Who is Bard in the Hobbit?

[Fundin Snowarm]

Besides whats in the Hobbit is there any further backstory for Bard?

 

[Astaldo]

I do not remember anywhere else his name. Only the killer of Smaug and that he was a great lord

 

[baragund]

Bard was a descendent of the earlier kings of Dale. Girion was the last king of Dale before Smaug came along. Bard's grandson Brand fought and died along King Dain at the Battle of Dale during the War of the Ring, the lesser known second front that was overshadowed by the Battle of Pelennor Fields.

Incidentally, the Men of Dale had some common ancestry of the Rohirrim. They were both descendents of the Northmen who lived between Mirkwood and the River Running. For more details, check out the first part of "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan" in Unfinished Tales. These Northmen also had common ancestry with the Edain who migrated over the mountains into Beleriand in the 1st Age.

Hope this helps...

 

[Eledhwen]

This is a prime example of one of those tales that is told only as a light sketch, to be filled in by other hands as Tolkien hoped.

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

Besides whats in the Hobbit is there any further backstory for Bard?

I found these passages from the History of Middle-earth: The Return of the Shadow:

...my father clearly intended the B on the waggon to stand for Bard, King of Dale. Later, when the years had been greatly lengthened out, it would be Bain son of Bard who ruled in Dale at this time.

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Throughout the meal they talked together. Bingo told news of the Shire, but he listened more than he talked, for Gloin had much to tell of the Dwarf-kingdom under the Mountain, and of Dale. There Dain was still king of the dwarfs,(9) and was now ancient (some 200 years old), venerable, and fabulously rich. Of the ten companions that had survived the battle, seven were still with him: Dwalin, Dori, Nori, Bifur and Bofur and Bombur.(10) But the last was now so fat that he could not move himself from his couch to his chair, and it took four young dwarves to lift him. In Dale the grandson of Bard, Brand son of Bain, was lord.

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In Dale the grandson of Bard the Bowman ruled, Brand son of Bain son of Bard, and he was become a strong king whose realm included Esgaroth, and much land to the south of the great falls.

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In Dale the grandson of Bard the Bowman ruled, Brand son of Bain son of Bard, and he was become a strong king whose realm included Esgaroth, and much land to the south of the great falls.

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This passage from HoME, Peoples of Middle-earth:

...Battle of the Five Armies fought in Dale. Thranduil of Mirkwood, the Men of Esgaroth; and the Dwarves, with the help of the Eagles of the Misty Mountains, defeat a great host of Orcs. Bard of Esgaroth slays Smaug the Dragon.

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Barley