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phdguides · 6 months

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9 things you should consider before pursuing a PhD Degree

Have you completed your postgraduate studies and are now considering adding another feather to your hat with a PhD degree?

PhD is a higher level of qualification that will not be as easy a route as other degrees. You have heard similar statements from many people, and they’re probably not incorrect.

There are numerous factors to consider before diving into the world of academia. As a result, we’ve written this article to help you clarify your perspective on PhD studies.

After speaking with PhD candidates, we identified nine significant factors that you should consider before deciding to join the elite society of scholars.

9 essential things to consider before pursuing a PhD degree:

Be completely sure about pursuing a PhD degree

This is, without a doubt, the most important factor to consider before pursuing a PhD. You must be absolutely certain before embarking on this path, as it will not be an easy one.

No, I’m not trying to scare you, but I do want to warn you that researching for a PhD is a time-consuming and stressful process. Instead of studying what is already available, you must provide a new solution to the topic you have chosen.

As a result, this will be a rollercoaster ride, and you should only consider it if you are willing to invest a significant amount of time and are extremely passionate about finding a solution in your desired field.

Choose topic

Spend some time considering the topic or subjects in which you want to pursue your PhD. Shortlist the topics that interest you, discuss them with professors and research students, and gather all the information you can.

This will allow you to gain a thorough understanding of the topics on which you wish to focus your PhD research and help you make an informed decision. It is important to choose a topic about which you are passionate.

Because you will be researching it for the next 4 to 5 years, so it should be something you’re interested in, not something you’re not.

Choose supervisor

Throughout your PhD, your supervisor will be your primary point of contact. He or she will advise, mentor, and assist you in your research.

As a result, it is essential that you select a supervisor who is an expert in your chosen field rather than someone with broad knowledge of the subject. Only if your supervisor is well-versed in the subject will he or she be able to guide you effectively.

It will be difficult for you to complete your doctorate on time if they have to search or read for themselves first. Research thoroughly and only approaches the supervisor for your PhD degree when you are certain, as the supervisor influences not only your research but also your career beyond your PhD.

Choose university

Not every university offers a PhD in the subject or topic of your choice. Besides the location of the university also matter whether it is feasible for your research or not. Furthermore, where do you want to pursue your PhD from?

This is also an important question to answer if you want to pursue your PhD in India or abroad. If travelling abroad is what interests you, you also have to choose a country as well.

You must also consider the scholarships and admissions process of the university to which you wish to apply. After collecting all of your data, determine which universities you are eligible for and apply accordingly.

How you are going to pay

Let’s be realistic here. Doing a PhD is a time-consuming job that requires a lot of resources to conduct research, as well as funding for these resources, admission fees, tuition fees, travel, and so on.

Working full-time while pursuing a PhD is a pipe dream that is difficult to realize. So the question is how will you manage your finances?

There could be two possibilities. First and foremost, you must have a family who supports you and can financially fund you. Second, you can apply for various PhD scholarships offered by various national and international institutes.

You can learn about PhD scholarships by visiting the UGC portal or by visiting the page of the specific fellowship. Check the eligibility requirements and apply accordingly.

Make a schedule

After you’ve completed all of the preceding tasks, the next step is to be organized. You will conduct research and will need to read and comprehend a great deal of data.

As a result, it is always preferable to create a proper schedule of what you intend to do first, the experiments and surveys you intend to conduct, and so on.

This will allow you to organize your research and avoid ambiguity. You can better manage your time and even find time to work on your thesis.

Take careful notes

You may have a fantastic memory, but with so much information, there is a good chance you will overlook some facts. That is why it is always a good idea to take notes.

It will make your work much easier and will be of great assistance when writing your dissertation and thesis. Take notes on everything, even the seemingly insignificant details.

You will need a lot of data to back up your research, so don’t skip anything and collect everything. You can always fine-tune it later.

Create a network

You’re working on your PhD, so you’ll be meeting a lot of people for research or other purposes. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Reach out to people from different fields and create a network.

Having a network of like-minded individuals and industry experts is always beneficial. Don’t limit yourself; instead, push the envelope and include people in your network.

After all, pursuing a PhD does not imply focusing solely on research, but also on the overall development of your personality.

Keep your work-life balance

A PhD is a full-time job with no leaves. There will be no weekends or set times to be free, and you may feel guilty for not doing certain things even after working so hard.

