Thror and Azog

Rather than summarizing today's read I am just going to quote it. It's a crazy story. I wish Peter Jackson would not have altered it in his movie version since Tolkien's version is pretty epic.

"Years afterword Thror, now old, poor, and desperate, gave to his son Thrain the one great treasure he still possessed, the last of the Seven Rings, and then he went away with one old companion only, called Nar. Of the Ring he said to Thrain at their parting: 

'This may prove the foundation of new fortune for you yet, though that seems unlikely. But it needs gold to breed gold.'

'Surely you do not think of returning to Erebor?' said Thrain.

'Not at my age,' said Thror. 'Our vengeance on Smaug I bequeath to you and your sons. But I am tired of poverty and the scorn of Men. I go to see wha I can find.' He did not say where.

He was a little crazed perhaps with age and misfortune and long brooding on the splendour of Moria in his forefathers' days; or the Ring, it may be, was turning to evil now that its master was awake, driving him to folly and destruction. From Dunland, where he was then dwelling, he went north with Nar, and they crossed the Redhorn Pass and came down into Azanulbizar.

When Thror came to Moria the Gate was open. Nar begged him to beware, but he took no heed of him, and walked proudly in as an heir that returns. But he did not come back. Nar stayed near for many days in hiding. One day he heard a loud shout and the blare of a horn, and a body was flung out on the steps. Fearing that it was Thror, he began to creep near, but there came a voice within the gate:

'Come on, beardling! We can see you. But there is no need to be afraid today. We need you as a messenger.'

Then Nar came up, and found that it was indeed the body of Thror, but the head was severed and lay face downward. As he knelt there, he heard orc-laughter in the shadows, and the voice said:

'If beggars will not wait at the door, but sneak in to try thieving, that is what we do to them. If any of your people poke their foul beards in here again, they will fare the same. Go and tell them so! But if his family wish to know who is now king here, the name is written on his face. I wrote it! I killed him! I am the master!'

Then Nar turned the head and saw branded on the brow in Dwarf-runes so that he could read it was the name AZOG. That name was branded in his heart and in the hearts of all Dwarves afterwards. Nar stooped to take the head, but the voice of Azog said:

'Drop it! Be off! Here's your fee, begger-beard.' A small bag struck him. It held a few coins of little worth.

Weeping, Nar fled down the Silverlode, but he looked back once and saw that the Orcs had come from the gate and were hacking up the body and flinging the pieces to the black crows." (p. 354-355, The Return of the King).

Azog is the father of Bolg, an Orc who appears in The Hobbit. And his act would seal the Dwarves hatred for Orcs until the time of that story. Pretty intense stuff. 

Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 2790

Today's reading comes from: The Return of the King, pages 354-355