Misty Mountains
*under construction*
Mount Gundabad, "the Tunneled Mountain"The most comprehensive lore on Mount Gundabad is found in the Tolkien's late writings, dating from 1969 and later (i.e. after the publication of
Lord of the Rings), from a time when, in the words of Christopher Tolkien, "my father was moved to write extensively, in a more generalised view, of the languages and peoples of the Third Age and their interrelations, closely interwoven with discussion of the etymology of names. [...] the most substantial of these 'essays', [...]
Of Dwarves and Men, arose, as my father said, 'from consideration of the Book of Mazarbul' (that is, of his representations of the burnt and damaged leaves, which were not in fact published until after his death) and the inscription on the tomb of Balin in Moria, but led far beyond its original point of departure."
Quotations from
Of Dwarves and Men with direct reference to Mount Gundabad:
p. 301:
In the Dwarvish traditions of the Third Age the names of the places where each of the Seven Ancestors had 'awakened' were remembered; but only two of them were known to Elves and Men of the West: [...] The first had been in the north of Ered Lindon ... the second had been Mount Gundabad (in origin a Khuzdul name), which was therefore revered by the Dwarves, and its occupation in the Third Age by the Orks of Sauron was one of the chief reasons for their great hatred of the Orks (note 25). [...] the Dwarves of different kindreds were in communication, and in the early ages often held assemblies at Mount Gundabad. ...
note 25: ... There has of course been no previous reference to this ancient significance of Mount Gundabad. That mountain originally appeared in the chapter The Clouds Burst in The Hobbit, where it is told that the Goblins 'marched and gathered by hill and valley, going ever by tunnel or under dark, until around and beneath the great mountain Gundabad of the North, where was their capital, a vast host was assembled'; and it is shown on the map of Wilderland in the The Hobbit as a great isolated mass at the northern end of the Misty Mountains where the Grey Mountains drew towards them. In The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A (III), Gundabad appears in the account of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs late in the Third Age, where the Dwarves 'assailed and sacked one by one all the strongholds of the Orcs that they could [find] from Gundabad to the Gladden' (the word 'find' was erroneously dropped in the Second Edition).
p. 302-3:
... the Longbeards had spread southward down the Vales of Anduin and had made their chief 'mansion' and stronghold at Moria; and also eastward to the Iron Hills, where the mines were their chief source of iron-ore. They regarded the Iron Hills, the Ered Mithrin, and the east dales of the Misty Mountains as their own land. But they were under attack from the Orks of Morgoth. During the War of the Jewels and the Siege of Angband, when Morgoth needed all his strength, these attacks ceased; but when Morgoth fell and Angband was destroyed hosts of Orks fled eastward seeking homes. They were now masterless and without any general leadership, but they were well-armed and very numerous, cruel, savage, and reckless in assault. In the battles that followed the Dwarves were outnumbered, and though they were the most redoubtable warriors of all the Speaking Peoples they were glad to make alliance with Men.
note 30, p. 323:
[The Númenoreans had not yet appeared on the shores of Middle-earth, and the foundations of the Barad-dûr had not yet been build.]
It was a brief period in the dark annals of the Second Age, yet for many lives of Men the Longbeards controlled the Ered Mithrin, Erebor, and the Iron Hills, and all the east side of the Misty Mountains as far as the confines of Lórien; while the Men of the North dwelt in all the adjecent lands as far south as the Great Dwarf Road that cut through the Forest (the Old Forest Road was its ruinous remains in the Third Age) and then went North-east to the Iron Hills.
[as with so much else in this account, the origin of the Old Forest Road in 'the Great Dwarf Road', which after traversing Greenwood the Great led to the Iron Hills, has never been met before.]
p. 303:
The Men ... were glad of the alliance, for they were more vulnerable to the attacks of the Orks: they dwelt largely in scattered homesteads and villages, and if they drew together into small townships they were poorly defended, at best by dikes and wooden fences. Also they were lightly armed, chiefly with bows, for they had little metal and the few smiths among them had no great skill. These things the Dwarves amended in return for one great service that Men could offer. They were tamers of beasts and had learned the mastery of horses, and many were skilled and fearless riders. These would often ride far afield as scouts and keep watch on movements of their enemies; and if the Orks dared to assemble in the open for some great raid, they would gather great force of horsed archers to surround them and destroy them.
In these ways the Alliance of Dwarves and Men in the North came early in the Second Age to command great strength, swift in attack and valiant and well-protected in defence, and there grew up in that region between Dwarves and Men respect and esteem, and sometimes warm friendship.
p. 302:
... the Longbeards, though the proudest of the seven kindreds, were also the wisest and the most farseeing. Men held them in awe and were eager to learn from them; and the Longbeards were very willing to use Men for their own purposes. Thus there grew up in those regions the economy, later characteristic of the dealings of Dwarves and Men (including Hobbits): Men became the chief provider of food, as herdsmen, shepherds, and landtillers, which the Dwarves exchanged for work as builders, roadmakers, miners, and the makers of things of craft, from useful tools to weapons and arms and many other things of great cost and skill.
To the great profit of the Dwarves: not only to be reckoned in hours of labour, though in early times the Dwarves must have obtained goods that were the product of greater and longer toil than the things or services that they gave in exchange - before Men became wiser and developed skills of their own. The chief advantage to them was their freedom to proceed unhindered with their own work and to refine their arts, especially in metallurgy, to the marvellous skill which these reached before the decline and dwindling of the Khazâd.
pp. 304-5:
The Second Age had reached only the middle of its course (c. Second Age 1695) when ... the Orks reinforced and commanded by servants of Sauron invaded the mountains again. Gundabad was re-taken, the Ered Mithrin infested ...
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Khazad-dûm, "Dwarrowdelf" (Moria 'the Dark Pit'):
pp. 304-5:
Very great changes came to pass as the Second Age proceeded. The first ships of the Númenóreans appeared of the coasts of Middle-earth about Second Age 600 [...] At the same time, Sauron came out of hiding and revealed himself [...] The Second Age had reached only the middle of its course (c. Second Age 1695) when he invaded Eriador and destroyed Eregion, a small realm established by the Eldar migrating from the ruin of Beleriand that had formed an alliance with the Longbeards of Moria [...] though Moria remained impregnable for many centuries, the Orks reinforced and commanded by servants of Sauron invaded the mountains again. Gundabad was re-taken, the Ered Mithrin infested and the communication between Moria and the Iron Hills for a time cut off. ...
Second Age, c. 40:
Many Dwarves leaving their old cities in Ered Luin go to Moria and swell its numbers.
Edited by Námo, 02 June 2010 - 07:33 PM.
