In the course of this chapter we have encountered a number of examples of
outstanding or peculiar feats of Dwarvish engineering. Let us take
this opportunity to comment on them.
1. How do the Dwarves keep water from coming down their
light-shafts? For that matter, how do they arrainge drainage
throughout the whole of Moria? It’s a major concern in human mines of any
serious depth.
2. How high ARE the risers of Dwarvish steps? I had assumed 2/3 of
a normal human step, since Dwarves are about 2/3 of normal human size.
But Gandalf sits in presumed comfort of the FIRST step of the last
staircase. And some readers insist that the Dwarves LIKE climbing stairs.
3. By the way, since I havn’t said it already, I need to point out that
Balin obviously chose the twenty-first hall for a residence not only because it
had light, but because it is the extreme corner of Moria, and therefore the
most defensible. Comment?
4. Is it really feasable to have such a large city with only two rather
constricted exits? Should we not presume many dwarf-doors, secret and now
forgotten?
5. What could that bridge be made of ? A single slender arch of
fifty feet that has stood unmaintained for over a thousand years?
CHALLENGE
As the Dwarves hollowed out these truly vast works extending for miles under
three mountains, what did they do with the
tailings?
