For those that haven’t experienced the joy of Tolkien’s writing, this is a reference to the Elvish inscription on the Doors of Durin in The Fellowship of the Ring, that is simultaneously a riddle and literal instructions on entering.
Fun fact, that inscription also contains of the few continuity errors in published Tolkien material. It starts with:
> The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria
but as the Tolkien Gateway explains:
> The name Moria means "Black Chasm" and was a derogatory description of the place which the Dwarves did not like, and was given after Durin's Bane took over the city in the Third Age. It is therefore a mystery why that name appears on an inscription made in the Second Age, and made in consent with the Dwarves.
The most common "mitigating explanation" I see is that Tolkien, the "translator," perhaps used the name the reader would be most familiar with (Moria) instead of the city's real name (Khazad-dûm) when transcribing the door's inscription.
Another fun fact is that, the doors were built in cooperation between Elves and the Dwarves. Celebrimbor (also the guy who made all the rings except the one) and Narvi.
The friendship between an Eleven and Dwarven kingdom was kinda rare.
Definitely. Enmity between elves and dwarves is a deep theme in Tolkien's world. The Silmarillion presents several in-universe historical events responsible for that enmity. It's also foreshadowed by "God" (Eru) when he grants life to the dwarves.
Friendships between the elves and dwarves are as a result considered very special, which is why Gimli and Legolas's friendship in The Lord of the Rings is such a big deal.
Not OP, but I think he was referring to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)[0] which grossed $887.9 million and won 4 Academy awards[1].
> Not OP, but I think he was referring to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
OP referenced "over 90% of HN readers", who are notoriously out-of-the-mainstream nerds[0], so he probably was referring to The Lord of the Rings (1978) [1] which grossed $33.7 million (which seems a lot less than the 2001 film, but is pretty similar as a multiplier on its budget.)
Of course not. That's why they said 90%. You could argue it's 50% or 23.2832%. But there is a percentage of HN which has seen the movie if the OP has seen it.
Obviously there's a percentage that hasn't seen/read it if you haven't either.
