If deep diving into endless lore isn’t your thing, you likely have pondered how the Balrog from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ended up in Moria.

The look on poor Gimli’s face when he realises there’s only danger and death in Moria, rather than the cosy warmth of Dwavern civilisation, is soul crushing.

A Reddit user took to the forums to ask what happened to turn Moria into the desolate place we see in the Fellowship of the Ring film.

They’ve since deleted their account, though we assume for some reason unrelated to this, yet their question remains.

“So, I take it during the Hobbit Moria was fine and somewhere between it went bad. But how?”

It’s the thousand-dollar question we intend to answer.

While such queries can create room for discourse, most LOTR fans are in agreement that the Balrog “fled” to Moria.

User AmishRockstar details the popular theory, “It’s widely speculated that the Balrog fled (or was trapped) there after the fall of Morgoth […]

“When the Dwarves first established Moria they thrived for many generations, but then […] they woke the damn thing up and let it loose again.”

Despite never venturing outside of Moria, from what we know, the Balrog’s presence led to the abandonment of the location and thus to the sorry state the fellowship finds it in.

As for the reason why Gimli doesn’t seem to be aware of this, fans posit that he isn’t expecting to find dwarves but merely hopes to find some.

Despite the tragedy surrounding the novel’s location, it’s nice to see the fandom not arguing over why Moria was abandoned. Elsewhere in the fandom, there’s no such luck, for fans are divided over other matters, such as Sauron’s true appearance.

Although it pains us to relive Gimli’s disappointment, we’re glad we know why and how the Balrog came to be at Moria.