Óin

Lineage

Óin was born in T.A. 2774, the elder son of Gróin, of the royal kindred of Durin's Folk descended from Borin, brother of Dáin I. His younger brother was Glóin, and Gimli was his nephew. Like all the exiles of Erebor he grew up in the wandering years after Smaug, and he was twenty-five when the Dwarves fought at Azanulbizar.

The quest of Erebor

Óin arrived at Bag End with Glóin in the second knot of guests, and the two brothers were the company's fire-makers, the ones who carried the tinder-boxes and struggled with wet wood on the journey. He went through the goblin tunnels, the spiders, the Elvenking's dungeons and the barrels with the rest, and stood in the Battle of Five Armies. Afterward he lived at Erebor under Dáin Ironfoot.

Moria and death

In 2989 Óin went with Balin to refound Khazad-dûm. He was one of the leaders of the colony, and the Book of Mazarbul records that after Balin's death in 2994 he went to the West-gate seeking a way out, and that the Watcher in the Water took him there. He was the first of the company of Thorin to die in Moria, and it was his loss that Glóin had in mind when he told the Council of Elrond that no word had come from the colony in thirty years.

Taken by the Watcher in the Water at the West-gate of Moria in T.A. 2994 after the fall of Balin.