Dwarven Strongholds of the Elder Days (Years of the Trees & First Age)

From Nogrod and Belagost, the Naugreim came forth into Beleriand, and the elves were filled with amazement, for they had believed themselves to be the only living things in Middle-earth that spoke with words or wrought with hands, and that all others were but birds and beasts. Greetings and well met, my friends. Joyston here, and I hope you all are doing well, wherever you are in Middle-earth. Today we will be returning to an old series, the Settlements of Middle-earth, concerning the settlements, strongholds, or outposts of a given faction or kingdom. Today's video will be a bit more nuanced than that, as we discuss the strongholds of the different dwarven clans throughout the Years of the Trees and the First Age of Middle-earth. For my video on those different dwarven clans, as well as other related articles and videos, please check out the description and cards. My friends, thank you all so much for joining me today, it means the world to me. Let's begin our tale. First we start with Durin I, Durin the Deathless, first of the seven fathers of the dwarves to awaken from ancient slumber. He would awaken in the mountain Gundabad, which connected the Grey Mountains and Misty Mountains in the far north of Middle-earth. His journeys would bring him south before the time of the sun and moon, and he would find a place beneath the three peaks Celebdil, Carathras, and Fanwithul to build Khazad-dûm, meaning the Dwarves' Mansions, sometime between 1050 and 1250 of the Years of the Trees. Now Khazad-dûm, the dwarro-delf, Hathodrond, in the Elven language, in later years named Moria, would be the home of the Longbeards throughout the end of the Years of the Trees and the entirety of the First Age, the age we are most concerned with today, and on either side of the mountain stronghold would be lands that would belong to Elves at some point during the history of Middle-earth, Hallan or Eregion on the west, and Lauralindoran, later called Lothlorien on the east. Concerning Khazad-dûm in the First Age, we actually know fairly little, as Durin's folk, the Longbeards, would be less active in the great events of Middle-earth during the First Age, but it would become known far and wide, even in Beleriand, of the success of Khazad-dûm, greatest of all dwarven kingdoms, and it fared quite well under the rule of Durin I, who passed away sometime before the end of the First Age. It can be assumed that Mithril was first found during the late Years of the Trees and during the First Age, and it continued to be the greatest commodity of Khazad-dûm and the pride of the Longbeards. Now before we head west and look at the dwarves who came into Beleriand and played a greater role in the Silmarillion and the events of the First Age, let's go east for a moment. While we know next to nothing about four of the seven dwarven clans, the Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks, and Stonefoots, we know they originated in the east, likely with the Ironfists and Stiffbeards being more together in a different land than the Blacklocks and Stonefoots, as besides the Longbeards, each dwarven clan had a pairing clan. Surely some of these dwarves settled in the land of Rune and beyond, a land with far-off mountain ranges and an inland sea. One of these mountain ranges was called the Odolcarni, the Red Mountains, and it is most likely that some of these dwarves settled there. These dwarves most definitely had settlements and strongholds in these lands during the First Age, and likely they prospered, since the great wars between the elves and Morgoth were happening far off to the east in Beleriand. Speaking of Beleriand, let's turn to the last two dwarven clans we have not yet mentioned, the Firebeards and Broadbeams. These two clans awoke in the Ered Luwian, the Blue Mountains, and the two clans made two cities, Gabulgathl, Great City, also named Mikkelberg, and called Belagost by the elves, and Tumunzahar, named Nogrod by the elves, the Hollowgold. These were made sometime between 1050 and 1250 of the Years of the Trees. Now, it is very likely that these cities represented some differences between the two dwarven clans, with one being the capital of the Firebeards and the other the capital of the Broadbeams, but that is conjecture on my part, since it seems these two clans mixed heavily. South of Belagost and north of Nogrod, but further to the west, was Mount Dolmet, meaning Mount Wethead, which was a central peak of this dwarven realm, and a road running between the two cities of the dwarves passed under the shoulders of Mount Dolmet, and followed the course of the river Askar, and crossed Gellien River at Sarn Athrad, the Ford of Stones. The Naugrim, the name of these dwarves of the First Age given to them by the Sindar, were at many times the allies of the elves and men of Beleriand. The dwarves of Belagost also aided in the carving of Menegroth, the Thousand Caves of Doriath, for Ilú Thingol and Melian. The dwarves and elves would also combine forces and the strength of their strongholds and crafts during the First Battle of Beleriand in 1497 of the Years of the Trees, and they slew many foes in that land together. The Lord of Belagost, Azeghal, would lead a host out of Belagost to fight against Morgoth's forces in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, in 472 of the First Age, and their crafts that hailed from the mighty forges of Belagost made the difference in that battle. Their dwarven masks, hideous to look upon, could withstand the might of not only dragonfire but that of Glaurung, the Father of Dragons. The Noldor near Glaurung and his brood all would have withered had the dwarves of Belagost not encircled and assailed Glaurung, striking at him with their mighty axes. Even though Azeghal was slain beneath the creature, he stabbed Glaurung in his belly, forcing the dragon to flee the battlefield. These dwarves of Belagost took the body of their king out of the battle to a funeral, singing a dirge in deep voices, and none would stop them. The dwarves of Belagost gave the Nalgrim a good and mighty name, and there'd be some