Balin son of Fundin

Balin ruled Moria for five years (T.A. 2989-94) as the self-proclaimed "King of Khazad-dum." Originally a follower of King Thrain II during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, he escaped when his overlord was captured by the minions of the Necromancer in T.A. 2845. He then became a follower of Thrain 's son, Thorin Oakenshield. In T.A. 2941, Balin fought beside King Thorin II (as one of the famed Thirteen Dwarves) in his victorious battle to reclaim Erebor. The Dwarven triumph in the Battle of Five Armies enabled the Naugrim to reestablish the Dwarvcn "Kingdom Under the Mountain," a grand Dwarf-hold which had been abandoned by the Khazad after the coming of Smaug the Dragon. At that time, Balin formed an unusual friendship with Bilbo Baggins, Dain Ironfoot succeeded Thorin Oakenshield after the latter's death in the Battle of Five Armies. Balin was sorely hurt by the loss of his friend and did not get along well with Dain, so he settled with his followers in Erebor rather than accompanying the King to the Iron Hills. Restless and-driven, however, Balin resolved to leave Dan's fold altogether in T.A, 2989, That year he led an expedition to reclaim Khazad-dum. He gathered a colony of Dwarves there, but in 2994, Orcs attacked Balin's realm. Balin perished battling Ores outside the Great Gates of Moria. He fell in the famous Valley of Azanulbizar, where two hundred years before the greatest of the battles that comprised the War between the Dwarves and the Orcs bad been fought. Balin was buried in the Chamber of Mazarbul (the Chamber of Records in Old Moria, on the Seventh Level) which was once his throne-room.