LORE: THE SEVEN HOUSES OF THE DWARVES
"The Seven Houses of the Khazâd" by Artigas. Left to right: Stiffbeards, Stonefoots, Broadbeams, Longbeards, Firebeards, Ironfists, Blacklocks
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As the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves carved great cities of stone beneath the mountains of Middle-earth, they, too, each founded seven great houses from which all Dwarves descended from. The most significant of the Seven Houses were the Longbeards—Durin's Folk, who rose to prominence in the First Age as a result of the guidance of Durin the Deathless, and the riches which his children found underneath the great city of Dwarrowdelf—but there remained six other houses throughout Middle-earth by the beginning of the Third Age—though, when compared to Durin's Folk, little is known about these families and their Fathers. Except for Durin, the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves awoke in pairs, together, beneath the earth, and forged mighty civilisations where two clans lived together in harmony.
FIREBEARDS AND BROADBEAMS
The first among these pairs were the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains—the Firebeards and Broadbeams—who had founded the great cities of Belegost and Nogrod between Beleriand and Middle-earth. As the great wars in Beleriand raged on throughout the Years of the Trees and the First Age, the Dwarves of the Ered Luin proved to be great smiths and fierce warriors who could thwart even the mightiest of foes. Many of the legendary works from the First Age, including the necklace Nauglamír—which later bore a Silmaril—and Narsil, a sword which became an important heirloom to the Númenórean exiles in the Second Age, were forged by great smiths from Nogrod and Belegost.
While the Firebeards and Broadbeams prospered underneath the Blue Mountains for millennia, their cities' doom would come in the form of the War of Wrath, when the Host of the Valar came forth from Valinor to defeat the evil forces of the Dark Lord Morgoth, who had plagued Arda since its creation. Direct intervention from the Valar, however, brought grave consequences to Beleriand, resulting in the destruction of the continent, including much of the Blue Mountains where the cities of Belegost and Nogrod flourished. The ensuing destruction ruined the two great holds forevermore, forcing many of the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains to migrate eastward, particularly to Khazad-dûm in S.A 40, increasing the wealth and power of Durin's city. A result of the migration was a cultural renaissance in Dwarrowdelf, due to the great hold's swelling numbers and the skilled craftsmanship of the Ered Luin Dwarves. Despite the great cities of the Firebeards and Broadbeams being forever marred, a small, but notable portion of Dwarves remained in their homeland. In the Third Age, these Dwarves were probably neighbours to the newly-established, yet short-lived home of the Longbeards—Thorin's Halls—in T.A 2802, following the War of the Dwarves and Orcs.
"Map of Beleriand", redrawn by Christopher Tolkien. Coloured by H.E Riddett. Circled in red are the Dwarven cities of Belegost and Nogrod.
LONGBEARDS
The Longbeards, or Durin's Folk are those who descend from Durin the Deathless, and settled Khazad-dûm between the Years of the Trees and the First Age. Under the Misty Mountains, the Longbeards prospered for millennia, with Moria soon becoming the most prominent of the Dwarven cities in Middle-earth—largely thanks to the riches beneath the mountains—chief among them being precious truesilver, or mithril. As the Longbeards flourished beneath the Misty Mountains, Durin's children set forth to settle the many mountains of Middle-earth—discovering Erebor sometime in the Second Age, and prior to the Lonely Mountain's discovery, had settled the Grey Mountains and the Iron Hills during the apex of Durin's kingdom.
Following the
Longbeards' exodus from Moria in T.A 1980, a 47-year-old Thráin I—grandson of Durin VI—led the exiles from Khazad-dûm to Erebor, forming the foundations for a mighty kingdom of the Longbeards under the Lonely Mountain, while some of his people chose to settle in the Grey Mountains. Upon Thráin's passing in T.A 2190, his son, Thorin I, abandoned Erebor for the Grey Mountains in the north, where he had heard that many of his people settled following the exodus from Moria. Under the reign of Thorin's great-grandson, Náin II, dragons from the north came forth and made war with the Dwarves—beginning in T.A 2570—where they had resisted the evil creatures for two decades, until the death of Dáin I and his second son, Frór at the hands of a cold drake outside of the gates of Dáin's halls.
Dáin's first son, Thrór, gathered his people and re-established the Kingdom under the Mountain in T.A 2590, while his brother, Grór continued eastward, founding his own realm in the Iron Hills, becoming the first Lord to reside in the once-small colony of Durin's Folk. The Longbeards prospered once more under the Lonely Mountain, forging a close bond with the Middle Men of Dale, until the Sack of Erebor in T.A 2770, where Thrór was forced to abandon his kingdom and led his people to Dunland, where the Dwarves lived for twenty years, until the death of Thrór in Moria in T.A 2790, triggering the War of the Dwarves and Orcs.
Depiction of Erebor, before Smaug by Wētā Workshop
Thrór's son, Thráin II had called upon the seven clans of the Dwarves to avenge his father's death—scouring the Misty Mountains for six years, and culminating in the Battle of Azanulbizar, where Grór's son, Dáin Ironfoot slew the great Orc Chieftain, Azog, who had, in turn, murdered his uncle, Thrór. Following the war's conclusion, the exiles from Erebor settled in the Blue Mountains. In T.A 2841, Thráin, in his desire to seek riches and restore the Kingdom under the Mountain, left the Blue Mountains with a small fellowship, leaving the title of King to his son, Thorin II Oakenshield. Under Thorin II's direction and following the events of the Quest of Erebor, the Longbeards restored the Kingdom under the Mountain and slew the great dragon Smaug, but at the cost of Thorin's own life. Under Thorin's cousin, Dáin II Ironfoot, the Dwarves once more prospered under the Lonely Mountain, and saw a swelling in numbers from the migration of their kin in the Grey Mountains and the Iron Hills.
EASTERN DWARVES
The eastern Houses of the Dwarves, known as the Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks and Stonefoots respectively, dwelt in the far-eastern lands of Middle-earth, known as Rhûn. Very little is known of the eastern Dwarves, only that in the late-Third Age, as Sauron's influence in Rhûn grew once more, many eastern Dwarves migrated westward and sought refuge in the great cities of the Longbeards and the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains.
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