However, you must exercise caution. You must understand that taking breaks is essential for staying motivated and energized. You don’t have to isolate yourself from everyone because taking time for yourself and your loved ones is completely appropriate. You don’t need to pressurize yourself.

Conclusion

If you have read all of the points and still think you can achieve your doctorate goal. You should definitely go ahead with it. However, if you have any doubts, you should reconsider your decision. Because PhD study will require a full-time commitment, you should only commit when you are fully prepared.

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ebaeschnbliah · 1 year

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Off you go, all of you, down the stairs!

‘Wait a few minutes for me at the bottom, but if I do not come soon, go on! Go quickly and choose paths leading right and downwards.'

'We cannot leave you to hold the door alone! ' said Aragorn.

`Do as I say! ' said Gandalf fiercely. `Swords are no more use here. Go!'

The passage was lit by no shaft and was utterly dark. They groped their way down a long flight of steps, and then looked back; but they could see nothing, except high above them the faint glimmer of the wizard's staff. He seemed to be still standing on guard by the closed door. Frodo breathed heavily and leaned against Sam, who put his arms about him. They stood peering up the stairs into the darkness. Frodo thought he could hear the voice of Gandalf above, muttering words that ran down the sloping roof with a sighing echo. He could not catch what was said. The walls seemed to be trembling. Every now and again the drum-beats throbbed and rolled: doom, doom.

Suddenly at the top of the stair there was a stab of white light. Then there was a dull rumble and a heavy thud. The drum-beats broke out wildly: doom-boom, doom-boom, and then stopped. Gandalf came flying down the steps and fell to the ground in the midst of the Company.

`Well, well! That's over! ' said the wizard struggling to his feet. `I have done all that I could. But I have met my match, and have nearly been destroyed. But don't stand here! Go on! You will have to do without light for a while: I am rather shaken. Go on! Go on! Where are you, Gimli? Come ahead with me! Keep close behind, all of you!'

They stumbled after him wondering what had happened. Doom, doom went the drum-beats again: they now sounded muffled and far away, but they were following. There was no other sound of pursuit, neither tramp of feet, nor any voice. Gandalf took no turns, right or left, for the passage seemed to be going in the direction that he desired. Every now and again it descended a flight of steps, fifty or more, to a lower level. At the moment that was their chief danger; for in the dark they could not see a descent, until they came on it, and put their feet out into emptiness. Gandalf felt the ground with his staff like a blind man.

At the end of an hour they had gone a mile, or maybe a little more, and had descended many flights of stairs. There was still no sound of pursuit. Almost they began to hope that they would escape. At the bottom of the seventh flight Gandalf halted.

`It is getting hot! ' he gasped. `We ought to be down at least to the level of the Gates now. Soon I think we should look for a left-hand turn to take us east. I hope it is not far. I am very weary. I must rest here a moment, even if all the orcs ever spawned are after us.'

JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

#the lord of the rings #the fellowship of the ring #the bridge of khazad-dûm #jrr tolkien #gandalf #aragorn #boromir #frodo #sam #merry #pippin #gimli #legolas #moria #khazad dum #architecture #movie pics #peter jackson

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whitehorsevale · 1 year

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Okay. Nobody else stepping up. I'm going to try to comment about the obvious main event on January 15 in Lord of the Rings.

I was ten when I read that. Fresh off The Hobbit. Doubting by chapter two that Fellowship of the Ring had been written by the same guy. This was absolutely agonizing.

And imagine being Aragorn or Boromir, with that moment of hesitation weighing in on you...

#lotr newsletter #january 15 #the bridge of khazad-dum #gandalf the grey is no more

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saentorine · 1 year

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Sooooo the 4th season of The Dragon Prince may have told a more legit Sauron backstory than The Rings of Power did

#also hello little gollum butterfly dude #hello bridge of khazad-dum scene #hello glittering caves #hello not throwing the magical macguffin into the volcano when you had the chance #i know modern fantasy owes a shit ton to tolkien but lol damn #sauron #mairon #maiar #the dragon price #star touch elves #aaravos #like soren I keep getting his name wrong and calling him aavaros #lord of the rings #the silmarillion #the rings of power #rings of power #amazon lotr #the dragon prince spoilers #spoilers

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hhimring · 2 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Additional Tags: Moria | Khazad-dûm Summary:

Maybe Gandalf had an ally in the bridge? The Balrog's fall from an unusual point of view.

