Greatest and most precious to dwarwes would definetly be Moria/Khazad-dśm. They were once droven away from there and they did always wanted to return there (Balin and C0 for example). As for biggest and greatest Kingdom in meaning of those words was Belegost (Great Fortress). But i would that Moria would be the One.
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I am Tulkas the Valiant who laughs ever in the face of Good or Evil.
Yes Khazad-dum without question but lets say 'greatest dwarven realm in the third age'.
Erebor after or before smaug had left it was pretty rich and great whilst Moria was just a breeding ground for vile Goblins. Anybody know of any other dwarven settlements in the misty or blue mountains?
Definatly Khazad-Dum for it was the home of Durin the Deathless. Though Erebor was sweet, but KD was (correct me if I'm wrong) the only place where they found Mithril which was the most precious metal to them. Soo....Khazad-Dum rules.
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...But it was so that from Nienna he learned pity and patience.
Nogrod and Belegost located in Blue Mountains. Nogrod was a citadel of dwarwes in First Age like Belegost. Dain's kingdom in Iron Hills was one but it was pretty much lefted alone after reclaiming of Erebor. Yes, mithril..i believe that in Middle-Earth, Moria was the only place where mithril can be found.
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I am Tulkas the Valiant who laughs ever in the face of Good or Evil.
Khazad-dūm is most defiantely the biggest, grandest, most prominent, etc., etc. of all the Dwarven realms. It was the seat of Durin the Deathless and located beneath three mountains, spanning a vast 40 miles across! Also, there's this quote:
"Greatest of all the mansions of the Dwarves was Khazad-dūm, the Dwarrowdelf, Hadhodrond in the Elvish tongue, that was afterwards in the days of its darkness called Moria..." (The Silmarillion, Of The Sindar)
And just as an interesting side-note I suppose, mithril could be found in Nśmenór as well.
The dwarven kingdoms are definitely the most amazing around. Erebor, Khazad-Dum..all amazing kingdoms. The thing that probably fascinates me most about the dwarven kingdoms is that there is only few said about it in Lord of the Rings. Erebor is a main place in the hobbit, but they never tell a lot about it..and they just walk through KD. I`ve been researching the dwarves for a while now..If I`d ever be able to move to ME I`d go to Moria and be a dwarf^^
I would like to think that Aglarond (the glittering caves) became the greatest of all dwarven kingdoms during the fourth age, but it never really says much about them in Tolkiens books. All we know is that Gimli was astonished and led dwarves from Erebor to inhabit them and became, 'Lord of the Glittering Caves', after the war of the ring. Gimli says:-
"...gems and crystals and veins of precious ore glint in the polished walls; and the light glows through folded marbles, shell-like, translucent as the living hands of Queen Galadriel."
It seems to me that he thought that Aglarond was more beautiful than Khazad-dum, and that was even before the dwaves had inhabited it, otherwise he wouldn't have moved there. Imagine how great they would have become after the dwarves had left their mark. Maybe not greatest in power or size though, but great as in beauty, magnificence and wealth.
beauty...yes magnificience...yes but wealth...not really why? simple. think of how the dwarves usually got money and treasure... by trading gold and especially mithril with other races but we know, as Gimli says that the dwarves would never dig in such a beautiful place. the only way they could get wealth is beeing repaid for the works they did. we know from appendix b that the dwarves led by Gimli made different works for Rohan and Gondor and that the best known is the mithril and steel gate for Minas Tirith. but still...even so, I doubt that Aglarond would get much richer.
I don't think that the precious stone and metals would nessisarily have to be mined by the dwarves for Aglarond to be considered great in wealth TM. For the inhabitants to get wealthy sure, but for the caves to be great in wealth, no.
