Narfi's Bane
Revealing the Secret of Khidîz Baraz
I am glad to say I have made progress in revealing the family's secret, which I called the Secret of Khidîz Baraz (or red gold) in previous notes. Now I wish to rename it to Narfi's Bane, which is reminiscent of Durin's Bane. I wish to call it thus because the alleged events that shaped our family's future happened around the time when Durin's Bane awoke, but also and mainly because they both came forth from greed and both gave way to the deaths of many - or so I believe.
Trying to encrypt the cryptic poem of my early ancestor Nagli, and having read in some old family records, I have possibly discovered Nagli's hidden recounting of the events in Khazad Dûm during the years 1980-1981 of the Third Age. If I am correct, Nagli is saying that the second son of Nurvi, his younger brother Narfi, murdered their youngest brother Bruni because Bruni was ignorant of the danger that lay before them. In his stubborness he would have refused to leave the Halls of Durin, thus halting his brothers' idea of leaving Moria with all of their inherited gold - for while the treasure had finally been divided amongst the brothers after many years of strife, they nonetheless still craved after each other's share.
Narfi, greedy as he was, would not have his brother's ignorance cost them their lives or the loss of their gold for that matter. Thus Narfi must have murdered him in cold blood and must have pretended like he had fallen to the shadow and flame of the balrog who killed Durin. But Nagli was the oldest and smartest of the three brothers and he no doubt saw through Narfi's ruse. As the poem hints at a hidden treasure, I have a strong feeling that Nagli hid away a share of the hoard in a secure vault, so that Narfi could not claim it for his own.
When they fled Khazad Dûm, Narfi must have realised that a part of the treasure was gone. I do not know when Narfi figured it out, but eventually he did and he took his chance to rid himself of his eldest brother without anyone knowing. Perhaps Nagli confronted Narfi at some point and told him he would tell everyone of his treachery. Now, what follows is mere guessing on my part, but it could be that Nagli cursed our gold before he perished. Whether or not he did, it is clear that ever since Narfi died, things gradually started to get worse for our family.
Like I have recounted before, our family faced much internal strife throughout the years. The treasure from Moria remained untouched in our vaults for many centuries. Meanwhile our family started to experience some bad luck. Skaldur perished to dragonfire in the Grey Mountains, Buri was found frozen dead in a worm's cave in the northern reaches of the Blue Mountains, several of our family members did not survive the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, our dwarf women did not bare any daughters and our mine was depleted from its riches. Up until then everything just seemed an unhappy coincidence. However, when Fengar gave a portion of the treasure to the Elves of Lindon out of good gesture, things got even worse. The members of our family became permanently divided. Fruni's actions brought hope for a while, but his endeavour ended in sadness with the Hammerfall Tragedy in 2999. That is why I believe with much sadness that our line is carving its way to an early end, and that is why I have titled my magnus opum as Plight of the Stouthammers.
If this is indeed the workings of Nagli's curse over the treasure or another form of retribution for Narfi's deeds, then I fear I do not know how to stop us from facing this ill fate. But hope yet remains as curses can be lifted! Perhaps I merely need to uncover the truth to bring salvation to our family. Or perhaps there is a way to cleanse the gold of whatever ill words were spoken over it. Maybe I am just trying to find an explanation for the ugly deeds of the past and the poem has no secret meaning. Whatever it is, I know that I will find a way to save us all from Narfi's Bane.
