Who is Durin’s brother in ‘The Rings of Power’?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Rings of Power season 2 finale.

The Rings of Power season 2 finale changed the power dynamic in the Dwarves’ mountain kingdom of Khazad-dûm, but what do we know about this new contender for the throne? And is he a part of the line of Durin?

To know about Durin’s Folk, we first have to discuss the first of their race and their eldest, Durin the Deathless. When the Vala Aulë, in his yearning for the arrival of the Children of Ilúvatar, created the Dwarves and aroused the Creator’s ire, Durin was one of the little creatures he had fashioned in a pale imitation of Elves and Men. Ilúvatar reprimanded Aulë and reminded him that he lacked the power to create living, animate things, at which point Aulë repented and decided to destroy the Dwarves. Brought to pity, Ilúvatar then spared the Dwarves and gave them independent life, but said that they shall awaken after the Elves have arrived at Middle-earth.

Many years later, the Seven Fathers of Dwarves woke up under the stars. Durin the Deathless was one of them, and he wandered the nameless hills of the world until he came to the place now known as Khazad-dûm. There he built a tribe and a people called Durin’s Folk, who went on to represent one of the seven factions of the Dwarves in Middle-earth.

Many characters in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, like Gimli son of Gloin and Thorin Oakenshield, hail from the House of Durin. And since The Rings of Power also shows us the Dwarven realm under the Misty Mountains, Prince Durin IV and his father Durin III also come from the line of Durin the Deathless. But now, the series is bringing up a younger brother for Durin IV, making fans scratch their head in confusion and wondering if the fourth king succeeding Durin the Deathless ever had a brother in the books.

Did Durin IV have a brother in The Lord of the Rings?

With King Durin III now dead, it is up to Durin IV to pick up the mantle and lead the people of Khazad-dûm in this perilous war against Sauron. There is a catch, though; The Rings of Power continues to insist that Durin has a younger brother, and now certain factions within Khazad-dûm are planning to supplant Durin IV and crown this as-of-yet unrevealed sibling.

Leafing through the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, it’s never explicitly mentioned if Durin IV had a brother. All we know is that he reigned for some time in the Second Age before passing the mantle (and the Ring of Power) to his son Durin V. After Durin V came Durin VI, and after him came Náin I, and then Thráin I, and then Thorin I. The kingship was then bestowed to Glóin in the third millennium of the Third Age, succeeded by Óin, Náin II, and Dáin I. Dáin I gave up the throne to Thrór, whose son Thráin II, was Thorin Oakenshield’s father.

All of that’s to say, there’s no mention of a younger brother for Durin IV anywhere, but since we know that the latter will be the king of Khazad-dûm, his brother (an original conception of Amazon’s for the television series) is likely to meet an untimely demise at some point in The Rings of Power.