The Fellowship's Path Through Moria

[magu]

Good work, Mr. Hawk.

Well done.

[GV-Tanith]

Wow, that took a lot of work and attention to detail. I'm going to link to this from my kin's own forums.

[Reddhawk]

I'm glad this has been so well received. My thanks go out for all the comments and praise it has garnered thus far.

Wow, that took a lot of work and attention to detail.

Just to give you an example of my thought process in putting this together, there is actually one point where the Fellowship's path is a little uncertain. I'm fairly confident that my final mapping of their path is accurate, but here is how I determined what that path was.




Now consider this passage, part of which I left out of my original post:

It was well for the Company that they had such a guide. They had no fuel nor any means of making torches; in the desperate scramble at the doors many things had been left behind. But without any light they would soon have come to grief. There were not only many roads to choose from, there were also in many places holes and pitfalls, and dark wells beside the path in which their passing feet echoed. There were fissures and chasms in the walls and floor, and every now and then a crack would open right before their feet. The widest was more than seven feet across, and it was long before Pippin could summon enough courage to leap over the dreadful gap. The noise of churning water came up from far below, as if some great mill-wheel was turning in the depths.

[. . .]

The Company behind [Frodo] spoke seldom, and then only in hurried whispers. There was no sound but the sound of their own feet; the dull stump of Gimli's dwarf-boots; the heavy tread of Boromir; the light step of Legolas; the soft, scarce-heard patter of hobbit-feet; and in the rear the slow firm footfalls of Aragorn with his long stride. When they halted for a moment they heard nothing at all, unless it were occasionally a faint trickle and drip of unseen water. Yet Frodo began to hear, or to imagine that he heard, something else: like the faint fall of soft bare feet. It was never loud enough, or near enough, for him to feel certain that he heard it; but once it had started it never stopped, while the Company was moving. But it was not an echo, for when they halted it pattered on for a little all by itself, and then grew still.

The part highlighted in green could very well be a description of the chasm marked by A. If so, this would mean that the Fellowship would have taken the yellow path. However, the latter quote marked in blue indicates that while the Fellowship heard dripping water, it remained faint and was never seen. Had they followed the yellow path, they would have eventually crossed over The Dwarf-lord's gate (B). This gate is flanked on either side by waterfalls that flow, as if they were beards, from statues of dwarven faces. Most certainly, the Fellowship would have both seen and heard these waterfalls; but as already described, they only heard faint, "unseen water". With this bit of information, we can very clearly say that the Fellowship did not follow the yellow path. This leaves only one other option, the red path, that the Fellowship could have followed on their way to the Chamber of the Crossroads. Clearly then, the seven foot gap encountered by the Fellowship was not the chasm (A) marked above. Furthermore, this latter route would have kept them away from The Dwarf-lord's Gate, which would be an excellent indication of why they heard water flowing, but never actually saw it.

[DPRIJADI1]

Another Request...

Redhawk, can you help trace gandalf VS balrog fight from the bridge of khazaddum to the peaks of caradhras ?

also can you include the screen shot of those 'unnamable gnawing ancient things' that gandalf and the balrog met in their fight ? afaik those 'things' scared gandalf and the balrog so bad that they both forgot their fight and they flee the deeps..

thanks

[shoreless]

Once you get into Moria you'll see them. Besides, I think their path is pretty simple: straight down to the 'foundations of stone' and then straight up the Endless Stair to Zirak-zigil.

[ferdinanda]

This is awesome!

[sir-rinthian]

This is awesome!

In other news, water is found to be wet!

[magu]

In other news, water is found to be wet!

We are also receiving reports that the sky may be blue but it may be North Korean Propaganda

[Reddhawk]

We are also receiving reports that the sky may be blue but it may be North Korean Propaganda

I think Gandalf was on to something...

'Mithrandir we called him in elf-fashion,' said Faramir, 'and he was content. Many are my names in many countries, he said. Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not.'

[ferdinanda]

In other news, water is found to be wet!

Fine, mock me for pointing out the obvious! I was just struck pretty speechless by teh awesomeness of it all.

[SPQR]

Thank you very much for the thread OP, very well done!

[Manawydan]

Very well done post sir!

I so enjoy reading posts such as this. Thank you for putting it together.

[Lara69690]

Wow! That is totally awesome! Thanks!

[einherjar]

Simply awesome Reddhawk.

Thank you!

[stubing]

Wow. You really like lotr.

[Nymphonic]

I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed reading this. It makes me realize just how much attention Turbine put into Moria.

Reddhawk, I am truly impressed.

[Reddhawk]

Wow. You really like lotr.

Oh, you have no idea.

[sir-rinthian]

Fine, mock me for pointing out the obvious! I was just struck pretty speechless by teh awesomeness of it all.

Not mocking, just stating in a fun way how obvious it is that this thread is awesome

Btw, EVERYONE needs to visit this thread -> Nominate this thread for the Hall of Fame!

[Hugoth]

Dude that's sick! Thank you for doing it Hawk.

[Reodred14]

Holy hell Redd that is amazing!

The tiniest details that Turbine implements in-game and the length that the fans of this Trilogy will go to warms my heart

The Professor would be proud

[Aerhinn]

Holy hell Redd that is amazing!

The tiniest details that Turbine implements in-game and the length that the fans of this Trilogy will go to warms my heart

The Professor would be proud

Indeed! Huzzah for such an amazing effort. I must agree, while I have admired the creative detail and numerous unique locations in Moria, I had no idea Turbine followed the LOTR story even to tiny details like the recesses and chests in the Chamber of Mazarbul.

Many thanks for the wonderful tour, Reddhawk,

Aerhinn

[Nolenaoir]

Wow, thanks Red. The world builders rock (except for the random glowy rocks :P). Ah well, still an awesome job done by all.

[Reddhawk]

The world builders rock (except for the random glowy rocks :P).

I'm not sure if you're referring to the crystals that light Moria, but if so, that's straight out of the lore too. Gimli provides the information in his song about Moria.

. . .

The light of sun and star and moon

In shining lamps of crystal hewn

Undimmed by cloud or shade of night

There shone for ever fair and bright.

. . .

[ilikeham49]

hey Reddhawk, I followed the path that you mentioned with the path and the fellowships path that was away from the waterfalls and i found a casam like cliff that i needed to jump over to get past it wast deep it was more like a dip but i think that might be the one you were trying to find

[Reddhawk]

hey Reddhawk, I followed the path that you mentioned with the path and the fellowships path that was away from the waterfalls and i found a casam like cliff that i needed to jump over to get past it wast deep it was more like a dip but i think that might be the one you were trying to find

So you think you found the seven foot chasm that Pippin was afraid to jump over? Any chance you can get the coordinates of the area?