In case you've missed them due to holiday celebrations both in-game and out, the Lord of the Rings Online team has been fleshing out the game's Middle-earth with a bunch of articles exploring various locations in the virtual world.

The two most recent exploration pieces focus on the Forges of Khazad-dûm and Nimrodel. These are fairly short pieces that make for a quick read, so check them out if you only have a few moments to spare.

If you have a little more time on your hands, then consider reading their newest hero's guide, which takes you through Zelem-melek, the western half of the heart of Khazad-dûm. It contains six pages of in-depth information, which can also be found after the jump.

Once a vault of stately terraces and regal halls, the western half of the heart of Khazad-dûm, called Zelem-melek, now struggles to maintain its majesty against an occupying force of bloodthirsty Orc defilers drawn from the armies of Mordor and Isengard. Snarling Goblin totems gloat before defaced Dwarf statues. Bloody shrines to Sauron stake claims in once-honoured halls for the forces of the Shadow. Brutish Orc camps littered with stripped skulls and broken crystals befoul the air with a gruesome stink.

Yet, despite the woeful work of the Enemy’s vandals, the grandeur of Zelem-melek still endures. The tall passageways of the Terraced Halls defy the reach of Goblins. The glow of ancient, crystalline Dwarf-lamps cuts through the smoke of Orc bonfires. Vast halls and towering columns wrought by the Dwarves of old make the Enemy’s minions seem small and petty—at least from afar.

Zelem-melek, as one of the great works of the Dwarves, endures on its own. But to persist in this time of Shadow, it needs heroes willing to brave the hordes and scratch out victories, big and small, amid the chill and the darkness beneath the earth.

From the West or the North

Travelers entering Moria through the West-gate, in Hollin, may come to Zelem-melek by way of the direct route. Moving due east through the Great Delving, they find themselves under the gaze of the ever-watching, stone eyes of ancestral Dwarves carved into the walls surrounding the entryway to this place. The way leads over the narrow bridge called the Lonely Span, straight into the Terraced Halls.

These proud passageways, though largely intact, now echo with the stomps of Orc and Goblin feet. Be wary. Make haste to the northernmost edge of Zelem-melek, where a shaft of sunlight falls through the stone to break the gloom. This is the Twenty-first Hall, which you’ll come to know well.

Travelers who circle around, taking the longer road through Durin’s Way, enter Zelem-melek from the North. That path lets out at the Twenty-first Hall too. To reach Zelem-melek, as the Dwarves say, all roads pass through the Twenty-first Hall.

The Twenty-first Hall

The Twenty-first Hall beats as the heart of the Free Peoples in the gloomy body of Moria. When you suffer the inevitable setback of defeat in the troubled halls of northern Zelem-melek, this is your retreat.

On its own, as an artifact of craftsmanship, the hall is a marvel. Wide-footed pillars as large as the towers of the Elves hold up a ceiling so high that its polished stone is barely touched by the glow of campfires and crystals below. A shaft in the ceiling lets in a single, hopeful ray of sunlight from the distant sky above the Misty Mountains. This ray illuminates the banners and wagons of Moria’s new colonists on the floor below.

The chamber is so vast that the largest outpost of the Free Peoples in Moria occupies less than half its ground. The outpost itself is wrought of wooden beams and planks, forming palisades between the hall’s colossal pillars. Archers stand watch all around.

The outpost protects traders, trainers, vault-keepers, and auctioneers. Here you’ll find an oven, a forge, a workbench, and a reflecting pool—rare finds, all, in the dark reaches of Moria. Be sure to acquaint yourself with the Stable-master, as you won’t find another east of here until you reach the East-gate of Moria, on the far side of Nud-melek.

Fallen rubble blocks the largest exits from this hall, the arches leading west and east. Only the smaller arches—leading north to Durin’s Way and south to the Great Hall of Durin—remain open. Perhaps it’s the lingering power of the intimidating Dwarf architecture all around these exits that helps to keep the Enemy away—or maybe it’s luck—but the Twenty-first Hall remains free of Orc patrols and spies for now.

The Heart of Zelem-melek

Setting out south into Zelem-melek from the Twenty-first Hall, you find the Great Hall of Durin. Shining from the colored light of many-colored crystal lamps and polished to a fine sheen by ancient Dwarf artisans, the Great Hall gleams. Shadowy and vast, its masterful stonework sitting chill and dark, its mezzanines empty except for skulking Orcs, the Great Hall seems to brood. Where once this place held dancing, laughing Dwarves drunk on mead and gorged on bread and meat, now it sits vacant, a hulking hollow, eerily quiet and sad.

The Great Hall is named for Durin the Deathless, first among Dwarf-kind and fabled founder of Khazad-dûm. He was father of the Longbeards (sometimes called Durin’s folk) and the source of the royal line that ruled this most lavish kingdom of the Dwarves until the Balrog awoke in the time of Durin VI. That beast slew Durin VI—from whom it took its title of Durin’s Bane—and his son Náin I. Soon after, the Dwarves of old withdrew from Moria, leaving it to the overwhelming numbers of Orcs and Goblins that lurk in its passages even now.

