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Iron Hills

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Iron Hills
Physical Description
TypeHill range
LocationEast of Erebor, north-west of Rhûn
RealmsThe Kingdom of Durin's folk
InhabitantsDurin's Folk

The Iron Hills were a range of great hills in the north-east of of Wilderland. The Hills were the source of the river Carnen and rich in iron.[1][2]It was also home to a Dwarf-realm of the Longbeards.[3]

The Iron Hills were probably rich in iron but not gold, and the Dwarves of the Iron Hills, although prosperous, were not as wealthy as their other cousins.[4]



Early History

The Iron Hills were perhaps a part or a remnant of the mountain chain Ered Engrin that formed the Iron Mountains of the First Age.[5]

The Hills were mined for thousands of years by the Longbeards, being their primary source for iron above all the rest of their territories.[2] The Dwarf-road of Mirkwood ran north-east to the Hills for the dwarf-traders and merchants that went to and from Khazad-dûm and the Hills.[6]

Third Age

In T.A. 1981 the last of the Dwarves living in Khazad-dûm fled from the Balrog who had slain kings Durin VI and Náin I.[7] Some of those who escaped wandered as far as the Iron Hills and resettled there.[2]

In 2570 dragons began afflicting the dwarves in the north and in 2589 King Dáin I was slain by a cold drake outside his halls in the Grey Mountains.[7] Due to these deprivations, in 2590 Grór son of Dáin left the Grey Mountains and established a Lordship in the Iron Hills.[7]

Over the next few centuries Grór and his people built the hills from a just an ancient mining colony to a great realm, especially after the destruction of Erebor in 2770[7] when the Dragon Smaug scattered the Longbeards who dwelt there. Most of the survivors subsequently went to their kinsmen in the Iron Hills, swelling its numbers.

Before the death of Smaug in T.A. 2941,[7] the dwarven realm in the Iron Hills was the only force in the north-east of Wilderland capable of offering resistance to the forces of evil.[8]

In 2799[7] the final battle of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs occurred in the Dimrill Dale. When reinforcements, led by Náin, arrived from the Iron Hills the battle turned in the favour of the dwarves. With the war over, Dáin led his people home where, after the death of Grór, he became the new Lord of the Iron Hills.[9]

In 2941 Lord Dáin Ironfoot led his warriors in the Battle of Five Armies near Erebor. The battle won but Thorin slain and Dáin became the new King under the Mountain and King of the Longbeards as Dáin II.[7][9] He relocated to Erebor with many of his people, and re-established it as Durin's folk's greatest and strongest dwelling in the north.

The Iron Hills pass out of history after this relocation, but probably were not wholly deserted.[4]

See also


  4. 4.0 4.1 Robert Foster, The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, p. 212
  5. Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth p. 78
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age"
  9. 9.0 9.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "Durin's Folk"