War of the Dwarves and Orcs

The War of the Dwarves and Orcs was a prolonged and devastating conflict fought primarily in the deep places beneath the Misty Mountains, ignited by the murder of the Dwarf-lord Thrór at the hands of the Orc-chieftain Azog. Lasting from 2793 to 2799 of the Third Age, the war culminated in the bloody Battle of Azanulbizar before the East-gate of Moria, a Dwarvish victory won at such terrible cost that the victors abandoned their ancient homeland rather than re-enter it. The war reshaped the political map of the northern mountains, scattered Durin's Folk into exile, and set the stage for the later quest of Thorin Oakenshield.

Causes and Outbreak

The war's immediate cause was the murder of Thrór, the exiled King under the Mountain, who had wandered north to the gates of Moria in a desperate and perhaps Ring-driven folly. He entered the ancient Dwarf-mansion alone, and his headless body was flung back onto the steps. The Orc Azog had branded Thrór's brow with his own name in Dwarf-runes, a deliberate and unspeakable insult to the entire Dwarf-race. When Thráin II, Thrór's son, heard the tale from the sole survivor Nár, he sat in silence for seven days before rising to declare that the deed could not be borne. Messengers were sent to all the Houses of the Dwarves, and for three years a great host was mustered, united by the dishonour done to the heir of Durin the Deathless.

Course of the War

The Dwarves, driven by a fire of vengeance, assailed and sacked every Orc-stronghold they could find from Mount Gundabad in the north to the Gladden Fields in the south. The fighting was pitiless, waged by dark and by light, and the Dwarves' matchless weapons and burning anger gave them the advantage. The surviving Orcs were driven before them, retreating into the deep halls of Moria itself. The Dwarf-host pursued them into the great vale of Azanulbizar, before the very gate of their ancient mansions. There, on a dark winter's day without sun, the Battle of Azanulbizar was joined. The Orcs, holding the higher ground and outnumbering their enemies, initially threw back the Dwarvish vanguard. Thráin was wounded and driven into a wood where his son Frerin and his kinsman Fundin fell. The tide was turned only by the late arrival of the mailed warriors of the Iron Hills, led by Náin, son of Grór. They hewed their way to the threshold of Moria, crying "Azog! Azog!" Náin himself was slain by Azog in single combat, but his son, the young Dáin Ironfoot, caught the Orc-chieftain as he fled and hewed off his head before the doors.

Aftermath and Consequences

The victory was hollow. Barely half the Dwarf-host could still stand or hope for healing. They burned their dead on great pyres in the valley, a practice against their custom, rather than leave them to beast or Orc. The reek of the burning was seen in Lórien. The Dwarves of other Houses refused to enter Moria, and Dáin himself, who had looked through the shadow of the Gate, declared that Durin's Bane, a Balrog of Morgoth, still dwelt within. The world would have to change before Durin's Folk could walk again in Khazad-dûm. Thráin and his son Thorin, with the remnant of their following, returned to exile in Dunland and later wandered into Eriador, eventually settling in the east of the Ered Luin. The war had broken the power of the Orcs in the Misty Mountains for a time, but it had also bled the Dwarves, leaving them diminished and scattered. The Ring of Thrór, the last of the Seven, was lost when Thráin was later captured and taken to Dol Guldur, a direct consequence of the war's dispersal of Durin's Folk. The hatred sown by Azog's deed would echo into the next generation, culminating in the Battle of Five Armies, where Bolg, Azog's son, led the Orcs to their final defeat.