"The LINE OF DURIN Explained! | Middle-Earth Lore"

The line of Durin. Durin's folk, the Longbeards. You've heard of them before, they're arguably the most famous clan of dwarves to ever walk Middle-earth. They originally inhabited Khazad-dum and were led there by Durin I, also known as Durin the Deathless. He was succeeded by many generations of kings. Amongst these six kings, there were another six named Durin. Many of the dwarves even believe that these six were reincarnations of Durin the Deathless, living with memories of his past lives. They are a very interesting clan to say the least. Let's explore them in more detail. So Durin the Deathless was one of the original Seven Fathers of the Dwarves created by the Valar Aule the Smith. He was named Durin the Great because he was the first and oldest of all the dwarves. He was created even before any of the elves. But according to the traditions of the dwarves, he was set to sleep alone under Mount Gundabad in the Misty Mountains. He awoke sometime after the awakening of the elves in the Years of the Trees. According to ancient legends, he travelled far across Middle-earth to find other families of the dwarves. He eventually went on to found what would become the largest and richest kingdom of the dwarves, Khazad-dum, also known as Moria. He lived an extraordinarily long life, even by dwarven standards, giving him the name Durin the Deathless. He was not actually immortal however and died sometime in the First Age. His exact age is not known but is estimated to be somewhere in the region of 2,300 years old, around 10 times the lifespan of an average dwarf. We can get a pretty good summary of Durin from the poem that is told by Gimli in Moria in the chapter Journey in the Dark from the Fellowship of the Ring. It's fairly long but it's also a great poem. I will read it at the end of this video as sort of a summary so stick around if you want to hear it. Interestingly, there are some legendary heirlooms of Durin's folk, including an axe and a helm, both of which were found in Moria on Balin's expedition, but they were ultimately lost again upon the destruction of the new dwarven colony. Very little is ever actually recorded about Durin II. It's issued that he also ruled Khazad-dum as its king. There are also indications that he established a link with the men of the Veils of Anduin and the men provided food to the dwarves in return for dwarven weapons. Durin III was around in the Second Age. He was mainly known for being one of the bearers of the Seven Rings of Power, although this was not known to outsiders until later in the Third Age. I should also mention that although this is the story that we are going with, it's actually something that Tolkien seems to have contradicted, so some people may argue that he did not actually receive a ring. I'll leave that to you to decide. As for Durin IV and V, again, very little is known about their lives, but we can safely assume that they were also rulers of Khazad-dum at some point in the Second or Third Age. Durin IV was the king-in-command during the Battle of the Last Alliance and probably sent a force of dwarves to help in the fight against Sauron. Durin V was the last king to live in Khazad-dum without the knowledge of the demon that was living beneath them. Now for Durin VI. Poor guy. He was probably the richest of all of the lords of Khazad-dum. However, as Gandalf once said, even if Mithril was the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction. They delved too greedily and too deep and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin's Bane. So as I'm sure you guessed, Durin VI was the dwarf that gave the Balrog of Moria its name, so he ultimately met his end at the hands of a Balrog. Not a nice way to go, I imagine. Finally then, we have Durin VII, also known as Durin the Last. He was the last king in the line of Durin. His birth was actually prophesied at the Battle of Five Armies, essentially saying that in the direct line of Dain Ironfoot, there will be an heir, the last of the line. It is told that Durin the Last actually led an army to Khazad-dum several centuries into the Fourth Age and reclaimed it for the dwarves. They remained there until the dwarves grew old and the line eventually failed and the days of Durin's race was ended. I also need to mention some of the key descendants of the line of Durin. It's not just the supposed reincarnations of the original dwarf that have great importance. Many of these descendants actually play huge roles in the stories that we know so well, such as the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. So there was of course Thorin Oakenshield, Fili Ankili, Balin Dwalin, Oin Gloin, Dain Ironfoot, Dori Nori Ori and of course Gimli. All of these dwarves are in some way descended from Durin the Deathless. As I said at the start, it's pretty hard to argue that the Longbeards, as they were also known, were the most important and famous of all the dwarven clans. Hopefully you enjoyed learning about them. I don't think I've ever repeated one word so many times in a single video as I did just then. At a quick glance I said the word Durin almost 30 times, so I apologize for that. But as promised, we will end now with the poem about Durin from the Fellowship of the Ring. The world was young, the mountains green. No stain yet on the moon was seen. No words were laid on stream or stone when Durin woke and walked alone. He named the nameless hills and dells. He drank from yet untasted wells. He stooped and looked in Miramir and saw a crown of stars appear as gems upon a silver thread above the shadow of his head. The world was fair, the mountains tall, in elder days before the fall of mighty kings in The western seas have passed away, the world was fair in Durin's day. A king he was on carven throne, in many pillared halls of stone, with golden roof and silver floor, and runes of power upon the door, the light of sun and star and moon, in shining lamps and crystal hewn. Undimmed by cloud or shade of night, there shone forever fair and bright. There hammer on the anvil smote, there chisel clove and graver wrought. Their forge was blade and bound was hilt. Their delver mined, the mason built. Their barrel pearl and opal pale, and metal wrought like fish's mail. Buckler and corselet, axe and sword, and shining spears were laid in hoard. Unwearied there were Durin's folk, beneath the mountains music woke. The harpers harped, the mistrels sang, and at the gates the trumpets rang. The world is grey, the mountains old. The forge's fire is ash and cold. No harp is rung, no hammer falls. The darkness dwells in Durin's halls. The shadow lies upon his tomb, in Moria, in Khazad-dûm. But still the sunken stars appear, in dark and windless Miromir. There lies his crown in water deep, till Durin wakes again from sleep. Again I absolutely love this poem, it's without a doubt my favorite poem in all of the Lord of the Rings books. So my question for you guys today is this, do you actually think that the second through to seventh Durin's were actually reincarnations of the original, or just dwarves that were born into greatness and given the same name? Discuss your thoughts in the comments down below, we love reading people's thoughts and opinions. Time has come as always to thank our patrons and channel members, we've got some huge updates coming for our short film very soon. We've actually been getting pictures of our first props and costumes sent back to us and I'm not just saying it, they truly look amazing. So updates are coming to Patreon very soon and within the coming months then we will be updating you on the channel. If you're interested in supporting the channel yourself you can check us out on Patreon or you can become a member of the channel here on YouTube. If you can't afford to do that then of course your views, your likes and your subscriptions here, which are all free, mean the absolute world to us. Thank you all so much for watching, I really hope you have a great day and I will see you next time on the Broken Sword.