Erebor Dwarves: Why Wait 24 Years, then go to Rivendell instead of Moria?

[Valandil]

A curious thought I had while recently re-reading LOTR:

At The Council of Elrond, Gloin reports that it was about 30 years ago that Balin left for Moria, that they heard good reports for a time, and then no more. We see in Appendix B that Balin went to Moria in 2989 and perished in 2994. The Council of Elrond was held in 3018 - 24 years after Balin perished, and at least 24 years after the last messages would have been sent from Moria to Erebor.

So my questions:
* After hearing good reports for a few years, then silence - why do the Dwarves wait so long before trying to find out what happened?
* If they wanted to find out what happened to Balin, why send Gloin to Rivendell, instead of sending a search party to Moria?

Dwarven thoughts?

[Lefty Scaevola]

Recall that many representatvives were invited to the council, to discuss an important secret matter. So came Gloin who brought Moria as an additional matter to seek counsel upon. Dark forces then scurrying about in southern Mirkwood and the parts of the Misty Mountains made a direct route to Moria more problamatic than it had been in years. Thus, their mission to the council may have been planned with a Idea of approaching moria for the west side, which Gimli indeed reapeately suggests to the the Company of the Ring.

[Earniel]

Most dwarves, I imagine, weren't keen on entering Moria. So I can't see them bringing together a search party for a group that knew the risk of entering Moria and decided to do it anyway. And quite probably, any search party smaller than a medium-sized army would have been useless anyway, given the size of Moria. And there weren't that many Dwarves left either.

And it was not impossible that maybe Bálin and his crew, on finding Moria not a good place to settle, left again (voluntarily or otherwise) on the other side of the Misty Mountains somewhere in those 30 years. In that case people from Rivendell would know of it sooner that Dwarves from the Lonely Mountain and the Iron Hills.

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Most dwarves, I imagine, weren't keen on entering Moria. So I can't see them bringing together a search party for a group that knew the risk of entering Moria and decided to do it anyway. And quite probably, any search party smaller than a medium-sized army would have been useless anyway, given the size of Moria. And there weren't that many Dwarves left either.

And it was not impossible that maybe Bálin and his crew, on finding Moria not a good place to settle, left again (voluntarily or otherwise) on the other side of the Misty Mountains somewhere in those 30 years. In that case people from Rivendell would know of it sooner that Dwarves from the Lonely Mountain and the Iron Hills.

I think the first one is plausible, but I'm not so sure about the second.

My main inclination is that - after hearing steadily for awhile, then hearing nothing - the Dwarves of Erebor would have thought the worst, and then not been too keen on sending a search party to relatively certain doom.

But Gimli's whole attitude belies this.

I think mainly though, the Erebor delegation came to Rivendell because of the horseman who had come to them, asking for news of Hobbits, and a particular one who stole 'a little ring, the least of rings' - even promising them 3 Dwarven Rings of old, and the kingdom of Moria forever.

The horseman's talk of rings, Gloin's admission that part of Balin's hope had been to find the Dwarf Ring which perhaps Thror had brought there (which, unbeknownst to them, had in fact been passed on to Thrain and taken from him at Dol Guldor) - AND the very mention of Moria - where Balin had gone to and had not been heard from in so many years - all taken together, were actually the impetus which caused Erebor to send Gloin to Rivendell. The opportunity to mention the quest of Balin to Moria was a much lesser thing, which they thought they might do with ease there, and perhaps with a credible chance of a good answer. Or, it may have just been Gloin trying to find out what he could - with Dain having mostly sent him to report on the visits of the horseman.

Which still doesn't account for Gimli's optimism.

Originally Posted by Lefty Scaevola

Recall that many representatvives were invited to the council, to discuss an important secret matter. So came Gloin who brought Moria as an additional matter to seek counsel upon. Dark forces then scurrying about in southern Mirkwood and the parts of the Misty Mountains made a direct route to Moria more problamatic than it had been in years. Thus, their mission to the council may have been planned with a Idea of approaching moria for the west side, which Gimli indeed reapeately suggests to the the Company of the Ring.

Interesting thought - to try a west approach. That might actually account for Gimli's enthusiasm. Even if he had been taught there was little hope for Balin's Company - what hope there was could be investigated, if he sold the possibilities well enough.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Valandil

The horseman's talk of rings, Gloin's admission that part of Balin's hope had been to find the Dwarf Ring which perhaps Thror had brought there (which, unbeknownst to them, had in fact been passed on to Thrain and taken from him at Dol Guldor) - AND the very mention of Moria - where Balin had gone to and had not been heard from in so many years - all taken together, were actually the impetus which caused Erebor to send Gloin to Rivendell. The opportunity to mention the quest of Balin to Moria was a much lesser thing, which they thought they might do with ease there, and perhaps with a credible chance of a good answer. Or, it may have just been Gloin trying to find out what he could - with Dain having mostly sent him to report on the visits of the horseman.

Which still doesn't account for Gimli's optimism.

I agree that finding out what happened to Bálin was not the main objective of the Dwarves to send some reprensentatives to Elrond. It would probably also have been a more personal matter for GloÃ*n, as I believe OÃ*n, his brother, was gone to Moria too.

As for Gimli, he was still considered a young Dwarf, so it may have been youthful optimism talking. Although he strikes me as relatively optimistic as a character too, when reading LoTR. I don't recall whether he was at the Nanduhirion before the East Gate of Moria, so it may be that he was too young to fully grasp what dread Moria held.

[Tinman]

Remember, Dain saw the Balrog at the final battle of the war of dwarves and orcs. After they won (at a great loss to the dwarven race's numbers) they couldn't reclaim the kingdom they'd just spent all their resources on attempting to reclaim because Dain saw the balrog beyond the gates. He also knew that they dwarves would never be able to retake moria until some greater power dealt with the balrog.

My guess is he knew exactly what happened when Balin stopped writing and calling.