30Jun/107
Moria
by Jeff
Image text: Someone should really bring them a ladder and remind them to build the Endless Stair *first* next time.
This is a Lord of the Rings reference and the character with the beard and hat is Gandalf. The four shorter characters are the hobbits that were also members of the Fellowship of the Ring. The comic is making a joke on the fact that if the dwarves dug too deeply, then they just were unable to get out.
June 30th, 2010
It’s worth noting that the Endless Stair isn’t just something Randall made up, but is part of the mythology of Middle Earth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moria_(Middle-earth)#Endless_Stair
June 30th, 2010
This is not the appropriate place for this comment, but couldn’t find anywhere else to comment so I just chose the most recent entry –
Why isn’t there a search bar for this page? Love it, great idea, but I often can’t find the specific comic I’m looking for, since they’re not dated on xkcd.com. Am I missing it?
July 1st, 2010
Just do a Google search for the title of the comic with the tag site:explainxkcd.com like this.
July 1st, 2010
“if the dwarves dug too deeply, then they just were unable to get out.” — that doesn’t really explain the joke; actually, it only repeats what the comic says, with a slightly different phrasing. I would suggest adding “because they’re short”, or something similar.
July 1st, 2010
not sure why this was voted down, I completely agree with it.. not a big LotR fan, did they dig so deeply they ran into something bad? All I remember from the movies were little goblin things that seemed to die easily.
July 2nd, 2010
They ran into a balrog, a demi-god-like creature that served as some kind of general under Saurons former lord Morgoth. The balrog was prisoned deep under the mountains until the dwarves dug to deep.
There was a big clash between the balrog and gandalf at the bridge at the end of the mines. Maybe this hint. helps your memory?
September 27th, 2010
This is also probably a reference to the repetition of the phrase “We cannot get out” as Gandalf reads the account in the Book of Mazarbul (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mazarbul#Book_of_Mazarbul) of the Dwarves’ final stand against the orcs:
“We have barred the gates, but can not hold them for long. We can not get out. They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall. Frár and Lóni and Náli fell there. The pool is up to the wall at the Westgate. The Watcher in the water took Óin. We can not get out. The end comes. Drums, drums in the deep. They are coming.”