Brand

Lineage

Brand was the son of Bain and the grandson of Bard, who had killed Smaug and refounded Dale. He succeeded his father in 3007 as the third King of Dale, ruling a realm that had grown rich and strong in the sixty years since the dragon's death and that lived in close alliance with Dáin Ironfoot's kingdom under Erebor. His lands reached far south and east of the Long Lake.

The messengers of Mordor

In 3017 and 3018 messengers came out of Mordor to Dáin, offering friendship and Rings of Power in exchange for news of a hobbit and a small ring, and threatening what would follow if the Dwarves refused. The same shadow fell on Dale. At the Council of Elrond in October 3018 Glóin reported that King Brand was afraid, that war was gathering on his eastern borders, and that if Dale did not answer Sauron's demands it would be attacked. Brand did not yield.

The Battle of Dale

The blow fell in March 3019, at the same time as the siege of Minas Tirith. A host of Easterlings crossed the River Running and attacked Dale, and on 17 March, after three days of battle, Brand's army was driven back to the Mountain. Brand was killed fighting before the Gate of Erebor, and Dáin, who was two hundred and fifty-two years old, fell standing over his body with his axe in his hand. The survivors of both peoples were besieged in the Mountain until news of Sauron's fall reached the North, when they came out on 27 March and drove the Easterlings away. Brand's son Bard II succeeded him and, with Dáin's son Thorin Stonehelm, rebuilt what had been burned. Both sent envoys to the coronation of Aragorn, and Dale became a kingdom under the protection and friendship of the Reunited Kingdom.

Slain before the Gate of Erebor on 17 March 3019 during the Battle of Dale; succeeded by his son Bard II.