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Uncategorized Monday, June 11th 2012 at 6:35 pm

Amazing 1:1 Scale Replica of Moria Built in Minecraft

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When we think of the Mines of Moria, we think of either Gimli’s crib or the place where Gandalf got crunk with the Balrog. But when Redditor and Minecraft enthusiast Tigerballs07 saw the Mines of Moria in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, all he saw was virtual 1-cubic-meter blocks. For roughly a year, Tigerballs07 and a team of over 40 volunteers worked to create a 1:1 scale replica of Middle Earth’s Mines of Moria. Read on for a little more about this tremendous project, gallery included!

The original post was entitled, “Minecraft Moria – Built to Scale – Hand Dug – Details in comments.” I was immediately intrigued. I then realized that there were well over 1,000 comments to wade through to actually get to the details mentioned in the title. I was suddenly much less intrigued. After a few minutes of wading, however, I found the details of which Tigerballs07 had spoken.

The structure is 16,000 x 16,000 blocks and took tens of thousands of man hours to complete. The entirety of the structure was “Hand-Dug,” which mean that no mods were used to simplify the building process within Minecraft. The replica is based on Peter Jackson’s vision of Moria and not J. R. R. Tolkien’s description. The replica features all of the iconic locales featured in the film; with everything from the entrance to the bridge on which Gandalf confronts the Balrog.

This is not the first massive project that user Tigerballs07 has undertaken, having also completed a 1:1 scale replica of the German World War II battleship Bismarck (which can be found here). I hope you weren’t planning on downloading the map, because according to the reddit thread, the map would take 2 to 3 days to upload and, therefore, has not been put up for download.

  1. No. 1 | Moria 1

  2. No. 2 | Moria 2

  3. No. 3 | Moria 3

  4. No. 4 | Moria 4

  5. No. 5 | Moria 5

  6. No. 6 | Over-Head Map of Moria

  7. No. 7 | There is one Dwarf yet in Moria that still draws breath!

(via Reddit)

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  • Dr Coene

    I uhm… Jesus Christ…

  • Anonymous

    Thats nice. That would have taken a while to build.

  • fail

    Old, the Middle Earth MC RP server has been up for a while now. The entire thing is a 1:1 replica of Middle Earth.

  • Zqsedrfhghj

    Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see different versions of such a large construction. You get to see how each reader interpreted tolkien’s descriptions.

  • MaDReD

    Well this version isn’t based on the books, but rather on peter jackson’s vision. Although it might be a 1×1 scale, it is not a completed build as many parts are missing.
    For example i don’t see (or they may just not be in the pictures)  the chamber of light, the kings court and other important parts of moria, or khazad-dum.

  • MaDReD

    Also guys, I just ddi soem reading up on the reddit thread and i’m here to correct some false information.

    The server is 16kx16k the moria build itself is about 800×1000 blocks.
    It is not a 1:1 scale, they just built what looked good judging by the movie stills they were looking at. Some of the things they have build are not in the movie or books.

    That said, it is still an impressive build.

  • Brookehennen

    Please inquire further than simply reading the comments.  Bagline was the player who instigated and organized the project, not Tigerballs07.  In general, having known Bagline since middle school, he’s generally far to quiet to make claim this on a blog filled with thousands of comments where he’d be overshadowed anyways.

  • Bagline

     I already made a comment that was ignored, but hey it’s worth trying again eh?

    “It’s an interesting feeling to have your work validated by being posted
    on a news site while simultaneously realizing how little work goes into
    the creation of that ‘news’ and how readily most people gobble up the
    bull***t slung their way.”

  • Brookehennen

    Well said.

  • ProfessionalTrollKiller

    Troll Alert; The content of the post from the user this is in reply to is a professional troll. He shall not make any useful comments, constructive input, or otherwise valuable information referring to the post he is commenting on. Please disregard any and all previous and future posts from this user. Have a nice day. BTW That Szit i’d the Bomb Yo!!!

  • fitmit12

    If that’s the 21st hall, then you guys aren’t even CLOSE to finishing Moria. I hope that a version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Moria would be built, since it is EPIC in Lotro. the Foundation of Stone with the green lake and other oddities. The main hall they go into is the 21st hall, which is in Zelem-Melek. The Great Delving is the first area you go into, and it’s basically a straight shot from the 21st hall to Lothlorien on the other side of the mountain. Other wise, just a good sight for people who are familiar with where all the goblins came in the movie :P