The Great Hall and the vaulted corridors that surround it are bounded by grandiose entryways and linked by ornate stairways. The exit to the east leads down a dizzying path, through green light, from the canopy to the roots of a breathtaking stone forest in the old city of Nud-melek: the Second Hall.

To explore Zelem-melek, however, one turns west and south, through the Terraced Halls and the Broad Ways, where wolf-sized insects hunt for food and warg-riding Goblins wait for trespassers. Look for places where the cut-stone walls give way to natural rock. You’re back near the Lonely Span now, at the edge of the vast, natural chasm that runs north to south along the western border of Zelem-melek.

Turn south. As you approach the heart of Zelem-melek, narrow struts of stone jut up above you to a distant sky of arched rock. This area, dominated by what is now called the Broken Dam, is a network of promenades and plazas, once public spaces where ancient Dwarves gathered for festivals and fairs. Dwarf-manses perch at the edge of these squares, overlooking the subterranean waters of the deep western chasm.

In the centuries since, gravel and loose rock have tumbled into these streets from the cavern walls all around, and Orcs have ground silt and filth into the etched avenues. The waters falling from within the palatial terraces of Zelem-melek now shimmer a weird and foul green. The Dwarf-manses stand dark, but perhaps not always empty.

The corridors leading east off the plazas of the Broken Dam lead through Orc camps and back into the Terraced Halls and passageways that sprawl out from the Great Hall of Durin. It’s easy to get lost in these corridors. Use the crystalline Dwarf-lamps all around to keep your bearings. They are cleverly arranged by color to help you tell one corridor from another. Without these lamps, it seems all of Moria would be dark or—worse—lit only by the fires of Orcs.

Take advantage of that aid. You don’t want to get lost. Here, and all the way south to the Flaming Deeps and east to the Redhorn Lodes, you’re in territory claimed by enemies.

Foul Intruders

Zelem-melek isn’t free of the cave-snakes, giant rats, and enormous bugs that plague many abandoned subterranean places, but they are not the real threats in this part of Moria.

The minions of the Enemy lurk everywhere. Camps of Orcs huddle in darkened halls throughout this region, at the feet of defaced statues, and on the patios of public squares. Axe-wielding Orcs prowl in the dark, away from camps, in search of food, trespassers, and vulnerable rivals. Goblins on Warg-back scout the edges of their territory and patrol the heart of their turf. Bat-tending Goblins roam about, using their sensitive pets to search for for any sign or signal of intruders.

Tensions among the various breeds of Orc-kind run high. Long have the Goblins of Moria claimed these halls as their own, and they secretly hope for the Dwarves to return, so they can show them who the true masters of Moria are now. But tribes of Orcs have recently come to Moria from Mordor, following orders from Sauron to lay claim to Khazad-dûm and those who dwell within it.

They are not alone. Uruks bearing the mark of the White Hand walk in Moria as well. These are ambassadors from Isengard, whose true plans for Moria have yet to be revealed.

On the Verges

As you approach the southernmost edges of Zelem-melek, the architecture changes again. Statues of noble Dwarves line the walls beneath flying arches, looming over huge pits that bisect the grounds. The bottoms of these pits end in unfinished stone and the edges of the lower territories of the Flaming Deeps (to the south) and the Redhorn Lodes (to the east).

Towards the Flaming Deeps, the road descends into sunken slabs and broken stairs. More carvings of ancestral Dwarves look out over visitors at this border, but some of their heads have broken and collapsed, bowed as if in sorrow.

Turn your attention, though, to the east. The air here grows hazy with dust from the mines beyond. Past the delicate arches and prowling Warg-riders, through the deep, hewn chasm below, looms the raw, ruddy ceiling of the Redhorn Lodes. It’s a lethal drop from the promenades of Zelem-melek to the palatial estates below, save for one safe path. Fortunately, that path is guarded by an expedition of brave Dwarves. who call their camp the Orcwatch.

The Orcwatch

At the edge of Zelem-melek’s high plateau stands the Orcwatch, a Dwarf outpost overlooking the dusty mines of the Redhorn Lodes. Occupying a pair of guarded and lightly fortified entryways, the Orcwatch defends the steep stairway that leads up from the Redhorn Lodes to the east, and provides a bit of refuge to those adventurers who retreat to the nearby ring of stones.

Within the Orcwatch, a small gang of Dwarves make plans to antagonize the Enemy and disrupt the work of Orc-kind in Moria. These Dwarves have only a minimum of manpower: a Stable-master, a Forge-master, a healer, a provisioner, and a handful of brave planners. What they need are sturdy weapons, strong arms to wield them, and stout hearts willing to brave the monsters roaming all around.

With the Orcwatch as a base, strike out into the Redhorn Lodes, the Flaming Deeps, and Zelem-melek. Confront the mysterious beetles chittering nearby. Cut down the Warg-rider patrols stalking about. Capture the enemy’s weapons, and use them to arm Dwarf colonists for coming battles against the Orcs. Turn the hatred of the Moria Orcs against their cousins from Mordor.

Here, at the Orcwatch, in the geographic heart of Moria, it may be possible to bring new light into the darkness of Khazad-dûm. Completing that heroic task is up to you.