and carved through the living rock of the mountains themselves. By the Second Age a traveller could pass through it from the west of the range to the east. (Tolkien Gateway)