Skip to content
Map Middle-earth

Mountain · Misty Mountains

Celebdil

Silvertine · Zirakzigil

The white peak above Moria, topped by Durin's Tower where Gandalf killed the Balrog

Appears in
The Lord of the Rings
Region
Misty Mountains
Journeys passing through
1
Celebdil on the map of Middle-earth

Celebdil stands in the Misty Mountains directly above Khazad-dûm, its white crown visible from both the Dimrill Dale to the east and Eregion to the west. Caradhras rises red to its south and Fanuidhol grey to its north.

Inside the mountain the Dwarves cut the Endless Stair, a spiral of many thousand steps running unbroken from the lowest dungeons of Moria up to Durin's Tower carved in the living rock of the summit. It was long thought to be a legend or destroyed.

Gandalf and the Balrog found it. After falling from the Bridge of Khazad-dûm they came down into deep water, fought through the tunnels under the roots of the mountain, and the Balrog fled up the Endless Stair with Gandalf behind it. The fight finished on the peak in a storm of fire, ice and lightning that broke the tower and split the mountainside. Gandalf threw the Balrog down onto the rock below, then died himself and was sent back as Gandalf the White. Gwaihir found his body on the summit and carried him to Lothlórien.

Events at this place

  1. TA 3019, January 25 · The Lord of the Rings

    The Battle of the Peak

    Gandalf pursued the Balrog up the Endless Stair to Durin's Tower and destroyed it on the summit, dying of the effort before being sent back.

Frequently asked questions

Which mountain did Gandalf fight the Balrog on?

Celebdil, called Zirakzigil by the Dwarves, the white peak above Moria. The duel ended at Durin's Tower on its summit.

What is the Endless Stair?

A spiral stair cut by the Dwarves from the deepest level of Moria to Durin's Tower on Celebdil. Gandalf found it intact when the Balrog fled up it.