The Dwarf-Orc War

Nar returned to Thrain, Thror's son and revealed all that he witnessed. Thrain was anguished; weeping and tearing his beard. "Seven days he sat and said no word. Then he stood up and said: 'This cannot be borne!' That was the beginning of the War of the Dwarves and the Orcs, which was long and deadly, and fought for the most part in the deep places beneath the earth" (p. 355, The Return of the King). This war would rage for six bloody years. Thrain gathered to him all Dwarves and spent three years mustering his force. "Durin's Folk gathered all their host, and they were joined by great forces sent from the Houses of other Fathers; for this dishonour to the heir of the Eldest of their race filled them with wrath" (p. 355, The Return of the King).

Bitter battles rages under nearly every mountain in Middle-earth as the hunt for Azog began. Both sides were merciless and suffered great loss but the weapons and wrath of the Dwarves could not be matched. At long last the Orcs, in a great last stand, gathered their remaining forces in Moria. They gathered greater numbers then the Dwarves and held the high ground of the Mountains. "So began the Battle of Azanulbizar (or Nanduhirion in the Elvish tongue), at the memory of which the Orcs still shudder and the Dwarves weep" (p. 355, The Return of the King). The early battle swept into the favor of the Orcs. Thrain's forces were driven back. Thrain was wounded and his son Frerin along with his kinsman Fundin were killed.

Thrain was driven back into a woods and there made a stand. He suffered wounds along with his son Thorin. It was in this desperate fight in the woods that Thorin Oakenshield got his name. "It is said that Thorin's shield was cloven and he cast it away and hewed off with his axe a branch of an oak and held it in his left hand to ward off the strokes of his foes, or wield as a club" (p. 355, The Return of the King). Had not the Dwarves of the Iron Hills arrived in battle the Orcs would have been victorious. Led by Nain the fresh Dwarves cut through the Orc forces all the way to the very gates of Moria. "Then Nain stood before the Gate and cried with a great voice: 'Azog! If you are in come out! Or is the play in the valley too rough?'" (p. 355, The Return of the King).

Azog answered: "'What? Another beggar at my door? Must I brand you too?'" (p. 356, The Return of the King). And with that Nain and Azog engaged each other in single combat. But Nain was blinded with rage and weary from battle and Azog landed a blow to his neck with his sword. Although Nain's armor held and his head was not hewed his neck broke under the force of Azog's blow and he died. Before he could enjoy the victor Azog realized his Orc forces were being routed on every other part of the battlefield and he ran back to the Gate of Moria.

"Up the steps after him leaped a Dwarf with a red axe. It was Dain Ironfoot, Nain's son. Right before the doors he caught Azog, and there he slew him, and hewed off his head. That was held a great feat, for Dain was then only a stripling in the reckoning of the Dwarves" (p. 356, The Return of the King). Dain Ironfoot would go on to become a great Dwarven warrior. With the death of Azog the Dwarves had victory in the Battle of Azanulbizar but no joy. They lost over half their forces in the fight. Yet all noted Dain seemed to be one that was struck with great fear even though he had dwelt the deathblow to the Orcs.

Thrain, suffering a leg wound and the loss of one eye, tried to gather the remaining Dwarves to retake Moria for their own. The Dwarves refused knowing they had too little numbers to secure such a vast underground fortress, furthermore, the Dwarves who were not of Durin's folk were eager to return home since Moria had never been their Fathers' house. Even Dain, though he was Thrain's kin, refused to enter saying: "'You are the father of our Folk, and we have bled for you, and will again. But we will not enter Khazad-dum. You will not enter Khazad-dum. Only I have looked through the shadow of the Gate. Beyond the shadow it waits for you still: Durin's Bane. The world must change and some other power than ours must come before Durin's Folk walk again in Moria'" (p. 356, The Return of the King).  If you've seen Peter Jackson's Hobbit movie he makes a large departure from this text. At the risk of sounding snobbish I prefer the Professor's.

The Dwarves dispersed each to their home but not before lighting great funeral pyre's since they could not bury so many of their dead. This was a hard deed and not of Dwarven custom. "But those who fell in Azanulbizar were honoured in memory, and to this day a Dwarf will say proudly of one of his sires: 'he was a burned Dwarf', and that is enough" (p. 357, The Return of the King). Thrain went back to Dunland accompanied by Thorin, Balin, and Gloin. There they found some prosper by forging tools from iron and their numbers slowly began to increase. But riches and precious metals still eluded them.

Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 2790-2799

Today's reading comes from: The Return of the King, pages 355-357