Stonefoots
Also calledDwarves of the East
The Stonefoots are the last of the four eastern houses of the Dwarves, descended from fathers who awoke in the mountains beyond Rhûn. They are named only in Tolkien's later notes, and enter the published histories only as part of the host of all seven houses in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs.
Description
A note on the sources
The published narratives count seven houses of the Dwarves but give a name only to Durin's Folk. Stonefoots, with Ironfists, Stiffbeards and Blacklocks, is a name from Tolkien's later unpublished essays. This entry records what the canonical sources allow.
Origins
The Seven Fathers were laid to sleep in separate places under the mountains until the Elves had awakened. Durin woke alone in the north, two fathers woke together in the Blue Mountains, and the remaining four woke in pairs in the far East. The Stonefoots descend from one of the eastern pairs. Their mansions lay in mountains that the chroniclers of the West never visited, and their people appear in the histories of Eriador and Rhovanion only as Dwarves of the East, wanderers and merchants who passed along the roads.
Part in the histories
The murder of Thrór by Azog in T.A. 2790 was an insult to the whole race, and when Thráin II sent messengers to the other houses, all answered. The eastern Dwarves fought in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs from 2793 to 2799, in the sack of the Orc-holds of the Misty Mountains and in the Battle of Azanulbizar before the East-gate of Moria, where the Dwarves won at the cost of a third of their host. Afterwards they refused to enter Moria, where the Balrog still lurked, and went home. The Stonefoots, on the conventional listing of the eastern houses, were among them; no individual of the house is named.
Character
The name suggests a house of miners and masons with a particular kinship with stone, and nothing further is recorded. They kept Khuzdul secret, dealt with other peoples through trade, and shared the endurance and pride of all Dwarves.
Physical traits
No description survives beyond the common Dwarvish form.
Culture
Not separately recorded; their answer to Thráin's summons shows the strength of the bond among the seven houses.
Origins
Descended from one of the two pairs of fathers who awoke in the eastern mountains after the awakening of the Elves.
Fate
Unknown; presumed to have endured in the East into the Fourth Age.
Relations with other peoples
Timeline
- Years of the Trees
Awakening in the East
Two of the Seven Fathers wake together in the eastern mountains.
- T.A. 2793
War of the Dwarves and Orcs
The seven houses begin the campaign against the Orcs of the Misty Mountains.
- T.A. 2799
Battle of Azanulbizar
The united host wins the war; the eastern Dwarves return home.
Sources
- The Lord of the Rings: AppendicesAppendix A III, Durin's Folk
- The SilmarillionOf Aulë and Yavanna
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