#lord of the rings #moria #bridge of khazad-dum #fixed-length #short

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soundtrack-rhapsody · 1 year

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#the bridge of khazad-dum #howard shore #the lord of the rings #the fellowship of the ring #video

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saurons-pr-department · 8 days

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I have to giggle everytime I listen to the Bridge of Khazad-dum music because I have no idea what the choir are saying but all I hear is "Who has the car key? Who has the car key? Whooooo-a? Whoooooo-a? Whoooooooooooooooooooo?

#someone stole the orcs' car keys #it's not on lads

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animepopheart · 9 months

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★ 【ertacaltinoz】「 The Bridge of Khazad-dum 」 ☆ ✔ republished w/permission ⊳ ⊳ follow me on twitter

#lotr #lord of the rings #gandalf #the fellowship of the ring #fantasy art #artist: ertacaltinoz

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thekingofwinterblog · 2 months

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They dug too greedily and too deep

One line that has always bothered me from Tolkien's legendarium, is Gandalf's condemnation of the actions of the Longbeard Dwarves of Khazad-Dum, later known as Moria.

Moria was the grandest city in the history of middle earth, and not by a small margin either, a marvel unlile any other, creates by hard work, dedication, and industrious spirit. And unlike so, so many other great treasures and places in Tolkien's legendarium, there was no harm here. Nature was not destroyed, natural beauty was not despoiled, other people did not suffer for Durin's Folk to prosper.

Almost everywhere else, when tolkien critiques a place or people, he very clearly lays out the big failing underpinning of the society that led to its fall, decline or conflict.

The leaders and people of Gondolin refused to leave their beloved city, even when it had been long foretold that they would need to leave it, and so everyone but 800 died there along with the wonder of that hidden vale.

Their great hubris was a prioriticing beauty and home over their own kind, living people, who's very existence and lives was far, far more valuable, important and beautiful than Gondolin ever was.

Gondor's decline was in large part because it's numenorean population stopped focusing on the next generation, the future that actually mattered, in favor of venerating ancestors who were long since in the grave.

Same as gondolin, only replace their love for their material city, with their ancestors.

The humans, elves and dwarfs at Erebor almost murder each other because their leaders are all too proud to make a peaceful negotiation and sharing of the spoils, and would rather kill each other than give have to give anything beyond what they themselves has deemed as "enough".

This is a clear cut example of how greed almost led to complete catastrophy.

What happened to Moria though, at the surface doesnt seem to fit this.

They dug, and dug, and dug, until they awakened Durin's bane... But Durin's Bane was not a natural part of the misty Mountains. He was an intruder who came here long ago.

Yet the way Gandalf described the doom of their civilization as something that would always come if they went down, down Into the mountain, he makes it sound like this was always going to be the outcome.

From a logical perspectice it makes sense... But from a moral one? At the surface, the dwarves going down, rather than east, west, north or south, or up, doesnt seem like it should be any different. The motivation was the same, and if there was a natural sin or hubris for that, their greed would not be all that different if they went in any of the other directions. And yet endlessly going down was different somehow.

A moral failing that just like Gonfolin prioriticing their stone over their people, or Turin's pride and vainglory leading to the fall of Nargothrond, would lead their civilization to ruin.

The question of course, is why? Why was going down deemed a moral failing of the Dwarves by Gandalf and by extension Tolkien?

Well, the answer comes if you look at moria from the side, because if so, you realize the dwarves were tempting fate long, long before they ever stumbled unto Durin's bane.

Durin's bridge spans over an enormous chasm, so deep that the Dwarves have never reached the bottom, and down there at the bottom is an enormous subteranean cavern and lake.

And in this lake, and in the caverns directly around it, there are things. Nightmarish things, so terrifying, that two Maia, upon reaching this place, rather than finish their battle here, instead flee the place in terror, and make their way back to Khazad-Dum.

That on it's own speaks volumes of what sort of horrors these creatures must have been, but it goes beyond that.

The way Gandalf describes them, and the way he refuses to even talk about them in depth in the light of the sun brings to mind some lovecraftian horrors that lurks in the depths of the earth, where they gnaw at the very roots of the world.

And what little we do know of what these creatures must have been further emphasizes this, for they are clearly describes as Older than Sauron.

This all on it's own gives us a good idea of what these things are, for there is only one, single creature in the legendarium who seems to fit that bill, and she is definitly an eldrich abomination.

