A/N: This fanfic deals with the renewed world of the Dwarves of Mahal. It's based on the few details of what the Dwarves believed would happen to them at the end of the world in The Silmarillion, but it's about the role the thirteen Dwarves of Thorin and Company, plus Gimli and some of their relatives and ancestors, played in building, ruling, and living in Arda Healed, plus comments on its beauty.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit or its Dwarf characters, the Tolkien Estate does.


Thorin and Company in Arda Healed


Thorin:

It is magnificent! The world of Middle-earth has been restored to its natural, intended state before the entry of corruption and evil in the world! And Eru Ilúvatar, the God of Eä, has blessed and hallowed the Khazâd race and given them a place among the natural Children of Ilúvatar. We still give our greatest reverence to Mahal, the Maker of Mountains, though, because he has provided us with new homes under the mountains, which we can beautify and mine in without any worry of Orcs, Dragons, or Balrogs, and having been hallowed, we are no longer greedy or overly possessive of our gold, jewels, or mithril.

I have been given a very special role in the Arda Healed, for my boldness in seeking to reclaim Erebor and my repentance of my greed for the Lonely Mountain's treasure and for wronging dear Bilbo Baggins. I am allowed to live in the New Erebor as a subject of legendary nobility and honor, for my good deeds in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs and the Battle of Five Armies. However, because I was very haughty for much of my life, and treated Bilbo with much disrespect, not to mention succumbing to Smaug's dragon-sickness after his death and wanting to keep the treasure all to myself, I am to be a servant, a smith of the hammer and anvil, of the eternal King under the Mountain, who, as it happens, is my own grandfather Thror, rather than be King myself, as a lesson in humility. But I do not grudge my grandfather the throne, nor my position as a smith, for the New Lonely Mountain has greater splendor than the old one had even in its greatest days, and no Dwarf would be unsatisfied with it.


Fili and Kili:

The Lonely Mountain is so majestic; we can't get enough of it! Erebor has been rebuilt by Mahal and by the finest Dwarf hands, and we had a hand in that. Now, there are rivers of gold everywhere, pure river water, and the finest toy makers ever in the history of the Dwarves are designing the most marvelous toys. The town of Dale has been built so beautifully, too, with its houses, shops, and palaces made of great gems, and streets made of gold and silver, and we swear the toy market will thrive like it's never thrived before! And because of our sacrificial protection of uncle Thorin's body at the Battle of Five Armies, we hallowed ones are now captains of Erebor's guard, with the authority to command several whole armies of Dwarves at once. Life will never be better again!


Dwalin:

I was a born warrior in my old life, and I killed many a Goblin and Orc in my time. Now, though a part of me will miss that, it is good to live in peace. My considerably large family and I are now living with Thorin, Fili, and Kili in the New Erebor, and I think it was well worth the wait. With a benevolent ruler, Thror, Thrain as a kinsman and friend, and a reunion with my father, Fundin, who was lost in the Battle of Azanulbizar, I feel right at home here. My role as a hallowed Dwarf is to mine the Mountain for the finest gems to bring further beauty to the new realms of the Hobbits, the Men, and the Elves I once distrusted so much. It will take me time to become fully accustomed to living beside Elves, but if Gloin's son, Gimli, can love a couple of Elves, I suppose I can too.


Balin:

During my old life, I was a Dwarf Lord, and years after reclaiming Erebor, I, Ori, Oin, and many other Dwarves tried to reclaim Moria. It was not a success, of course, and we all died, but now, Khazad-dûm has been restored, and Ilúvatar and Mahal have seen a great purity within me, what with my friendship with dear old Bilbo, my wisdom, and my gentle and kind nature. As a result, I have been restored to my old role as Lord of Moria, though now the title is "Lord of Khazad-dûm," for "Moria" is not a popular name in Arda Healed, and it is no longer a black pit.

It brings me joy to be the undisputed ruler of our healed ancestral halls, and once again, lights shine here, illuminating the caverns, swords (ceremonial ones) are forged, runes are engraved on the walls, gems and stones of great value are everywhere to be found, mithril is plentiful again, and the hammer and the anvil are active day and night to our great glory. Every Dwarf who fell in our colony in Moria, including Ori, Floi, Frar, Loni, Nali, and Oin, also work here under their appointed jobs, and they too are full of great joy. I hope that Bilbo and his Hobbit friends can see it someday, though I would also like to see what the New Shire is like, and how happy the Hobbits are there. Never again will the bane of Durin invade our privacy and force us to go back on the road when we shouldn't!


Oin:

Talk about coming home to your true home! This New Khazad-dûm is a place that will never bore me or cease to amaze me! It is so beautiful within and without, and it even came complete with a New Kheled-zâram lake and New Kibil-nâla springs. Our sacred ground is once again sacred ground, and Balin often visits these two spots by himself to experience what Durin experienced ages ago, and this time, there's no danger of Orcs shooting him from behind a stone. It's also a relief that the dark pool at Westgate is gone, and that ghastly Watcher in the Water with it! I didn't enjoy being killed by it, I can tell you! Though the pool is gone, Durin's Door is intact, and so are the ancient trees that grew up on either side of it. In my old life, Balin sent me to seek for mithril in the upper armories of Third Deep after we won Moria. I have a splendid new vocation that Mahal and God think befit me very well; I am in charge of the Dwarves who dig and care for mithril in the New Khazad-dûm, and we always find enough, and no excess, to please the other Free Peoples as well as ourselves, for Eregion is also restored, and the old Elf/Dwarf friendships of the Second Age have been sparked again. Mahal knows I have many an Elf friend I never thought I would have, including Celebrimbor himself! I think everything is going to be fine from now on.


