Dáin II Ironfoot

Lineage

Dáin was born in T.A. 2767 in the Iron Hills, the son of Náin and grandson of Grór, the younger brother of Thrór who had led part of Durin's Folk east when the Grey Mountains were abandoned. He was therefore a second cousin of Thorin Oakenshield and, after the direct line, the nearest heir of Durin.

Azanulbizar

He first appears in the histories in 2799 at the Battle of Azanulbizar in the Dimrill Dale, the last fight of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. Náin arrived late with fresh forces from the Iron Hills and forced his way to the East-gate of Moria, where Azog killed him. Dáin, only thirty-two and by the standards of the Dwarves barely a man, came at Azog with his axe and struck off his head. The Dwarves set the head on a stake with Nár's purse in its mouth, and the war was over. Dáin then went up the steps and looked in at the gate, and he came down grey-faced and told Thráin II, who wanted to reoccupy Khazad-dûm at once, that something worse than Orcs waited in the dark and that Durin's Folk must not go in until another power had come. For that day's work he was named Ironfoot, and for the rest of his life he was accounted among the greatest of the Dwarves.

Lord of the Iron Hills

Dáin succeeded his father as Lord of the Iron Hills, the one settlement of Durin's Folk in the East that had never fallen to dragon or Orc. Its Dwarves were miners and ironworkers, and Dáin ruled them as a strong and prudent lord while the royal house wandered in exile in the West. When Thorin's raven-borne message reached him in 2941 that Smaug was dead and that Elves and Men were encamped before the Mountain, he came at once with more than five hundred Dwarves in iron mail and hoods, armed with mattocks and axes, and marched night and day to Erebor.

The Battle of Five Armies

Dáin's host stood ready to break through the lines of Bard and Thranduil when the goblin army of Bolg came down over the northern spurs. The Dwarves of the Iron Hills turned to face the new enemy beside the Elves and the Men of the Lake, and they were the anvil of the battle, holding the ground in front of the gate under repeated assault. Thorin's charge, Beorn's fury and the coming of the Eagles decided it, and when Thorin died of his wounds Dáin was his heir.

King under the Mountain

Dáin was crowned King under the Mountain and King of Durin's Folk in 2941, and his reign restored the Kingdom of Erebor to something like the glory of Thrór's day. He honoured Thorin's agreements, gave Bard the fourteenth share that paid for the rebuilding of Dale, and he and Bard, and later Bard's grandson Brand, were allies and friends. Dwarves and Men traded again along the running river, Lake-town was rebuilt, and Dwarves from the Blue Mountains returned to the Mountain. Dáin made peace with the Elvenking. He also honoured the friendship of the Mountain with Bilbo and with the Company, and it was to his court that Gimli and Glóin belonged.

The messengers from Mordor

In 3017 a rider from Mordor came to the gate at night asking for Dáin's friendship, asking after hobbits and after a small ring that one of them had stolen, and offering rings of power and the return of Moria in exchange for news. Dáin gave no answer, and the messenger came twice more. He understood what was being asked and sent Glóin and Gimli to Rivendell to warn Bilbo and to seek Elrond's advice, and so the Dwarves were represented at the Council of Elrond and in the Fellowship.

The Battle of Dale and death

In March 3019, while the armies of the West marched on Mordor, Sauron launched his northern host against Dale and Erebor. Easterlings crossed the river and Brand's Men were driven back to the Mountain. On March 17 Dáin, two hundred and fifty-two years old, fought at the gate beside Brand, and when Brand fell the old king stood over his body swinging his axe until he too was killed. The Dwarves and Men held the Mountain under siege until news of the Ring's destruction broke the Easterlings' will, and Dáin's son Thorin III Stonehelm and Brand's son Bard II drove them off.

Legacy

Gandalf said after the war that had Dáin and Brand not held the North, the Enemy's eastern armies would have swept over Rhovanion and there would have been no Gondor left to save. Dáin's kingship was the long calm between the quest of Erebor and the end of the age, and he stands with Thrór and Thorin among the three kings who made Erebor the chief seat of the Dwarves in the Third Age.

Slain in the Battle of Dale on March 17, T.A. 3019, standing over the body of King Brand at the gate of Erebor.