Durin's Bane

[luinilwen]

'Ai! ai!' wailed Legolas. 'A Balrog! A Balrog is come!'
Gimli stared with wide eyes. 'Durin's Bane!' he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.

The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

i know the Dwarves awakened the Balrog:

'The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as 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.' - Gandalf

A Journey in the Dark

but is the Balrog called Durin's Bane simply because it was the "destruction" of Durin's people or is there a story preceding this that involved Durin directly?

maybe a stupid question, but something i've been wondering about.

[Menelvagor]

Yes, it was Durin's people, but also, Durin VI was the ruler when the balrog awoke, and he was killed, so it was Durin's Bane in the literal sense too.

The dwarves delved deep at that time, seeking beneath Barazinbar for mithril, the metal beyond price that was becomeing yearly ever harder to win. Thus they roused from sleep a thing of terror that, flying from Thangorodrim, had lain hidden at the foundations of the earth since the coming of the Host of the West: a Balrog of Morgoth. Durin (VI) was slain by it, and the year after Nain I, his son; and then the glory of Moria passed, and it's people were destryed or fled far away.

[luinilwen]

thankyou, menelvagor.

where's that quote taken from?

[Menelvagor]

It's in Appendix A of RotK in the section called ( ) Durin's Folk.