Q: When Did All the Kings Named Durin Live?
ANSWER: I don’t believe there is a canonical source for all the lifetimes of the Durins. Readers have inferred various time periods for them based on hints in the published texts. It could very well be that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote one or more notes about their birth and death years that have yet to come to light. It’s also possible such information has been published in a source I haven’t seen.
With that understanding, here are the approximate time frames with which I am familiar.
- Durin I “The Deathless” probably died before the Rising of the Moon.
- Durin II may have been the King of Khazad-dûm at the time Eregion was founded in Second Age year 750.
- Durin III was the King of Khazad-dûm at the time of the War of the Elves and Sauron, Second Age 1697-1701.
- Durin IV may have been the King of Khazad-dûm during the War of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
- Durin V most likely lived sometime in the Third Age, perhaps around the 11th century.
- Durin VI was the King of Khazad-dûm whom the Balrog slew in Third Age year 1980.
- Durin VII appears to have been the son of Thorin III Stonehelm, son of Dain II Ironfoot. Durin VII is said to have lived early in the Fourth Age.
We cannot be certain of much in this list. We only have clear and specific references for Durin III and Durin VI in the published texts. There are alternative histories for Durin I, some noted as “rejected” by Christopher Tolkien. Some people are reluctant to accept material published in The Peoples of Middle-earth (the 12th volume of The History of Middle-earth) as canonical — and that is a prudent point of view, for there are certainly inconsistencies between some of the texts included in The Peoples of Middle-earth and the books that J.R.R. Tolkien published in his own life.
However, he seems to have intended the Durin kings to have lived at extremely significant periods in Dwarven histories. The latter Durins are, after all, said to be the original Durin returned. This is the only canonical tradition of reincarnation through one’s descendants to survive all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s changes and complexities. The old idea about Elves being reborn in their descendants was eventually abandoned. And Tolkien seems to have never seriously considered the idea for Men.
Among the Maiar, only Sauron was able to return to life, and that was only because the One Ring (in which he had invested the greater part of his “being”) anchored him. Among the Valar only Melkor was ever slain and Tolkien hints that he would eventually return because he alone among all the Ainur would have the strength to reconstitute himself. Death is thus a very permanent state even for the so-called “deathless”, who if slain in their self-incarnated forms become so overwhelmed by powerful feelings they remain in a state of confusion that prevents them from focusing again.
Hence, the Durin tradition is an important sign of Tolkien’s thoughts about when a king to be named Durin should appear in the history of the Dwarves. But it’s not a simple matter at all, and this is one area where I have contradicted myself. In 1999 in the essay “Them Dwarves, Them Dwarves, Part Two” I wrote:
When mithril was discovered by the Longbeards the Noldor of Lindon took an interest in their resources, and many Noldor settled in the lands west of Khazad-dum, establishing the realm of Eregion. Their chief city was Ost-in-Edhil and they entered into a close friendship and alliance with the Longbeards that lasted a thousand years. At the end of that time the Longbeards were drawn into the War of the Elves and Sauron. They sought to help the beleaguered Eldar of Eregion, and many Elves (including Pengolod) escaped through Khazad-dum to the eastern realm of Lothlorien, but Durin IV’s army was driven back to the mountains by Sauron and the West-gate was closed against possible invasion. Matters did not go well in the east, either. Sauron sent armies of Orcs from Mordor and enticed eastern tribes of Men to invade Wilderland.
However, in Parma Endorion I wrote:
Tolkien wrote that Durin was reborn in his descendants six times. We know that Durin III was King of Khazad-dum when the Rings of Power were made, and he led an army against Sauron in the War of the Elves and Sauron. So it must have been Durin II who was king when Narvi and Celebrimbor built the west-gate. The king at the end of the Second Age may have been Durin IV. He marched with the Host of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
I can’t seem to make up my mind about this stuff, can I?
It’s possible that when I wrote “Them Dwarves, Them Dwarves” I simply had my Durin numbers mixed up. But I vaguely recall someone challenging me on the point and I don’t know if I ever changed the essay to reflect a different numbering for the Durins that would have been consistent with my Parma Endorion essay. Today’s answer follows the Parma Endorion argument but I don’t know any better than anyone else what Tolkien had in mind or if he even thought this matter through completely. This is the best information I have — which is to say that it’s mostly conjecture. Take it with a grain of salt.
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