Iron Hills

Iron Hills
Place from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium
Description Mountain range
Location East of the Lonely Mountain
in northeastern Rhovanion

The Iron Hills are a fictional range of mountains in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. They are remnants of the Iron Mountains of the First Age and are located east of the Lonely Mountain in the northeastern part of Rhovanion and the northwest of Rhûn. In the Third Age, they are home to a Dwarf kingdom. In Tolkien's novel, The Hobbit, an army of dwarves from the Iron Hills under Dáin II Ironfoot comes to the aid of Thorin Oakenshield in the Battle of the Five Armies.

Landscape and Area

The Iron Hills were rich in minerals, most notably iron – whence came the name of the Hills. The Hills were originally a part of the massive Iron Mountains where Morgoth dwelt; other remains of this vanished range were the Mountains of Angmar and Ered Mithrin. The Iron Hills were also the source of the River Redwater, the reddish colour of which came from iron particles in its water. The river joins onto the River Running.

Folk of the Iron Hills

The Dwarves who first settled in the Iron Hills during the First Age were of the clan of the Longbeards, most commonly known as Durin's Folk, and consequently were of the most noble kind of Dwarves. The Hills were mined uninterruptedly for thousands of years by them, because of the hills' rich amount of iron. The Old Dwarf Road that crossed Mirkwood was, in fact, built by the Longbeards to connect their mansions in the Misty Mountains (namely, Khazad-dûm and Gundabad) with the Iron Hills.

Around the year 2500 of the Third Age, Grór son of Dáin I founded the Iron Hills as an independent kingdom after the Dwarves were exiled from the Grey Mountains to the west because of attacks by Cold-drakes seeking the vast wealth of the mountains, which had resulted in the death of the king Dáin I.

The exiles who settled in the Iron Hills were of course in friendly relations with the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain (Erebor), who were of similar like and mind, being kin to Grór and Thrór.

Notable Dwarves from the Iron Hills

Grór

The youngest son of the mighty and highly renowned dwarf, Dáin I, and the founder and first ruler of the Kingdom of the Iron Hills.

Náin

Náin was the son of Grór, the founder of the Kingdom of the Iron Hills. He was killed during the Battle of Nanduhirion by the Orc lord Azog.

Dáin II

He was the lord of the Iron Hills after the death of his father, Náin the son of Grór. He was considered a mighty dwarf because he killed the Orc Azog of Moria, and therefore avenged his father, when he was at an age considered young to Dwarves. After the death of Thorin Oakenshield in the Battle of the Five Armies, Dáin became King of Erebor until his death during the War of the Ring.

Thorin III Stonehelm

Son of Dáin II. After the death of his father, he became the Lord of the people of both Erebor and the Iron Hills. He was praised for helping to reconstruct Erebor and Dale. During his rule a new dwarven settlement was founded at Helm's Deep.

See also

References