But eventually
Galadriel became aware that Sauron again, as in the ancient days of the captivity of
Melkor [see The Silmarillion p. 51], had been left behind. Or rather, since Sauron had as yet no single name, and his operations had not been perceived to proceed from a single
evil spirit, prime servant of Melkor, she perceived that there was an evil controlling purpose abroad in the world, and that it seemed to proceed from a source further to
the East, beyond
Eriador and the
Misty Mountains.
Celeborn and Galadriel therefore went eastwards, about the year 700 of the
Second Age, and established the (primarily but by no means solely) Noldorin
realm of Eregion.
It may be that Galadriel chose it because she knew of the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm (Moria). There were and always remained some Dwarves on the eastern side of
Ered Lindon, 3 where the very ancient mansions of Nogrod and Belegost had been - not far from Nenuial; but they had transferred most of their strength to Khazad-dûm. Celeborn had no liking for Dwarves of any
race (as he showed to
Gimli in
Lothlórien), and never forgave them for their part in the destruction of
Doriath; but it was only the host of Nogrod that took part in that assault, and it was destroyed in the battle of
Sam Athrad {
The Silmarillion pp. 233-5]. The Dwarves of Belegost were filled with dismay at the calamity and fear for its outcome, and this hastened their departure eastwards to Khazad-dûm. 4 Thus the Dwarves of Moria may be presumed to have been innocent of the ruin of Doriath and not hostile to the Elves. In any case, Galadriel was more far-sighted in this than Celeborn; and she perceived from the beginning that
Middle-earth could not be saved from "the residue of evil" that
Morgoth had left behind him save by a union of all the
peoples who were in their way and in their measure opposed to him. She looked upon the Dwarves also with the eye of a commander, seeing in them the finest warriors to pit against the
Orcs. Moreover Galadriel was a Noldo, and she had a natural sympathy with their minds and their passionate love of crafts of hand, a sympathy much greater than that found among many of the Eldar: the Dwarves were "the Children of
Aulë," and Galadriel, like others of the
Noldor, had been a pupil of Aulë and
Yavanna in
Valinor.