Dwarf realms

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Throughout the history of Arda, there have been many Dwarf realms:

  • Khazad-dȗm was the most famous and greatest of all the dwarf kingdoms. Located in the Misty Mountains, it was the home of the Longbeards and was later populated with Firebeards and Broadbeams fleeing Nogrod and Belegost. It prospered for thousands of years until the Dwarves awoke the Balrog which drove them from Khazad-dȗm, it was then renamed Moria ("Black Pit" in Sindarin).
    The Dwarves returned to Moria in the Fourth Age, lead by their leader Durin VII. It is said that the halls of Khazad-dȗm were filled with the sounds of hammers once again, and was prosperous till the fading of the Dwarven race.
  • Nogrod and Belegost were located in the Blue Mountains. Nogrod was the home of the Firebeards, and Belegost the home of the Broadbeams. Nogrod was completely destroyed during the War of Wrath and Belegost was ruined, leaving the Firebeards and the Broadbeams to either rebuild their halls or, as many did,, relocate to Khazad-dȗm in SA 40.
    The Ered Luin would later become a refuge for much of Durin's folk who established Thorin's Halls during the latter Third Age. However, the Firebeards and Broadbeams continued to live there through the Fourth Age, and probably till the diminishing of the race of Dwarves (There were and always will be Dwarves on the eastern side of the Blue Mountains).
  • Mount Gundabad is a mountain in the northernmost section of the Misty Mountains, close to the western extremity of the Grey Mountains. It was a stronghold of Dwarves and later, Orcs. According to the Dwarves, Durin the Deathless, oldest of the Fathers of the Dwarves, awoke at Mount Gundabad sometime after the awakening of the Elves. Mount Gundabad remained a sacred place to the Dwarves ever after. In the early ages Mount Gundabad did serve as a place of assembly for delegations of Dwarves, yet there is no mention of any making permanent residence there. In the middle of the Second Age, Orcs (servants of Sauron) invaded Gundabad. The site would not be cleansed until very late in the Second Age, possibly around or after the fall of Sauron and the loss of the One Ring. In the Third Age, the Orcs of Angmar yet again claimed it as their capital, which was one of the reasons for the Dwarves' special hatred of this people. After the fall of Angmar, Gundabad remained an Orc stronghold, even after it was sacked during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. The army of goblins that fought in the Battle of Five Armies was said to have mustered at the mountain in The Hobbit.
  • The Exiled Kingdom in the Grey Mountains were the great halls of which many of Durin's folk relocated to after being exiled from Khazad-dȗm. The Dwarves of the Grey Mountains became very prosperous in their new halls. for over 500 years they mined and defended their halls from the Dragons of the north and the Orcs from the west. Until, finally Cold-drakes forced them from the mountains, and killed their king Dain I. However, dwarves still remained in the Ered Mithrin throughout the Third and Fourth Age after the core population fled, surviving in whatever mines and halls were remaining.
  • The Kingdom under the Mountain was one of the greatest kingdoms of the Dwarves. Located at Erebor, it was founded by Thráin I, but was abandoned by his son, Thorin I. It was resettled by Thrór but, years later, Smaug sacked the mountain and drove the Dwarves out. Thorin II Oakenshield refounded the kingdom in TA 2941 at the cost of his life.
  • The Iron Hills were a range of small mountains rich with iron, colonized by Durin's folk during the First Age. Around the year 2500 of the Third Age, Grór son of Dáin I founded the Iron Hills as an independent kingdom after the Dwarves were exiled from the Grey Mountains, and he became the first Lord of the Iron Hills. The exiles who settled in the Iron Hills were of course in friendly relations with the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain (Erebor), who were of similar like and mind, being kin to Grór and Thrór. After the Battle of the Five Armies, many Dwarves of the Iron Hills relocated to the Lonely Mountain after the kingdom of Erebor was re-founded.
  • The Glittering Caves of Aglarond were a cave system in the White Mountains behind Helm's Deep. Gimli son of Glóin led a large group of Dwarves of Erebor there after the War of the Ring and became the Lord of the Glittering Caves. His Dwarves performed great services for the Rohirrim and the Men of Gondor, of which the most famous was the making of new gates for Minas Tirith, forged out of mithril and steel. The dwarves of Aglarond restored the Hornburg following the War of the Ring, and it became a fortress they shared with the Rohirrim. The Dwarves of the Glittering Caves carefully tended the stone walls and opened new ways and chambers and hung lamps that filled the caverns with light. The Glittering Caves became one of the most important realms of the Dwarves at the beginning of the Fourth Age.
  • The Mountains of the Far East, presumably in Rhûn (possibly in the Orocarni), were inhabited by four of the Dwarf clans, but not much is known about them. The distance between their mansions in the East and the Misty Mountains, specifically Gundabad, was said to be as great or greater than that of Gundabad's distance from the Blue Mountains in the West.
  • The Exiled Realm in Dunland was established by Dwarves fleeing from Erebor after it was sacked by Smaug. This is where Thrór departed when he and his companion Nár journeyed to Moria in TA 2790. After the Battle of Azanulbizar, provoked by the Orcs' brutal slaying of Thrór, Thráin II and Thorin led the remnants of their followers back to Dunland but soon left (to eventually settle in the Ered Luin).
  • Amon Rûdh, also known as the Bald Hill or Bar-en-Nibin-Noeg (House of the Petty-Dwarves), supported a settlement of Petty-dwarves in caves that could have housed a hundred or more. It had a main and secondary hall with many other chambers and passageways. There was a hidden smoke-shaft for the hearth and chambers with axes and other gear. However, the Petty-dwarves had dwindled in number until only Mîm and his sons Ibun and Khîm lived in hilltop hideaway. Amon Rûdh was lost under the sea with the destruction of Beleriand during the War of Wrath at the end of the First Age.
  • Nulukkizdîn, later known as the Ñoldorin realm Nargothrond, was located on the western bank of the river Narog, beneath the forested hills of Taur-en-Faroth. The Caverns of Narog (Nulukkizdîn) were secretly inhabited by the Petty-dwarves before they were driven out. Much later, Mîm the Petty-dwarf settled there reclaiming his people's ancient home until he was killed by Húrin The realm remained deserted for the rest of the First Age until the War of Wrath when it went down with the rest of Beleriand.