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- How Were The Iron Hills Founded?
- How Were The Dwarves Of The Iron Hills Important To Middle-earth?
- The Battle of the Five Armies
Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth is full of magical creatures and detailed locations. The people groups that he created for the story of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit all feel very real and fleshed out due to the amount of lore and backstory behind each of them. These major races include groups like the Elves, the Dwarves, the Hobbits, and the race of Men.
Of course, each of these races also has subgroups within them, as various families and tribes relocated and settled in various locations across the land, developing their own unique cultures and traditions. Different Dwarven clans come up a lot throughout various Tolkien works, but some are mentioned more than others. One of the clans that is touched on more briefly is the Dwarves of the Iron Hills, which play a role in The Hobbit. Where did these Dwarves come from, and why were they important to Middle-earth?
How Were The Iron Hills Founded?
There were seven kindreds of Dwarves that were called Durin’s Folk in the early days of Middle-earth, named after their first king, Durin. One of these groups were the Longbeards, who first lived in Khazad-dûm. During the First Age, they migrated from Khazad-dûm to the Iron Hills in the northeast of Middle-earth, as the Hills were their main source of iron ore. A road used by Dwarf traders and merchants, called the Dwarf-road, ran between Khazad-dûm and the Iron Hills as a way of maintaining trade between the Dwarven settlements.
After the War of Wrath, there were many Dwarves who relocated to Khazad-dûm and the Iron Hills from the Blue Mountains. However, during the Second Age when Sauron destroyed Eregion in the War of the Elves and Sauron, the Orcs took control of the Misty Mountains. This led to a cutting off of communication between Khazad-dûm and the other Dwarven settlements, particularly the Iron Hills.
How Were The Dwarves Of The Iron Hills Important To Middle-earth?
When Khazad-dûm fell during the Third Age, many Dwarves fled from the Balrog that now lived under the mountains and escaped to the Iron Hills. The Longbeards who lived in the Grey Mountains to the north were in conflict with the Dragons that had arrived there, especially once their king, Dáin I, was killed by one. His sons led the Dwarves of the Grey Mountains to other, safer settlements. Thrór established the Kingdom under the Mountain at Erebor, which is, of course, important to the plot of The Hobbit.
Dáin I’s other son Grór led the other half of their people to the Iron Hills to settle there, where he became Lord of the Iron Hills. Under his leadership, the kingdom became one of the strongest in the northern areas of Middle-earth, even standing against Sauron himself. When Smaug took over Erebor, many of the Dwarves who were forced out of their homes traveled to the Iron Hills for safe harbor.
The Battle of the Five Armies
The War of the Dwarves and Orcs included one of the major battles that the Dwarves of the Iron Hills had a hand in – the Battle of Azanulbizar. Lord Náin led the Dwarf army into battle and fought up to the gates of Moria, where Náin faced off against Azog the Orc commander, which resulted in Náin’s death. His son was able to avenge his death by killing Azog himself. This son was Dáin II, known as Dáin Ironfoot, and after this battle he led the Dwarves back to the Iron Hills and became the Lord of the Iron Hills once Grór died.
Many years later, Dáin Ironfoot’s cousin, Thorin, was attempting to take back Erebor, which is a story that is well-known to those who are familiar with The Hobbit. Thorin was trapped by the Mirkwood Elves and the Men of Esgaroth, and so he sent word to Dáin Ironfoot to ask for his assistance. Dáin, in turn, arrived with his army, which ended up being very necessary when the Battle of the Five Armies broke out as the Orcs of the Misty Mountains advanced on Erebor.
The assistance of the Dwarves of the Iron Hills proved crucial to the victory of the Five Armies, despite Thorin’s tragic death during the battle. As Thorin was the last of his line, the Kingship of Durin’s Folk fell to his nearest family member – Dáin Ironfoot. After the battle, Dáin left the Iron Hills, re-established the kingdom of Erebor, and ruled over the Lonely Mountain from that time forth.
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