Dwarf-lords

"Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone..."

― The Shadow of the Past

The rulers of the Dwarves.

Though the term is never explained in detail, its association with the number seven above implies that the Dwarf-lords, or at least the most important of them, were those descended from the seven Fathers of the Dwarves created by Aulë. Thus each of the seven clans of the Dwarves would have their own line of Dwarf-lords dating back into the Years of the Trees. The best known of these lines (indeed the only one known in any detail) was that of the Longbeards, whose lords were descendants of Durin the Deathless. Only one Dwarf-lord from outside this line of descent is ever mentioned: Azaghâl, a Lord of Belegost during the First Age.