Episode 24: I, Narvi, Made Them

Narvi is an overlooked Dwarf of Khazad-dûm. But he's not just any Dwarf. He's one of the greatest craftsmen to ever come out of the subterranean mansion. He's also an Elf-friend, which is kind of a big deal. In this episode we lay some background and begin to delve into the largely unaddressed yet important life of this famous Dwarven hero.

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Transcript

Hi. Welcome to “The Halfling.” I’m your host, Jaron Pak, and this is episode 24, “I, Narvi, Made Them.”

Hi, guys! I know, I know. It’s been a while again. I’m sorry for the inconsistent episode releases lately. I promise I’ve been busy with good stuff behind the scenes, much of which I’ll be providing updates on as the show gets closer. In the meantime, I’m excited to be back, not just because I love nerding out on Middle-earth, but also because this next topic is a really, really good one. To set the stage, let me just say that our next series after this is going to be on the Elven craftsman Celebrimbor, who is one of the key figures of the Second Age. He’s the one who helps create the Rings of Power. He is both duped by and a key resistor of Sauron. He’s basically a really big deal. For every Celebrimbor-level character out there, though, there are always many others who dwell in the shadows of the great personalities, even if they’re just as worthy of attention. With that in mind, this time we’re focusing on shining a light on a Celebrimbor-adjacent character who deserves a lot of love …even if it only comes via a humble podcast episode like this. 

So, while Celebrimbor will get his time in the spotlight of our show, first, we’re going to take a detour to discuss one of his best friends who never gets his just due in Tolkien’s writings and, at least as of the time that this episode is published, doesn’t even get a scrap of a mention in any adaptations that I’m aware of. I’m talking about Narvi. And if you’re picturing a tall, slender Elven hero who functions as Celebrimbor’s second in command or something, well, you’re wrong. Narvi is a Dwarf. That’s right, a Dwarf. Let’s break this down.

Now, just a quick little disclaimer here, before we get going. While I promise you this guy’s worth investigating, Narvi is one of those characters with next to no information in the source material. So, along with the scraps of data we have on the character himself, we’re going to spend a lot of the next two episodes discussing Dwarvish culture and their relations with the Elves in the context of Narvi’s life and his achievements. Make sense? Good.

When the Fellowship of the Ring first starts their quest, they set out from Rivendell and travel south. They head along the west side of the Misty Mountains, which they eventually try to cross, first by going over them and then under them by the Mines of Moria. Now, the name Moria means the Black Pit or the Black Chasm — and it makes sense, right? The place is dark, dreary, scary, and filled with Orcs and worse things. But it wasn’t always that way.

Earlier in its history, the place is called “Khazad-dûm,” which is the name the Dwarves give it in their own secret language. While I can’t give you the literal translation here — the Dwarves are notoriously tight-lipped about their own language — Tolkien does drop this little tidbit in Appendix F of “The Return of the King,” “But the Dwarves themselves, and this name at least was never kept secret, called it Khazad-dûm, the Mansion of the Khazâd; for such is their own name for their own race, and has been so, since Aulë gave it to them at their making in the deeps of time.” Now, just for the record, Aulë is one of the Valar, the spiritual guardians of Middle-earth. He’s a smith and the one who creates the Dwarves — at least part way. Technically, the Creator, Ilúvatar, is the one who ultimately gives the Fathers of the Dwarves individual, sentient life, but Aulë is the one who originally conceives the idea of them is always seen as the father figure of the Dwarven race.

Anyway, back to Moria, the Dwarves call the place Khazad-dûm, and it’s an epic Middle-earth location for a really long time. In fact, it’s one of the biggest Dwarven hotspots on the map — and it only becomes more important as the First and Second Ages play out. In “The Silmarillion,” it explains that, while there are several Dwarven mansions of note, “Greatest of all the mansions of the Dwarves was Khazad-dûm, the Dwarrowdelf, Hadhodrond in the Elvish tongue, that was afterwards in the days of its darkness called Moria…” While Moria is a big deal in the “Lord of the Rings,” and it’s, like, right there, smack dab in the middle of the map, originally it was far to the east of where the action was taking place. This less-important initial location leads to this chunk of text that follows the quote we just read, where it explains that Khazad-dûm “was far off in the Mountains of Mist beyond the wide leagues of Eriador, and to the Eldar came but as a name and a rumour from the words of the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains.” 

