The Unrest of the Longbeards

[Matt DeForrest]

While listening to the class asynchronously, I noted something about Gloin’s mourning over Moria: “Glóin sighed. ‘Moria! Moria! Wonder of the Northern world! Too deep we delved there, and woke the nameless fear. Long have its vast mansions lain empty since the children of Durin fled.”

Compare this to what he told Frodo the day before about Erebor: “Glóin began then to talk of the works of his people, telling Frodo about their great labours in Dale and under the Mountain. ‘We have done well,’ he said. ‘But in metal-work we cannot rival our fathers, many of whose secrets are lost. We make good armour and keen swords, but we cannot again make mail or blade to match those that were made before the dragon came. Only in mining and building have we surpassed the old days.”

One could argue that the one thing that the Longbeards need to catch up to their forebearers is access to the mithril still lying unmined in Moria — which would not only contain the raw materials they need but the tools and, perhaps, evidence (if not records) of the techniques used in the past.

 

[amysrevenge]

Related, when he says "old days" do we think he means "Erebor pre-Smaug" or does he mean *old* days, in Moria before it was called Moria? From context I think it's reasonably clear he probably means Erebor pre-Smaug (the previous sentence would suggest it) but is it a slam dunk?

 

[Matt DeForrest]

The context is clearly pre-Smaug rather than Kazak-dum v. Moria. That said, access to the secrets of Moria will let them advance beyond the pre-Smaug days of arms and armor craftsmanship.

 

[WaverlyPontiff]

I know that in the Silmarillion it is said that the Dwarves do not share their language, ie teach others. I am just wondering if they would actually leave records and how-to manuals of their great crafts?

 

[Anthony Lawther]

The context is clearly pre-Smaug rather than Kazak-dum v. Moria. That said, access to the secrets of Moria will let them advance beyond the pre-Smaug days of arms and armor craftsmanship.

Khazâd-Dum is pre-Smaug, but there doesn't seem to be much (if any) evidence to argue whether their skills in arms and armour craftsmanship improved between Khazâd-Dum and Erebor.

I know that in the Silmarillion it is said that the Dwarves do not share their language, ie teach others. I am just wondering if they would actually leave records and how-to manuals of their great crafts?

One of the reasons to closely guard their language would be to allow any records to remain secret from non-Dwarves.
That said, it may be that the primary method of passing on the knowledge from one generation to the next is through apprenticeship, to ensure that Longbeard skills remain secret from other Dwarven Houses. If so, it suggests that they'll never regain those skills except through experimentation.

Support for this idea is the loss of skills with the loss of Dwarves through the years: first to Durin's Bane, then to Smaug, and then at Azanulbizar.
If they kept records and how-to manuals I'd expect Glóin to state that what they are missing is the materials, rather than the skills, or he might lament the loss of the records to teach them.