dwarves of Nogrod to do the same, although the folk of that mighty city also committed worse deeds as well. Eul the Dark Elf and his son Maeglin would often go to Nogrod, and these dwarves also traded with King Thingol. Some of the greatest craftsmen of all time among the dwarves could be found at the forges of Nogrod, these being Gamel-Zirak, or Zirak the Old, and his apprentice Telkar. Zirak would be responsible for the making of many treasures of Thingol, and Telkar would create the knife Ingrist, which would cut the Silmaril from Morgoth's crown, the sword Narsil, the famed sword Elendil, and Turin's famous Helm of Dor-Lomin. This helm would even be a token of good faith, for it was made originally for Azakhal, who gave it to Mithros of the Noldor, after the son of Feanor had saved Azakhal from orcs on the Dwarf Road in the east. I would also not be surprised if one or both of these dwarven smiths played a part in forging the Nalgrimir, a necklace originally given to Finrod Felagund after the dwarves of the Now some of the Dwarves of Nogrod were greedy crafters, rather than honorable and hearty warriors like their kin in Belagost, for after aiding Thingol in putting the Silmaril into the Nalgrimir, they slew him and attempted to take the necklace and stone of Feanor for themselves. Through treachery and lies, blood was shed between the Dwarves of Nogrod and the Elves of Doriath in the Battle of a Thousand Caves and the Battle of Sarn Athrad in 503, and even though the Dwarves of Belagost warned their cousins in Nogrod against this action, the Lord or King of Nogrod, possibly named Naugladur, led his folk south against the Elves of Doriath and Ossiriand, Beren, and even the Ents near Mount Dolmed. This was a crushing defeat for the Dwarves of Nogrod, and one that would have been prevented had they heeded the counsel of their cousins in Belagost. Though the Dwarves of Belagost did not partake in this evil, the destruction of the two cities of Belagost and Nogrod would not be unalike, for with the destruction of Beleriand following the end of the War of Wrath in 587, these great Dwarven cities would be laid low of their former glory, and though it is possible that at least some of the ruins of these cities survived into the Second and Third Ages, they were then at the new western edge of Middle-earth, near the sea, and in the year 40 of the Second Age, most of the remaining firebeards and broadbeams would abandon their homes of old, and go east to Khazad-dûm to mix with the Longbeards, though there were always some Dwarves who remained in the eastern Blue Mountains, remembering the echoes of hammers ringing on anvils in their ancient homes from the Elder Days. Now I would be remiss if I did not speak about the strongholds of the exiled Dwarves from the eastern Dwarf cities, the Peti Dwarves, who were likely Dwarves made up from multiple clans. These Dwarves, who were smaller, more unsociable, and gave secret Khazad-dûm names away freely, were in Beleriand before the Elves had established contact with the Dwarves of Belagost and Nogrod, and so the Sindar hunted them, thinking that they were animals. Indeed, this was cruel and evil, but the Sindar would stop once they had made contact with the Nalgrim and realized their mistake. But even so, the Peti Dwarves would actually hate the Noldor more, for these Elves stole their lands, such as the in the caves of the river Narog in southwest Beleriand, which was taken by the Noldor of Finrod and made into Nargothrond. By the later years of the First Age, the last of the Peti Dwarves, Mîm, Ibûn, and Kîm, resided in Bar-in-Nîb-en-Noeg, meaning the House of Ransom in Sindarin, on the Bald Hill Amunrûth, northeast of Nargothrond, and near Doriath and Brethna. The Peti Dwarves would bring betrayal to Turin Turambar and his friend Belag Strongbow the Elf, as well as their outlaw companions sometime after the death of Kîm, and Turin's father Hurin would avenge this, slaying Mîm, one of the last Peti Dwarves, in Nargothrond, once an ancient home of those Peti Dwarves. But with the fall of Beleriand, Amunrûth and Nargothrond were also both lost to the seas, and an end was brought to the Dwarven strongholds of First Age, except indeed for the possible ruins of Belagost and Nogrod that may have survived, the eastern cities of the Dwarves in Rhûn and beyond, and of course Khazad-dûm. But Dwarves have long memories, and the lore and songs of the Dwarves would surely not forget the halls of the Khazad from the Elder Days. And so we come to the end of our tale about the Dwarven strongholds of the Elder Days. From the tale of these Dwarven settlements we see that the true treasures of the Dwarves of the Elder Days were not gems or gold, but their homes and hearths, the lands of their families and kin. We must always remember what is truly important to protect in life. Thank you all so much for watching, I hope you all enjoyed today's video. If you did, please be sure to hit that like button and share this with a friend. What are your thoughts, questions, additions, and corrections about the Dwarven strongholds of the Elder Days? Let me know in the comments below. I've been wanting to cover this topic for a long time, and it's very interesting to revisit the Dwarves of the Silmarillion with an emphasis on them, especially since they are different from the Dwarves we see in the rest of the history of Middle-earth. To further support the channel, please check out our music channel, Facebook, Twitter, Merch, and Patreon. For our podcast and Discord server, all of those links are in the description below. I want to shout out our Valartyr patrons, Adrian de la Torre, Chris Ortner, Peter Shepard, Jonathan Putnam, Mark Kralik, Blair Scout, Tobias Goldner, Ryan Ramsey, Adam Rink, Merton, John Hume, Tom Bombadil, Ridgy93, Chip Slade, Jennifer Wood, and Sam McBee. Thank you all so much, and thank you to all of my patrons. Finally, don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell button to join the Men of the West and all of the Free Peoples today. I'll see you all again next week with a video of your choosing. 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