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tolkiens legendarium - Why was the riddle on the way to Moria written in Elvish?


I just caught my housemates watching The Lord of The Rings. At the scene where the Fellowship enters the Mines of Moria, the writing on the entrance is in Elvish, despite this being a Dwarvish city.


Why is that? I know my housemate said somewhere it's mentioned that the Elves and Dwarves were friends, but why not make your own door?



Answer



I don't know if Tolkien ever explicitly answers this question, but it's actually a lot more reasonable than it sounds. When they were made, the doors marked the boundary between the dwarvish settlement of Khazad-dûm (Moria) and the elvish settlement of Eregion, so it'd be just as natural for it to be in either language. Additionally:




  • Though the doors were constructed by a dwarf (Narvi), the inscriptions on them were written by an elf (Celebrimbor).

  • The dwarven language is secret, so they wouldn't be inclined to write it in a public place. When the dwarves and elves interacted, they would have done so in the elves' language.


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