Ungoliant, the enormous spider abomination from the first age sticks out like a sore thumb, having powers that are completely outside of the usual magic system of the world, but far more disturbingly, she is described as coming "from the void" aka the primeal outer space as the most likely of her origins, and she crept into the world after it was made.

She, and she alone is the only creature other than Eru himself that fits the bill of "Older than Sauron" for Sauron was there at the worlds creation, but the void was from before even that.

It is very likely then, that Ungoliath was one of these "nameless things" whose kin, now during the third age delved beneath the world.

And there is more that suggests this to be the case. For Unholiath before she vanished from recorded history was last seen in a place in Beleriand called Nan Dungortheb, the valley of dreadful death, where in the mountains above the valley, she bred forth a race of monstrous, giant spiders, such as Shelob.

But she and her spawn was not the only ones who lived here. For along with these monstrosities, there lived men here. Clans of mysterious renegade men, who carved altars to strange, heathen, nameless gods, who were neither the Valar nor Morgoth, and who's very laughter from the mists, brought fear and terror, even into the likes of Turin Turambar.

And to further seal that there is a definite connection here, the northern part of the valley, and the mountains where these terrifying spiders and men dwelt, was one of the few olaces to survive the war of wrath, by the far the largest landmass that survived of Beleriand, when it sunk into the sea... As if some greater power ensured it would remain standing.

Today it is the island of Tol Fuin.

And for all we know, both the spiders, and the men who worshipped these terrible "gods" still live there.

In my opinion, it is probably an underground tunnel and cave system on this island, that if you go down, down, down far enough, and keep going, slowly, but surely, you will find your ways to the caverns beneath Khazad-Dum, and in ages past, when the Balrog of Morgoth fled the war of wrath, it was this passage he used to find a deep, deep hole to hid in, where the Valar could not find him. He has to have gotten there somewhere, and clearly there is a connection between the island and the things beneath Moria.

But with all of this in mind, with these horrible creatures under Khazad-Dum, why was it such a cardinal sin for the Dwarfs to dig deeper?

It was a horrific danger yes, and clearly it was an absolutely terrible idea, regardless of wheter or not there was a Balrog, but why was it it a moral sin where they should have known better?

Well, rhe answer comes if you take another look at the map. From Gandalf's description, one would assume that the great lake was miles, and miles and miles and miles beneath the lowest point the dwarves ever dug.

Theyre not though. That well that Pippin threw a rock down? It goes WAY deeper than where the abyss ends. And it was down beneath that well, that the Balrog seemes to have been when the fellowship came.

Allow me to repeat that. There was a well established, and probably old well in Moria, that went ALLLLL the the way down to these caverns where these nameless things roamed.

Then if we trace the route Gandalf and the Balrog made back to Khazad Dum, we don't know exactly where the two different carved systems of passages interconnected, but interconnect they did, and if that side passage that leads to the Redhorn Lodes is anything to go by, this was probably a very well known and used part of Moria.

Which, if that's true, it it completely changes the ballgame.

Because if so, the dwarves didn't just crack a wall one day, and then accidentally awaken a balrog. No, they dug down, down, down, until they stumbled unto these strange tunnels that were no their own... And kept going anyway, interconnecting them, delving deper, exploring, regardless of the fact that at some point, some Dwarves MUST have stumbled on to the creatures that lived here.

And yet they kept going. They found these tunnels leqding to eldrich abominations, and rather than sealing them, and going the opposite way, they just kept going, following the Mithril lodes down, down, down into the depths, down to the mountain roots, heedless of the obvious danger, all in the search of more and more Mithril... Right up until they awoke something that would follow them back up through the tunnels, they themselves made.

They dug much too greedily... and far, FAR too deep. No they kept digging, long, long , long after the point they should have stopped, the point where all signs and common sense would have told them to go back and never go this way again.

That was the sin of Khazad-Dum. That was their greed and folly, and blinded by greed, they ignored all sense and wisdom in the pursuit of Mithril beyond down the level that was their birthright, beyond the mountain's depths and into the roots of the world, where nameless horrors lie... And one of these horrors followed them home.

#tolkien's legendarium #lord of the rings #moria #khazad dum #khazad dûm #balrog #durin's bane #meta #theory #nameless things #ungoliant

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invisiblewashboard · 5 months

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Small Child's Thoughts on "The Bridge of Khazad-Dum"

Why do they need to know what Balin’s fate was? He’s dead. That was his fate.

Why would someone slash and stab a book?

