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The quest and the memory of Khazad-dûmWhat the Glittering Caves revealPrimary referencesRelated encyclopedia entries
The quest and the memory of Khazad-dûm
Gimli accompanies his father to Rivendell, where the Dwarves bring troubling news about an emissary of Sauron and the silence from Balin’s colony in Moria. He enters the Fellowship as one of the representatives of the Free Peoples. The journey through Khazad-dûm is consequently personal as well as strategic: the great halls preserve a lost inheritance, while the Chamber of Mazarbul reveals the destruction of the colony.
At Lothlórien, suspicion gives way to a profound respect for Galadriel. Her response to his people and his request for a strand of her hair belong to a developing language of courtesy, memory and generosity. He subsequently travels with Aragorn and Legolas across Rohan, fights at Helm’s Deep and follows the road through the Paths of the Dead to the war in Gondor.
What the Glittering Caves reveal
The Glittering Caves of Aglarond are central to Gimli’s account of beauty. He does not describe them merely as a reserve of profitable stone. His imagined Dwarven work would uncover and preserve their qualities with patience and restraint. This complicates the idea that Tolkien’s Dwarves can be understood simply through greed or extraction.
After the war, Gimli becomes Lord of the Glittering Caves and his people assist in works of renewal, including the gates of Minas Tirith. Appendix A also preserves the remarkable tradition of his departure west with Legolas. That report is exceptional within Dwarven history; it does not establish a general right of all Dwarves to sail to the Undying Lands. His story ends in a bond between particular companions rather than the erasure of their differences.
Primary references
The Lord of the Rings, Book II, “The Council of Elrond”, “A Journey in the Dark” and “Farewell to Lórien”; Book III, “The Road to Isengard”; Appendix A, “Durin’s Folk”.
