Kheled-zâram

"There like jewels sunk in the deep shone glinting stars, though sunlight was in the sky above. Of their own stooping forms no shadow could be seen."

—The Fellowship of the Ring

Kheled-zâram, as depicted by Alan Lee

Kheled-zâram, known in Westron as Mirrormere, was a small lake in Azanulbizar, a vale east of Moria. It was the source of the Silverlode.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, it is described as follows: "Its waters were dark: a deep blue like clear evening sky seen from a lamp-lit room. Its face was still and unruffled. About it lay a smooth sward, shelving down on all sides to its bare unbroken rim."

Geography

The lake lay less than a mile east and a little below the East-gate of Moria. It was long and oval, shaped like a great spear-head thrust deep into the northern glen of the vale. Its waters were dark; a deep blue like a clear evening sky, and there was a smooth sward of grass around its rim.

History

In the First Age, Durin, the oldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves, wandered into Azanulbizar vale and beheld in a small, still lake a reflection of himself bearing a crown of seven stars, a reflection of the constellation which would become known as Durin's Crown. Because of this sign Durin chose to build his great hall in the mountains above that vale, but ever afterwards, only he could see his reflection in the lake.

Durin's Stone in The Lord of the Rings Online

The Dwarves of Durin's Folk regarded this site as sacred and built a monument there. It was a single stone column called Durin's Stone, standing by the roadside. After Moria was abandoned it fell into disrepair, and in the last years of the Third Age it was cracked, weather-worn, and broken at the top.

Kheled-zâram in The Lord of the Rings Online, reflecting stars on a cloudy day

When Balin came to retake Moria in TA 2989, one of his companions, a dwarf named Flói, was slain in a battle before the Gates and was buried in a place of honor by the banks of Kheled-zâram. Balin himself was killed here five years later, by an orc arrow, when he went alone to look into the lake.

The Fellowship of the Ring stopped briefly at Kheled-zâram after fleeing Moria while Gimli, Frodo, and Sam took time to look into the lake, in the midst of their hurry.

Etymology

The name Kheled-zâram is Khuzdul, meaning "Glass-lake".

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Danish	Spejledam (Kheled-Zâram)
Finnish	Kheled-Zâram a. k. a. Kuvastaja
German	Kheled-zâram a. k. a. Spiegelsee
Hebrew	קהלד זאראם
Italian	Kheled-zâram a.k.a. Mirolago
Norwegian	Kheled-Zâram a. k. a. Speiltjernet
Portuguese	Kheled-zâram a.k.a. Lago-espelho or Lago-Espelho (Brazilian Portuguese) Kheled-zâram a.k.a. Lago do Espelho (Portugal)
Russian	Келед-зарам
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Kheled-zâram a.k.a. Lago Espejo
Turkish	Kheled-Zâram a. k. a. Aynagöl