Battle of Azanulbizar

The Battle of Azanulbizar, also called the Battle of Nanduhirion in the Elvish tongue, was the culminating clash of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, fought in the winter of 2799 of the Third Age in the great vale before the East-gate of Moria. It was a victory bought with such slaughter that the Dwarves still shudder at its memory and weep for their dead. Though they broke the Orc-host and slew the Orc-chieftain Azog, they did not re-enter Khazad-dûm; the shadow of Durin's Bane held the ancient mansions, and the Dwarf-folk dispersed, leaving the gate sealed for generations.

Causes and Background

The war began with the murder of Thrór, the exiled King under the Mountain, at the hands of the Orc Azog in Moria. Azog hewed off Thrór's head and branded his brow with the Dwarf-runes of his own name, then flung a purse of small coins to Thrór's companion Nár as a mocking fee. When Nár brought the tale to Thráin, Thrór's son, Thráin sat silent for seven days and then rose and said, "This cannot be borne." For three years the Dwarves mustered their strength, summoning forces from all the Houses of their race, for the dishonour done to the heir of the eldest of their line filled them with wrath. They assailed and sacked one by one all the strongholds of the Orcs from Gundabad to the Gladden, hunting for Azog in every den under mountain, until the surviving Orcs gathered in Moria and the Dwarf-host pursued them to Azanulbizar.

The Course of the Battle

The Dwarves came to the vale before the gate of their ancient mansions and sent up a great shout like thunder in the valley. But a great host of foes was arrayed on the slopes above them, and out of the gates poured a multitude of Orcs that Azog had held back for the last need. The first assault of the vanguard led by Thráin was thrown back with loss; Thráin was driven into a wood of great trees near Kheled-zâram, where his son Frerin fell, and Fundin his kinsman, and many others, and both Thráin and Thorin were wounded. The battle swayed to and fro with great slaughter until the people of the Iron Hills turned the day. Coming late and fresh to the field, the mailed warriors of Náin, Grór's son, drove through the Orcs to the very threshold of Moria, crying "Azog! Azog!" as they hewed down all who stood in their way. Náin stood before the Gate and challenged Azog, but Azog, fresh and fell and full of guile, hewed Náin's neck with a great blow, breaking it. As Azog lifted his head to yell triumph, he saw that his host was in rout and his guard lay dead. He fled back towards the Gate, but Dáin Ironfoot, Náin's son, leaped up the steps after him and slew him, hewing off his head. Dáin was then only a stripling in the reckoning of the Dwarves, but it is said that when he came down from the Gate he looked grey in the face, as one who has felt great fear.

Consequences and Aftermath

When the battle was won, the Dwarves that were left gathered in Azanulbizar. They took the head of Azog and thrust into its mouth the purse of small money, then set it on a stake. But no feast nor song was there that night, for their dead were beyond the count of grief. Barely half of their number could still stand or had hope of healing. In the morning Thráin stood before them, one eye blinded beyond cure and halt with a leg-wound, and said, "Good! We have the victory. Khazad-dûm is ours!" But the Dwarves answered that they had fought for vengeance and taken it, but if this was victory, their hands were too small to hold it. Those not of Durin's Folk said Khazad-dûm was not their fathers' house and they would return to their own lands. Dáin told Thráin that only he had looked through the shadow of the Gate, and beyond it waited Durin's Bane; the world must change and some other power than theirs must come before Durin's Folk walked again in Moria. So the Dwarves dispersed. With great labour they stripped all their dead so that Orcs should not win a store of weapons and mail, then built many pyres and burned all the bodies of their kin. There was a great felling of trees in the valley, which remained bare ever after, and the reek of the burning was seen in Lórien. Thráin and Thorin with what remained of their following returned to Dunland and later wandered in Eriador, making a home in exile in the east of the Ered Luin. Dáin Ironfoot led his father's people back to the Iron Hills. The battle thus avenged Thrór but left Moria unentered, and the Dwarves' ancient kingdom remained lost until the coming of a new age.