Lonely Mountain Printable version

Lonely Mountain was the originating point of the River Running. It was close to the Grey mountains in the Middle-earth area. Towards the end of the Third Age, Lonely Mountain became the largest city of the Middle-earth. In the northern Rhovanion area, people called the Lonely Mountain as a mountain that comprised the region of Dwarven. People in Sindarin called the Lonely Mountain as Erebor. The Lonely Mountain had great significance as a whole in the Middle-earth area. People have been referring to it with several different names during the entire Third Age period.​

During the Third Age, the importance of the Lonely Mountain increased significantly. The mountain was the house of a considerable amount of wealth and too popular in the area. Durin's Folk continued exploring the natural wealth of the Lonely Mountain. His efforts made the whole residential set up in the area, which became suitable for making the place as his ancestral home. Dwarves were well-settled in the area and achieved great success in collecting wealth and treasures. The people reached a significant level of prosperity. By the time of TA1999, they were able to collect massive amounts of gold and other valuable stones. The Dwarves were very popular, and once they were able to fetch a precious gem Arkenstone also. Thorin's grandfather, Thor, initially discovered the precious gem Arkenstone and the Dwarves people worked on it and converted it into a valuable gem. Thrain-I, [1] his sons, and grandsons gave high importance to the Arkenstone. They made this gem as the symbol of the reputation and highness of the royal family. Erebor’s growing wealth also fostered close relations with the Men of nearby Dale, creating a prosperous trade network that made the Lonely Mountain a central economic power of the northern Third Age. The Arkenstone, later known as the Heart of the Mountain, came to symbolize not only immense wealth but the legitimacy of Durin’s royal line.​

The life of people in Lonely Mountain was happy and prosperous. They lived happily for more than two hundred years. Their culture and civilization developed, advanced, and lived up to the time of Thorin-I. After that, Thorin-I decided to shift to the Grey Mountains. Several relatives and family members of Thorin-I were living in the Grey Mountains area.​

Hence, the Dwarves abandoned the Lonely Mountain for about three hundred and eighty years. The Dwarves lived happily in the Grey Mountains for several years. A large number of dragons were living in the mountain area. These dragons started assaulting the Dwarves. These attacks were regular and were costing high expenses to the Dwarves. Therefore, in TA 2590, as a last measure, they thought of shifting from the Grey Mountains to some new location. One faction of Dwarves, whose name was Gror, decided to settle in the Iron Hill. The other group whose leader was Thror settled back in the area of Lonely Mountain.​

Thrain-II led the Dwarves lived in the Lonely Mountain till TA 2770. It was the time when Thorin Oakenshield attacked the Lonely Mountain. Thorin Oakenshield and one of his close associates Smaug attacked Dwarves in the Lonely Mountain. During this attack, they destroyed most parts of the city of Dale and Erebor. Smaug plundered the enormous wealth of the Dwarves and captured the kingdom of the Lonely Mountain. The leaders of Dwarves, Thrain-II, and his close family members were able to escape through a secret exit from the mountain. The Dwarves lived an exiled life in the regions of the Blue Mountains. After a considerable period, Thorin coincidently happened to meet Gandalf in Bree. The two leaders planned a secret mission to re-capture the Lonely Mountain.​

As per the plan, Thorin and 12 other dwarves left for the Lonely Mountain to avenge Smaug and re-capture the wealth treasure. That was the treasure of wealth Smaug snatched from Thorin during the last attack. The Lonely Mountain had a secret door towards the side of the hill. Thorin and his company, a group of 13 brave and strong Dwarves, planned to enter the mountain. The secret door was the only possible entry point. But the door was locked, and it was impossible to open the door by breaking into or physical damage. The only way to open the door was by using a key at a specific time.

Gandalf somehow was able to get the key. [2] Later, they realized that the keyhole for opening the door would be visible only when the mixture of the light of setting sun and Moon of autumn will fall on a key-hole. It was Durin's day when the auspicious coincidence was to happen. Thorin and his company had enough time to plan the attack on Smaug. A great-grandson of King of Dale, Bard the Bowman, knew the weak point of Smaug.

He attacked Smaug with a well-aimed arrow and successfully killed him in the first attempt. It was an excellent achievement for Thorin. The kingdom of Dale was free, and Bard the Bowman became the king. Thus, Thorin succeeded in recapturing the Lonely Mountain. There were celebrations for the great achievement. But the joyous period did not last long. On re-capturing mountains, Thorin received a vast wealth and treasure.

Due to this wealth, men of Lake-town and elves of Mirkwood became greedy for the wealth and demanded their share from Thorin. Thorin was in no mood to part with even a little of the wealth. The chase of wealth led to a fierce battle. Dwarves, men, and elves with the support of eagles, fought a fierce fight at the Battle of Five Armies. During the war, Thorin got severely injured, and the kingdom fell into the hands of Dain, who was from Mountain and King of Durin's Folk.​

The troubles for the Lonely Mountain continued even after the fall of Smaug. On 17 March of TA 3019, Easterling brave soldiers attacked the mountains and severely defeated the Dales. The Lonely Mountain was about to fall into the hands of Easterlings.​

The dwarves and his soldiers repulsed the attacks of Easterlings successfully. During the battle, King Brand and Dane fought bravely and defended the mountains. However, both were killed in action. But the dwarves were able to thwart the attack. They had the advantage of the mountain's complicated locking gates system. The invaders were not able to understand the functioning of the gates and lost many soldiers in confusion. The Mountains was a robust high point from the point of a tactical battle. Dwarves used several unique techniques to counter the invaders.​

The tactical protection systems of defense of mountains resulted in a great success for the dwarves. After several failed attempts, Easterlings decided to retreat. They suffered considerable casualties in the battle, much more than the dwarves.​

The king of Erebor lost his life in the War of the Ring. After that, his son Thorin III Stonehelm took over as the lord of Erebor and ruled till the Fourth Age. During the period, Dwarves from Lonely Mountain rebuilt the fortress of Hornburg and several other cities in Gondor. Gimli became the Lord of Glittering Caves and set up several Dwarven colonies. Many dwarves later shifted to those colonies.​