Was Ori one of the dwarves that went with Bilbo? I just cannot remember. There are way too many names now.

Uh oh. “Doom doom” is a bad sound.

I told you orcs and goblins were coming!

Wait, why was Frodo against the wall? (Because he got stabbed.) AGAIN?!

Well, Frodo might not be dead but if he got stabbed again, he is going to be dead. (Well, this wasn’t a Morgul blade. There wasn’t poison in it that will turn him into a wraith.) Oh. But still, he got stabbed so he should probably die soon.

Gandalf should use his staff for light. If he doesn’t they will fall down and be caught.

Uh oh. Fire. But I guess they can see, so that’s good.

What is a Balrog? Can you show me a picture? Oh. It looks like Te Kā from Moana, like a great big fire monster. Maybe Gandalf can just throw water on it? Te Kā cannot touch the water so maybe a Balrog can’t either.

Hey, when you and Daddy say, “You cannot pass” are you pretending me and my sisters are Balrogs? (Sometimes you can be as fearsome and destructive as a Balrog!) That is not an answer to my question. I do not think it’s kind to say me and the girls are Balrogs.

Wait. Wait, why was Gandalf gone? Couldn’t they just grab him and pull him out?

(A pause for a few actual tears shed in honor of Gandalf. Was not expecting that.)

(What did you think of this chapter, Small Child?) *Thumbs down, hiding his face in his arm, refusing to look at me*

#small child's thoughts #lord of the rings #lotr #the fellowship of the ring #jrr tolkien #read aloud #first read through #no sympathy for balin #but tears for gandalf #he is actually worried about frodo #just does not come across well through text #also i cracked up laughing when he shouted “AGAIN?!”#he reprimanded me

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ebaeschnbliah · 1 year

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Following his lead the Company passed under the northern arch

They found themselves in a wide corridor. As they went along it the glimmer grew stronger, and they saw that it came through a doorway on their right. It was high and flat-topped, and the stone door was still upon its hinges, standing half open. Beyond it was a large square chamber. It was dimly lit, but to their eyes, after so long a time in the dark, it seemed dazzlingly bright, and they blinked as they entered.

Their feet disturbed a deep dust upon the floor, and stumbled among things lying in the doorway whose shapes they could not at first make out. The chamber was lit by a wide shaft high in the further eastern wall; it slanted upwards and, far above, a small square patch of blue sky could be seen. The light of the shaft fell directly on a table in the middle of the room: a single oblong block, about two feet high, upon which was laid a great slab of white stone.

`It looks like a tomb,' muttered Frodo, and bent forwards with a curious sense of foreboding, to look more closely at it. Gandalf came quickly to his side. On the slab runes were deeply graven:

'These are Daeron's Runes, such as were used of old in Moria,' said Gandalf. 'Here is written in the tongues of Men and Dwarves’:

BALIN SON OF FUNDIN LORD OF MORIA

'He is dead then,' said Frodo. `I feared it was so.' Gimli cast his hood over his face.

The Company of the Ring stood silent beside the tomb of Balin. Frodo thought of Bilbo and his long friendship with the dwarf, and of Balin's visit to the Shire long ago. In that dusty chamber in the mountains it seemed a thousand years ago and on the other side of the world.

At length they stirred and looked up, and began to search for anything that would give them tidings of Balin's fate, or show what had become of his folk. There was another smaller door on the other side of the chamber, under the shaft. By both the doors they could now see that many bones were lying, and among them were broken swords and axe-heads, and cloven shields and helms. Some of the swords were crooked: orc-scimitars with blackened blades.

There were many recesses cut in the rock of the walls, and in them were large iron-bound chests of wood. All had been broken and plundered; but beside the shattered lid of one there lay the remains of a book. It had been slashed and stabbed and partly burned, and it was so stained with black and other dark marks like old blood that little of it could be read. Gandalf lifted it carefully, but the leaves crackled and broke as he laid it on the slab. He pored over it for some time without speaking. Frodo and Gimli standing at his side could see, as he gingerly turned the leaves, that they were written by many different hands, in runes, both of Moria and of Dale, and here and there in Elvish script.

At last Gandalf looked up. 'It seems to be a record of the fortunes of Balin's folk,' he said. `I guess that it began with their coming to Dimrill Dale nigh on thirty years ago: the pages seem to have numbers referring to the years after their arrival. The top page is marked one - three, so at least two are missing from the beginning. Listen to this!