Okay, I know that’s a lot of names and information to start out with. So, let’s summarize. In essence, what this is saying is that the Dwarves that lived further west on the map in the First Age were the main ones who initially interacted with Elves. But Khazad-dûm was just a rumoured fortress away in the east. Was it incredible? You betcha. At least, according to the rumors. But it wasn’t really in the spotlight. Then, at the end of the First Age, the entire western continent of Middle-earth is sunk in the catastrophic war that destroys Morgoth’s power, which we’ve talked about a few different times now. That’s the whole “War of Wrath” event that creates the Middle-earth map we’re used to seeing. The Dwarves in the sinking area — at least those that survive — high tail it out of there and head east. Many of them make for Khazad-dûm. This leads to a large concentration of Dwarves — an intra-Dwarven melting pot, so to speak — hailing from different Dwarven houses and with different skills and experiences all colliding in one place at the same time. The overlapping and increasing population leads to an explosion of growth and guides Khazad-dûm into its greatest era — which takes place during the Second Age and lasts for thousands and thousands of years. Even in the later part of the Second Age, when Sauron already has the One Ring and he’s laying waste to most of the continent, Khazad-dûm remains an unconquered stronghold that the Dark Lord can’t crack. For reference, all of this is a long time before a Balrog shows up and spoils the fun. In fact, throughout the entire Second Age and well into the Third Age, the Dwarven mansion remains powerful and glorious. It’s only two millennia into the Third Age that the Balrog is unleashed, roughly a thousand years before the Fellowship shows up on site. 

All of this migration and prosperity is summarized in Appendix A of “The Return of the King,” where it succinctly states that “After the end of the First Age the power and wealth of Khazad-dûm was much increased; for it was enriched by many people and much lore and craft when the ancient cities of Nogrod and Belegost in the Blue Mountains were ruined at the breaking of Thangorodrim. The power of Moria endured throughout the Dark Years and the Dominion of Sauron, for though Eregion was destroyed and the gates of Moria were shut, the halls of Khazad-dûm were too deep and strong and filled with a people too numerous and valiant for Sauron to conquer from without. Thus its wealth remained long unravished, though its people began to dwindle.”

Okay, I know this is a lot of background, and I kinda just want to keep on diving deeper and deeper into Dwarvish history, to be honest. The Dwarves are such a fascinating part of Middle-earth, and their history is mesmirizing. But at this point, we’ve set the stage for our character, Narvi, so we need to move on. He lives in Khazad-dûm during this extraordinarily prosperous period of time — and he does some really important stuff during that time, too. Let’s start that part of the story by backtracking to earlier when we were tracing the path that “The Fellowship of the Ring” takes when they leave Rivendell. They head south for a while, but eventually they try to cross the mountains to get to Mordor. They don’t want to go too far south because Saruman is down there, lurking and Ring-hunting. Instead, they try and fail to go over the mountains — remember the whole episode where they get snowed out on the mountain side? Yeah. This leaves them with no option but to go under the bluffs — right through the old, abandoned — or at least Dwarfless — mines of Moria. The first step in this journey in the dark is to find the hidden doors located on the east side of the mountain range. These are the Doors of Durin. They glow in the dark and are made of ithildin, a metallic substance that won’t glow until someone touches it and speaks the password. Even then, it only mirrors starlight and moonlight. Welcome to the secret, password protected lives of the Dwarves, my friends.

