In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria (Sindarin for "Black Chasm") was the name given by the Eldar to an enormous underground complex in north-western Middle-earth, comprising a vast network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls or 'mansions', that ran under and ultimately through the Misty Mountains. There, for many thousands of years, lived the Dwarf clan known as the Longbeards.
According to Tolkien's fiction, the city and one-time centre of dwarven industry was also called Hadhodrond by the Sindar, Casarrondo by the Noldor and Phurunargian in the Common Speech, all meaning the Dwarrowdelf. For over a thousand years of the Third Age it was widely known as Moria, "Black Chasm" or "Black Pit", fromSindarin mor="black" and iâ="void, abyss, pit.