The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Gimli's prior sight of the Mountains of Moria

Alcuin · 11-22-2010, 09:01 PM

Gimli was 139 years old when he said that. Some Dwarves apparently travelled a good deal: Thorin met Gandalf on the road near Bree, and Dwarves regularly passed through Bree: there were some there the night Frodo and his friends met Strider. In 139 years, Gimli might well have travelled either through the Vales of Anduin or even up the old Númenórean road through Enedwaith Eriador, across the ruined bridge at Tharbad and up the Greenway. Either way, he’d have seen the Mountains of Moria at a distance.

We should also consider that Gimli’s remarks were in response to Pippin’s seeing them for the first time when the Company of the Ring first crossed the Hollin Ridge into ancient Eregion: they were 70 or 80 miles away, which must have been close to the limit of what they could see along the horizon, even looking at mountains from the top of the ridge. That probably means that Gimli had seen the mountains from the east side, somewhere in the Anduin basin and possibly closer to them than the Hollin Ridge, since the Old South Road/Greenway was even further away from them than the ridge.

So you must be correct. Assuming that Gimli was not on the west side of the river – the Lórien side – and that he was trying to avoid Dol Guldur as best as possible, the most likely place from which he’d seen the mountains was near the Anduin, west of Dol Guldur, just north of the eaves of Lórien, and for some miles north of that point along the river. And since the Dwarves mostly used the Dimrill Dale entrance to Khazad-dûm historically, that was probably what was usually depicted in the artwork he mentioned.

11-22-2010, 09:01 PM	#2
Alcuin Haunting Spirit Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Nurn Posts: 73	Gimli was 139 years old when he said that. Some Dwarves apparently travelled a good deal: Thorin met Gandalf on the road near Bree, and Dwarves regularly passed through Bree: there were some there the night Frodo and his friends met Strider. In 139 years, Gimli might well have travelled either through the Vales of Anduin or even up the old Númenórean road through Enedwaith Eriador, across the ruined bridge at Tharbad and up the Greenway. Either way, he’d have seen the Mountains of Moria at a distance. We should also consider that Gimli’s remarks were in response to Pippin’s seeing them for the first time when the Company of the Ring first crossed the Hollin Ridge into ancient Eregion: they were 70 or 80 miles away, which must have been close to the limit of what they could see along the horizon, even looking at mountains from the top of the ridge. That probably means that Gimli had seen the mountains from the east side, somewhere in the Anduin basin and possibly closer to them than the Hollin Ridge, since the Old South Road/Greenway was even further away from them than the ridge. So you must be correct. Assuming that Gimli was not on the west side of the river – the Lórien side – and that he was trying to avoid Dol Guldur as best as possible, the most likely place from which he’d seen the mountains was near the Anduin, west of Dol Guldur, just north of the eaves of Lórien, and for some miles north of that point along the river. And since the Dwarves mostly used the Dimrill Dale entrance to Khazad-dûm historically, that was probably what was usually depicted in the artwork he mentioned.