In this case, the code isn’t too hard to crack. The doors literally say, “The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Say ‘friend’ and enter,” and, of course, the secret password is just Mellon, the Elvish word for friend. Gandalf speaks the password, the doors open, aaaand then the group is attacked by a monster in the water, which destroys the doors after it fails to capture the Ringbearer, the Fellowship is trapped inside the mines, and they’re forced to find their way to the other side. Okay. This is stuff we’re all well aware of, I think. But I want to rewind things to that moment when they first discover the door and light up the ithildin like a moonlit beacon. The big text on the door says “The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Say ‘friend’ and enter.” But that isn’t all. Underneath, small and feint, is a little sign off, like an artist marking their work with their signature. In this case, though, it’s a pair of collaborators that are represented. The smaller text reads: “I, Narvi, Made them. Celebrimbor of Hollin drew these signs.”

Okay, we have a rough idea of who Celebrimbor is. But Narvi? Who on earth — or in this case under it, I guess — is this guy? As we’ll find out in the next few weeks, Celebrimbor is an incredibly gifted Noldorin Elf (more on the Noldor in a bit). He’s one of the most famous smiths in all of Middle-earth history. So, his name showing up on something like this makes sense. But Narvi? I mean, apart from the fact that he’s a Dwarf, which automatically implies a skill in stone and smith work, what else do we know about this mysterious name …other than the fact that it’s so important it’s included in the inscription …before Celebrimbor’s name, I might add.

Well, it turns out that Narvi is actually one of the most famous Dwarven craftsmen of all time. In fact, in the index for “Unfinished Tales,” he’s summarized in 13 short but insightful words, which read: “Dwarf of Khazad-dûm, maker of the West-gate, close friend of Celebrimbor of Eregion.” And that friends, is all we get to know. No, for real, it’s like, the entire “Narvi” schtick rolled into one short sentence. I’m not saying he’s never mentioned apart from that. He does show up one or two more times, which we’ll get to. But these other mentions only reinforce those two or three critical elements that make up Narvi’s mysterious character. The Dwarf is from Khazad-dûm. He makes the gate that Celebrimbor marks with his ithildin craftsmanship. He and Celebrimbor are close friends.

In the actual Unfinished Tales text, so the part that the index definition I referenced is pointing to, Narvi is briefly mentioned once, and it should come as no surprise that it’s in connection with the Elf that would become known as his bestie, Celebrimbor. In fact, this is the text where the whole “bestie” idea that I keep referencing comes from. When Celebrimbor enters the story in “Unfinished Tales,” it’s in a version of Galadriel and Celeborn’s story — in fact, it’s that one I’ve mentioned before, which involves several different, convoluted, and amended versions of the two heroes. In this case, Celebrimbor himself is simply referred to as an expert craftsman. He isn’t depicted as the Lord of the Elvish realm of Eregion, as is the case later on. But that’s commentary we should save for Celebrimbor’s own series. We’re here for the overlooked Narvi, and I’ll tell you what, this guy — or, this Dwarf — is really, and I mean really overlooked. The only mention we get is when it explains that Celebrimbor has an almost “dwarvish” obsession with crafting and he enters “into a close relationship with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, among whom his greatest friend was Narvi.” That’s it. That’s his only mention in that book. You see the “greatest friend” bit tucked away in there, though? Anyway, this pair of talented and friendly artisans team up and along with their crafty brethren, they work together on a lot of different projects. In fact, in “Unfinished Tales,” it says “Both Elves and Dwarves had great profit from this association: so that Eregion became far stronger, and Khazad-dûm far more beautiful, than either would have done alone.” 

Of course, most of these projects aren’t named. There’s only one that really makes the history books …and is still kicking around two ages later when Gandalf and company come knocking. That’s right. The most famous of these collaborative projects are the Doors of Durin themselves. They represent the ultimate Elvish/Dwarvish achievement, with master craftsmen from both sides of the aisle teaming up to bring the project to life. And that masterful entryway is where we’ll pick up the Narvi story when we come back.

Until next time, friends.