Battles of the Third Age: Part One

The Battle of the Five Armies

    During the Third Age, the Dwarves founded a kingdom at Erebor, otherwise known as the Lonely Mountain. Under the leadership of their king, Thror,  the Dwarves accumulated legendary wealth through mining, to the point that all of Middle Earth knew about it. Unfortunately, this included the dragons in the Withered Heath to the north. Soon, in T.A. 2770, a dragon named Smaug the Golden attacked the Lonely Mountain and the nearby town of Dale, in which Men lived. Dale was completely destroyed, and many Men and Dwarves were killed. The few Dwarves that survived, including Thror, fled from Erebor, leaving the mountain and all of its treasure to Smaug. The Men in Dale fled south to the Long Lake, where they founded Esgaroth, also known as Lake-Town. The Dwarves tried to retake the abandoned Dwarf-kingdom of Moria at the Battle of Azanulbizar in T.A. 2799, but failed. The Dwarves then lived in the Iron Hills to the east and the Blue Mountains to the west. This went on until T.A. 2941, when a group of Dwarves journeyed to take the mountain back. In this group was Thorin, Thror's grandson, and a Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. This company, with help from the Men in Esgaroth, snuck into Erebor and stole a single cup from the treasury inside. Smaug, like all dragons was extremely greedy and immediately noticed that he had been robbed. When Smaug found out that the Dwarves had help from Esgaroth, he flew into a rage and attacked the town with the intent of destroying it. Fortunately, Smaug was shot down by one of the Men there, named Bard. This left the mountain to the Dwarves, who began searching for a very beautiful gem called the Arkenstone. Though they did not find it, Thorin became overcome by greed at the sight of the rest of the treasure. His greed led him to proclaim himself King under the Mountain and he ordered the rest of his company to fortify Erebor. But news of Smaug's death was spread far and wide, so that Elves from the forest of Mirkwood, led by their king, Thrandruil, came to take some of the gold for themselves. They were joined by a Wizard, Gandalf the Grey, who was once a part of Thorin's company but left to fight an unnamed Necromancer. Because of its fortifications, the Elves did not enter the mountain but instead made camp just outside with the Men from Lake-Town. Meanwhile, inside the mountain, Thorin was completely unwilling to share even a single piece of the gold with the visitors outside, so he sent for his cousin, Dain, who led the Dwarves in the Iron Hills. Seeing Thorin's greed, Bilbo snuck out of the mountain with the Arkenstone, which he had stolen earlier. He presented the gem to Bard, Gandalf, and Thrandruil, so it can be used as a bargaining tool. But as they were negotiating with an enraged Thorin, Dain arrived with an army of Dwarves and threatened to attack the Elves. Before they could fight, however, were attacked by an extremely large army of Goblins and Wargs (giant wolves). The Goblins were angered by Thorin's company when they killed their leader under the Misty Mountains. Seeing this, the Elves, Men, and Dwarves (excluding Thorin's company) joined together to overcome this new enemy. The two armies clashed, and it seemed that the Goblins were losing. But, in order to turn the tide of the battle, some of the Goblins climbed the mountain itself and cast down boulders upon their foes. But Thorin had a change of heart, and led his company against the Goblins on the mountain. Near the end of the battle, the Great Eagles, led by Gwaihir, came to fight the Goblins, for they had watched the Goblins build their army for some time. Eventually, the fight was won, but at a great cost. Thorin and two of the other Dwarves in his company, Fili and Kili, were slain during the battle. With them dead, Dain, who was next in line, became the new King under the Mountain.