'We drove out orcs from the great gate and guard - I think; the next word is blurred and burned; probably room - we slew many in the bright - I think - sun in the dale. Flói was killed by an arrow. He slew the great. Then there is a blur followed by Flói under grass near Mirror mere. The next line or two I cannot read. Then comes We have taken the twentyfirst hall of North end to dwell in. There is I cannot read what. A shaft is mentioned. Then Balin has set up his seat in the Chamber of Mazarbul.'

'The Chamber of Records,' said Gimli. `I guess that is where we now stand.'

`Well, I can read no more for a long way,' said Gandalf, 'except the word gold, and Durin's Axe and something helm. Then Balin is now lord of Moria. That seems to end a chapter. After some stars another hand begins, and I can see we found truesilver, and later the word wellforged and then something, I have it! mithril; and the last two lines Óin to seek for the upper armouries of Third Deep, something go westwards, a blur, to Hollin gate.'

Gandalf paused and set a few leaves aside. 'There are several pages of the same sort, rather hastily written and much damaged, he said; `but I can make little of them in this light. Now there must be a number of leaves missing, because they begin to be numbered five, the fifth year of the colony, I suppose. Let me see! No, they are too cut and stained; I cannot read them. We might do better in the sunlight. Wait! Here is something: a large bold hand using an Elvish script.'

'That would be Ori's hand,' said Gimli, looking over the wizard's arm. `He could write well and speedily, and often used the Elvish characters.'

`I fear he had ill tidings to record in a fair hand,' said Gandalf. 'The first clear word is sorrow, but the rest of the line is lost, unless it ends in estre. Yes, it must be yestre followed by day being the tenth of novembre Balin lord of Moria fell in Dimrill Dale. He went alone to look in Mirror mere. an orc shot him from behind a stone. we slew the orc, hut many more ... up from east up the Silverlode. The remainder of the page is so blurred that I can hardly make anything out, but I think I can read we have barred the gates, and then can hold them long if, and then perhaps horrible and suffer. Poor Balin! He seems to have kept the title that he took for less than five years. I wonder what happened afterwards; but there is no time to puzzle out the last few pages. Here is the last page of all.' He paused and sighed.

`It is grim reading,' he said. 'I fear their end was cruel. Listen! We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the Bridge and second hall. Frár and Lóni and Náli fell there. Then there are four lines smeared so that I can only read went 5 days ago. The last lines run the pool is up to the wall at Westgate. The Watcher in the Water took Óin. We cannot get out. The end comes, and then drums, drums in the deep. I wonder what that means. The last thing written is in a trailing scrawl of elf-letters: they are coming. There is nothing more.' Gandalf paused and stood in silent thought.

A sudden dread and a horror of the chamber fell on the Company. `We cannot get out,' muttered Gimli. 'It was well for us that the pool had sunk a little, and that the Watcher was sleeping down at the southern end.'

Gandalf raised his head and looked round. `They seem to have made a last stand by both doors,' he said; 'but there were not many left by that time. So ended the attempt to retake Moria! It was valiant but foolish. The time is not come yet. Now, I fear, we must say farewell to Balin son of Fundin. Here he must lie in the halls of his fathers. We will take this book, the Book of Mazarbul, and look at it more closely later. You had better keep it, Gimli, and take it back to Dáin, if you get a chance. It will interest him, though it will grieve him deeply. Come, let us go! The morning is passing.'

'Which way shall we go? ' asked Boromir.

'Back to the hall,' answered Gandalf. 'But our visit to this room has not been in vain. I now know where we are. This must be, as Gimli says, the Chamber of Mazarbul; and the hall must be the twenty-first of the North-end. Therefore we should leave by the eastern arch of the hall, and bear right and south, and go downwards. The Twenty-first Hall should be on the Seventh Level, that is six above the level of the Gates. Come now! Back to the hall! '

Gandalf had hardly spoken these words, when there came a great noise: a rolling Boom that seemed to come from depths far below, and to tremble in the stone at their feet. They sprang towards the door in alarm. Doom, doom it rolled again, as if huge hands were turning the very caverns of Moria into a vast drum. Then there came an echoing blast: a great horn was blown in the hall, and answering horns and harsh cries were heard further off. There was a hurrying sound of many feet.

`They are coming! ' cried Legolas.

'We cannot get out,' said Gimli.

`Trapped! ' cried Gandalf.

JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, A Journey in the Dark, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

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