Gloin:

Wow! Erebor has never looked better! I must admit, Ilúvatar, as the Elves call God, is a splendid Creator of the New Arda and the New Middle-earth, and Mahal, the "lesser god" of the Khazâd, my kind, gets along with all of his children like he actually gave birth to them in his bosom. It is also delightful to do business with the Men of Dale and Lake-town again, for they, too, have been rebuilt and improved, and they have the best economies a town of Men could possibly have. Even our messengers and agents of providence, the Ravens of Ravenhill, live here with us, and goodness knows how delighted they are, too, to continue in their friendship with the Dwarves of Erebor. They give us news, and we give them a helping of shiny gold and jewels. And Carc, his wife, and his son, Roäc, are alive and well and flying strong with their people! It just goes to show that the Great Eagles are not the only great birds around. My task is to bank and finance the wealth of Erebor, only now I'm not mean with the money, because a holy Dwarf cannot (or must not) be mean with anything or anybody. No matter, however, for it is enough to be as wealthy as I am, and to know that my son, Gimli, is a legend.


Dori and Nori:

Is this a perfect place to live or not? We say yes, for there is nothing impure here, the gold does not rust, and there are no more Dragons to lay waste to our realms. The two of us have moved to the Grey Mountains, and there, the old Dwarf realms have been rebuilt and we can enjoy our wealth safely. It's good to see that Erebor and Aglarond are not the only Dwarf realms preserved for Durin's Folk in the new world. We, Dori and Nori, are miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls here, and life couldn't be better for us. It is a pleasure to finally work literally nearby Mahal, or Aulë, as every non-Dwarf calls him. He is a friend unlike any other.


Ori:

Khazad-dûm! So good to see it's splendor restored to life! And I never thought I would see it again after dying one of the last Dwarf deaths in Moria. We all love it hear now, no more Goblins, no more Orcs, no more Cave-trolls, and no more Balrog. My heart is still full of the destruction of Morgoth and all his allies in the Dagor Dagorath; now I know that evil doesn't exist forever, as I was raised to believe it was. We all have our different jobs here. Balin is Lord of Khazad-dûm, Oin is in charge of the mithril supply, Floi watches over the Kheled-zâram, and Frar, Loni, and Nali all guard the repaired Bridge of Khazad-dûm together. My job is as Balin's scribe; I am to write the entire history of our new Dwarrowdelf realm as a record of the history of Arda Healed. I am writing it in a never-ending book with the same title as the book we used in Moria, the Book of Mazarbul, am I think I'll become a legend for it one day. Yes, life is good!


Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur:

We suppose that, once a humble miner, always a humble miner, is probably true. The three of us are overjoyed to be in a new, pure world, but we wonder why we always get the fun jobs. We have taken up residence in our ancestral home that we never experienced in life, Nogrod, and our chief Dwarf Lord is our new close friend, Telchar, the great Dwarven smith who originally forged King Elessar's sword, Andúril. And our occupation is to mine for coal to heat the fires of Nogrod, at least, that's Bifur and Bofur's job; Bombur is still a proud cook, though the Dwarves of Nogrod actually like most of his dishes! Well, we can't all have elevated positions in the afterlife, and we're still happy to be here, thank Eru and Mahal!


Gimli:

Strange are the ways of Eru and the Ainur! They have just fashioned this new world of Arda, called Arda Healed, and my people have had all their former glory and honor restored to them! Curiously, though, both Eru and Mahal told me that I was the official redeemer of the Dwarf race from its old dishonor brought on by mistrust of non-Dwarves and bad and cruel deeds, not to mention our greed. Now, we are Eru and Mahal's new holy ones, and I have never ceased to be amazed at how well they could remake Arda Marred. Because of my unbreakable friendship with good old Legolas and my almost religious reverence for the redeemed Noldor Elf, the Lady Galadriel, the old mistrust and enmity between Elves and Dwarves is over forever, and as the Lord of the Glittering Caves of Aglarond and the only Dwarf to sail to Valinor and become immortal in Arda Marred, I have brought a new honor to the Khazâd they have never had before. Now, Eru and Mahal rank me as the most holy Dwarf of all time, even including Durin the Deathless, who dwells in the New Mount Gundabad now, and I am to have absolute authority over my people as their great Dwarf King, third only to Mahal and God. I still retain my humility, however, saying that I don't deserve such great honor, but they insist that my humility is precisely why I do deserve it. And that is fine with me, as long as the Dwarf race can build Arda Healed to be more beautiful than even the Glittering Caves had been, and as long as it can live forever, in peace with its neighbors and content with great but undervalued wealth. And I hope Legolas agrees with me!