Dwarves of the Blue Mountains

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Dwarves of the Blue Mountains
People
Angelo Montanini - Blue Mountain Dwarves.jpg
"Blue Mountain Dwarves" by Angelo Montanini
General Information
Other namesDwarves of Ered Lindon
LocationsBlue Mountains
AffiliationUnion of Maedhros, Thorin and Company
RivalriesIathrim
LanguagesKhuzdul, Sindarin, Westron
MembersAzaghâl, Telchar, Gamil Zirak, Fíli, Kíli

The Dwarves of the Blue Mountains were the various Dwarven cultures that settled the Ered Luin.

History[edit | edit source]

Elder Days[edit | edit source]

The Firebeards and Broadbeams awoke in the Blue Mountains, and lived there throughout the history of their people. These two houses built the great Dwarven cities of Nogrod and Belegost.[1][note 1]

From their mountain-cities, the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains came down into Beleriand to trade with the Elves. These Dwarves were friends to the Sindar[2] and later allies of the Noldor of Beleriand.[3] They played a great part in the making of Thingol's halls at Menegroth, and later aided in the delving of Nargothrond beside Narog.[4] Finrod rewarded them with treasures he brought from Tirion. It was during this time that the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains created the Nauglamír for Finrod, the most renowned of their works of the Elder Days.[4]

After Morgoth's return to Middle-earth, the Dwarves were loosely allied with the Elves in the Wars of Beleriand that followed. They fought in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, where Azaghâl of Belegost drove Glaurung from the field but was himself slain. After the battle, relations between the Elves and Dwarves cooled; the Dwarves of Nogrod slew Thingol and stole the Nauglamír, and after this time, enmity and mistrust grew between the two peoples.

Later History[edit | edit source]

The cities of Nogrod and Belegost were ruined in the breaking of Thangorodrim in the War of Wrath. As a result, by around S.A. 40, the power and wealth of Khazad-dûm was much increased for it was enriched by the lore and craft of the Dwarves of Ered Lindon;[5][6] however, there always remained some Dwarves on the eastern side of the Blue Mountains in days afterwards.[7]

After the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, Thráin II and his people established a new realm-in-exile in the northern Ered Luin beyond the Little Lune.[5] His people prospered in a fashion and were swelled in numbers by many of the wandering folk of Durin and they built many fair houses in the hills.[1][5] Years later, after King Thorin went on the Quest of Erebor and was killed in the Battle of Five Armies, the Kingdom under the Mountain was re-established by the new king Dáin II Ironfoot. Many of the people of Durin's folk went to him and it became a great and prosperous kingdom once again.

Even later in the Fourth Age, there were still Dwarves in mines in the east side of the Blue Mountains, especially south of the Gulf of Lune, still trading along the East Road.[8]

Portrayal in adaptations[edit | edit source]

2013: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug:

While Thorin and Company are lost in Mirkwood, Bofur finds a dwarven tobacco pouch on the ground, which he recognizes as one from the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains. Bilbo tells him that it is his own pouch that fell earlier, and they are going on circles.

2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:

It is possible for Dwarf player characters to choose the Blue Mountains as their background, though this is only for aesthetic purposes and has no impact on the game's story or mechanics.
The Blue Mountain dwarves in the late Third Age are among the first non-player characters beginning Dwarf and Elf characters meet, and consist of both the noble Longbeards of Thorin's Hall and the villainous "Dourhands", renegades from the two Blue Mountain Houses. A later update introduced the "Narfanghoth" and the "Landorrim", the game's representations of the Firebeards and Broadbeams.

See also[edit | edit source]

Notes

  1. While Tolkien mentions that the two clans occupied the Blue Mountains, it is not clear which clan (Firebeards and Broadbeams) corresponded to which of either people (the Dwarves of Nogrod and the Dwarves of Belegost). It is possible however that both clans were associated with both cities, but there is no canonical word on this.

References