The Dwarrowdelf was founded by Durin ‘the Deathless’ in the far distant past, long before the creation of the Sun and Moon in the Years of the Trees. Durin had awakened at Mount Gundabad not long after the Elves first awoke, and as eldest among the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves was acknowledged as preeminent among them, a status subsequently inherited by his descendants, the Kings of the Longbeards.

From Mount Gundabad, Durin made his way south until according to legend, Durin ultimately found “a glen of shadows between two great arms of the mountains, above which three white peaks were shining”.^[2] Within this heavily wooded valley, a long series of short waterfalls led down to a long, oval lake, which appeared to have a magical quality: “There, like jewels sunk in the deep shone glinting stars, though sunlight was in the sky above”.^[2] Perceiving these stars as a crown glittering above his head, Durin took this as an auspicious sign, and named the lake Kheled-zâram, the Mirrormere.