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Things of Middle-earth

Thror's Key

Type: Artifacts

Other Names:
key of Erebor

Description:

The key to the enchanted secret entrance to the Lonely Mountain; companion to Thror's map:
[Gandalf] finds Thráin [imprisoned] and receives the key of Erebor. Thráin dies in Dol Guldur.

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, The Tale of Years: The Third Age

'Also,' went on Gandalf, '... with the map went a key, a small and curious key. Here it is!' he said, and handed to Thorin a key with a long barrel and intricate wards, made of silver. 'Keep it safe!'

'Indeed I will,' said Thorin, and he fastened it upon a fine chain that hung about his neck and under his jacket.

The Hobbit, Ch 1, An Unexpected Party

[Elrond] held up the map and the white light shone through it. 'What is this?' he said. 'There are moon-letters here, beside the plain runes which say "five feet high the door and three may walk abreast".'....

'What do they say?' asked Gandalf and Thorin together....

'Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks,' read Elrond, 'and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole.'

The Hobbit, Ch 3, A Short Rest

'The key!' shouted Bilbo. 'The key that went with the map! Try it now while there is still time!'

Then Thorin stepped up and drew the key on its chain from round his neck. He put it to the hole. It fitted and it turned! Snap! The gleam went out, the sun sank, the moon was gone, and evening sprang into the sky.

The Hobbit, Ch 11, On the Doorstep

So several of the dwarves got up and groped back to where the door had been. But they found that the upper end of the tunnel had been shattered and blocked with broken rock. Neither key nor the magic it had once obeyed would ever open that door again.

The Hobbit, Ch 13, Not At Home

Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 27Sep05, 30Sep05

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