{"id":2041,"date":"2007-03-15T00:06:26","date_gmt":"2007-03-14T23:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sunpig.com\/mt-entry-2041.html"},"modified":"2014-01-19T22:14:36","modified_gmt":"2014-01-19T21:14:36","slug":"the-lady-of-khazad-dum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/2007\/03\/15\/the-lady-of-khazad-dum\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lady of Khazad-dûm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone on a website I frequent mentioned that she often gets the urge to cross The Lady of Shallot<\/a> with the story of Gandalf battling the Balrog in the Mines of Moria.<\/p>\n

I confess, I had never found myself prone to that urge. Until she mentioned it, at which point it ate my brain.<\/p>\n

The result:<\/p>\n

Beneath the mountains, white with snow,
\nThe orcs about their business go
\nTheir orders to maintain below,
\nIn the depths of Khazad-dûm,
\nA sleeping evil, left to lie
\nUntil required by the Eye.
\nThey care for it and ask not why
\nThey toil in the gloom.<\/p>\n

But one who labours in its lair
\nHas found the Balrog in his care
\nTo be – to orcish senses – fair.
\nFires burn in Khazad-dûm
\nAnd warm the darkness of the deeps
\nWhile he his tender vigil keeps.
\nHis charge, protected, deeply sleeps
\nInside its rocky tomb.<\/p>\n

The other orcs, freed from its side,
\nHave different tasks, their might applied
\nTo warlike training, side on side.
\nUnderneath deep Khazad-dûm
\nThe caverns echo with their song
\nWhile artificers labour long
\nTo forge them armour, thick and strong,
\nFor when the wars resume.<\/p>\n

The flames beneath Caradhras burn
\nWhile up above, the seasons turn
\nUntil, in time, the dwarves return.
\nPlundering rich Khazad-dûm.
\nAt first they linger at the top
\nAbove the yawning chasm’s drop
\nBut then they dig, and do not stop
\nAnd thereby seal their doom.<\/p>\n

They fill their halls with men and elves
\nAnd carve great rooms to please themselves
\nWhile underneath, a miner delves
\nFar too deep in Khazad-dûm.
\nThe orc at practice stops his blow
\nAs pickaxe noises grow and grow.
\nAnd then to muster-points they go
\nLest dwarves their charge exhume.<\/p>\n

The beaters start to pound their drums
\nSo from the deeps the great sound comes
\nAnd in each chest, the breastbone thrums
\nRoaring out, “O Khazad-dûm!”
\nThey rush into the glaring light
\nAnd, overwhelming with their might
\nThe feasting dwarves, restore the night,
\nAnd then their work resume.<\/p>\n

The battle in the past belongs:
\nAnother chapter in their songs
\nOf dwarven deaths and ancient wrongs.
\nDeep in shadowed Khazad-dûm
\nThe Balrog shifts its mighty frame
\nAt dreams of swords, and fear, and flame.
\nIts keeper strokes it, rasps its name,
\nAnd turns to leave its room.<\/p>\n

But then, a sound. A single stone
\nComes clattering from where it’s thrown
\nInto a well, and this alone
\nRouses all of Khazad-dûm.
\nAnd as the drummers beat and pound
\nThe battle-rhythm shakes the ground.
\nThe orcs come swarming all around
\nTo Balin’s stony tomb.<\/p>\n

Then, in its room, the sleeper wakes
\nAnd with one blow, its prison breaks.
\nSo from the depths, its coming shakes
\nAll the stones of Khazad-dûm.
\nIt sees the fleeing figures hide
\nAnd casts its shadows far and wide
\nLike wings unfurled from either side
\nTo smother them in gloom.<\/p>\n

And then he<\/em> comes, as from its dreams:
\nA bearded figure whose sword gleams
\nWith silver light. Its lancing beams
\nBringing day to Khazad-dûm.
\nThe Balrog roars with blinded eyes.
\nThe grey-robed form its way denies:
\n“You shall not pass,” the wizard cries.
\nAnd still the drumbeats boom.<\/p>\n

They struggle then, the swordsman small
\nAgainst his foe, but brave withal.
\nHe strikes the Balrog, and they fall
\nInto deepest Khazad-dûm.
\nThe fighters plunging, dark and bright,
\nLeave eight companions, put to flight,
\nTo scramble upward, to the light
\nAnd, grieved, their quest resume.<\/p>\n

Behind them, howling hordes surround
\nThe broken bridge, while all around
\nFrom depths to heights the battles sound
\nEchoing through Khazad-dûm.
\nThey clash their blades and stamp their feet
\nAnd roar defiance and defeat
\nAt enemies they cannot meet,
\nThen silence fills the gloom.<\/p>\n

But one orc gives a keening call:
\nHe somehow sees the Balrog’s fall.
\nAnd terror comes upon them all
\nStanding massed in Khazad-dûm.
\nThe wizard is of no concern,
\nBut should the Dark Lord come to learn
\nTheir charge is dead, then they will burn.
\nThe Eye will be their doom.<\/p>\n

And so the orcs depart the mines.
\nAt night, when only moonlight shines
\nThey march away in scattered lines
\nFleeing from black Khazad-dûm.
\nWhile in the lonely, lightless deeps
\nThe Balrog-keeper howls and weeps
\nThen in the depthless chasm leaps
\nIn empty Khazad-dûm.<\/p>\n

For my next trick, I will harness the twin engines of Tolkien and Tennyson spinning in their graves and provide unlimited power for the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone on a website I frequent mentioned that she often gets the urge to cross The Lady of Shallot with the story of Gandalf battling the Balrog in the Mines of Moria. I confess, I had never found myself prone to that urge. Until she mentioned it, at which point it ate my brain. The … Continue reading The Lady of Khazad-dûm<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1589],"tags":[1742,1741,1740],"class_list":["post-2041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doggerel-pastiches","tag-tennyson","tag-the-lady-of-shalott","tag-tolkien"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2467,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions\/2467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/abi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}