Balin (Middle-earth)

Balin
Tolkien's legendarium character
Aliases	Lord of Moria
Race	Dwarf
Book(s)	The Hobbit Unfinished Tales

Balin is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He is an important supporting character in The Hobbit, and is mentioned in The Fellowship of the Ring.

Balin is the only Dwarf of Thorin's company whose name does not come directly from the Old Norse poem "Völuspá", part of the Poetic Edda. The name was invented by Tolkien.

Balin was born in Erebor in T.A. 2763 the son of Fundin. In 2770, the year Balin turned 7, Erebor was sacked by Smaug, and the Dwarves went into exile. During that period his younger brother Dwalin was born. Their father Fundin was killed in 2799 in the Battle of Azanulbizar, and in 2802 they settled in the Blue Mountains with their surviving family. In 2841, Balin and Dwalin were among those who set out with Thráin II, but they lost Thráin and returned to the Blue Mountains.

Balin is a Dwarf member of Thorin Oakenshield's company of dwarves who in T.A. 2941 travel with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf in the Quest of Erebor, on which the plot of The Hobbit centres.

The second dwarf to arrive at Bilbo's house at the beginning of The Hobbit, preceded by his brother Dwalin, Balin is part of the company assembled by Thorin to kill the dragon Smaug and retake the mountain kingdom of Erebor. Like his brother Dwalin, he played a viol. Other than Thorin, he is the only one explicitly said to have been at the Mountain prior to the coming of the dragon. According to Appendix A in The Return of the King he was 7 years old while Thorin was 24 on that day. Among the company of dwarves, Balin is the second-eldest after Thorin.

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