Mirrormere

The lake of Durin

Mirrormere lies in the floor of Dimrill Dale, an oval of deep water walled by the eastern slopes of Caradhras and its neighbours. Its surface is so still and so dark that it reflects the mountains like polished glass, and by day the peaks and sky appear in it with a strange clarity, while the stars seem to shine in its depths even when the sky above is bright. A broken pillar, Durin's Stone, stands on the grass near the northern shore, its runes worn almost away. Below the lake the Silverlode gathers itself from icy springs and runs eastward out of the dale toward Lothlórien.

The tale told among the Longbeards is that Durin I, wandering alone after his awakening at Gundabad, came down into the dale and looked into the water. He saw not only his own face but a crown of seven stars set above it, and he took the sign as a mark that here he should build his kingdom. The Dwarves say the crown can still be seen by any who look into the lake, though whether the stars are the mountains' reflection or something more is left to the beholder. Durin's Stone marks the place where he stood.

In the Third Age

After the Dwarves left Moria the lake became a place of pilgrimage that few could safely visit. The Battle of Azanulbizar in T.A. 2799 was fought along its shores, and in 2994 Balin was killed by an orc-arrow while looking into it, which his followers recorded in the book found in the Chamber of Mazarbul. When the Fellowship came out of the East-gate on January 15, 3019, Gimli would not go on to Lórien without first leading Frodo to the water. They saw the peaks and the stars mirrored there and their own faces beneath, but no crown, and Gimli said a farewell to the lake before turning away. The Dwarves who returned to Khazad-dûm under Durin VII in the Fourth Age would have found Kheled-zâram unchanged.

A long, dark lake in the floor of Dimrill Dale, east of the Dimrill Gate of Moria and below the Dimrill Stair; the source of the Silverlode.