Q: Were There Ever Three Concurrent Kings in Khazad-dûm?
ANSWER: A reader wrote in with a set of related questions about the Dwarves. Here is what Rochi had to say:
…Each of the seven rings were given to seven kings which are heads of these seven houses, who used the rings to make seven treasure hoards, around in second age when Belegost and Nogrod are long gone. We know that Firebeards and Broadbeams migrated to Khazad-dûm and mixed with Longbeards.
Does this mean that there were three kings in Khazad-dûm, who ruled three houses? Sauron got back three of the seven, are they rings of these three houses? Also Bifur, Bofur and Bombur are said to be Firebeards or Broadbeams, could they be noblemen from these houses and not working class dwarves like Peter Jackson portrays them?
The names of those who were held to be kings of Durin’s Folk, whether in exile or not, are marked so. Of the other companions of Thorin Oakenshield in the journey to Erebor Ori, Nori, and Dori were also of the House of Durin, and more remote kinsmen of Thorin: Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur were descended from Dwarves of Moria but were not of Durin’s line.
I may be one of the people who is responsible for the idea that these three Dwarves are descended from the Firebeards or Broadbeams. I speculated about that openly in the 1990s in the news groups. I also included the reference in part 3 of my History of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
I’m not sure Peter Jackson ruled out any noble ancestry for the three as all of Durin’s Folk were reduced to the status of “working class dwarves” by their expulsion from Erebor, even in the movies. I think the books and the movies both leave the ancestry of these three dwarves open to speculation, although I don’t buy the background books for the movies. I have no idea of what Brian Sibley might say about their ancestry. So far as I know he only repeats what Tolkien said in The Hobbit when writing that Bofur and Bombur are brothers, and Bifur is their cousin.
As for the three rings Sauron recovered, we can only be sure of the Ring of Durin. I know of no passage where Tolkien discusses the other two rings or how Sauron came by them. Since four were destroyed by dragon-fire it would seem that at least two of the eastern rings suffered such fates, if not all four of them. That suggests that the eastern dwarvish houses suffered calamities similar to those suffered by the Broadbeams, Firebeards, and Longbeards.
But would their kings have left their native lands? Khazad-dûm was a special place among the dwarves, being the ancestral halls of Durin’s Folk. Maybe only Gundabad would have been more prestigious among their cities. Tolkien wrote that in their ancient history Gundabad was a gathering place for all seven kindreds of the dwarves, and so its seizure by the Orcs was a grievous blow to their pride. Perhaps Khazad-dûm became a substitute for Gundabad during the Third Age, since it was still the midmost kingdom of all seven.
As we can only speculate, though, I will speculate that the western kings never left the Ered Luin. Tolkien notes there were always dwarves in the Blue Mountains even after Nogrod and Belegost were destroyed. Nogrod because of its war with Doriath had already been diminished. Belegost was only ruined in the tumults that destroyed most of Beleriand. But though many dwarves from the Ered Luin migrated to Khazad-dûm not all did so.
In which case, when or how could Sauron have obtained 2 of the three, if dragons did not destroy them? Again, we can only speculate but I would guess that Tolkien meant for some dwarvish expedition to have gone wrong. Either the two western royal houses did dwell in Khazad-dûm and suffered with Durin’s Line or else they were caught far afield either by dragons or by Sauron’s servants.
We only know that by the time Thrain was taken his was the last of the Seven Rings. Perhaps the other two were captured during or after the Battle of Azanulbizar, although in my opinion J.R.R. Tolkien probably never decided on how Sauron regained the rings. He might have felt constrained to place their loss before the battle, which would make more sense to me. The waylaying of two dwarf kings after the end of the war would be a notable event. But if they perished during the war and their heirs lost the rings, Tolkien would not have to write a story to explain what happened.
Ultimately these are just details readers can flesh out any way they wish. There are too few known facts for any theories consistent with them to carry much weight, in my opinion. But if I were devising a dwarvish history for a role-playing game, perhaps one where the players try to figure out what happened to the rings, then I would probably say that the royal houses stayed in the Ered Luin and that the last wielders of the two rings died in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs and were taken so that their possessions were given to Sauron.
See also:
- How Did Sauron Give the Seven Rings to the Dwarven Kings?
- Why Did Sauron Take Back the Dwarven Rings of Power?
- How Was Beleriand Destroyed in the War of Wrath?
- Did Dwarves Ever Serve Sauron?
- Them Dwarves, Them Dwarves, Part Two
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Another interesting piece of speculation, well where there are no exact sources it’s all that remains :). That’s probably the best guess we can have on the matter. I also agree the kings of two royal houses of Broadbeams and Firebeards, would most likely stay in ancestral homeland, besides we don’t know whether the ancient cities of Nogrod and Belegost were destroyed entirely or maybe some parts of them survived, possibly those two clans could also build other settlements throughout the mountain range. Also where exactly was Mount Dolmed? Was it in the middle where later Gulf of Lhun formed, or was it further north?
I believe is what further north where the mountains started to bend to the Northeast.
If so then a place of awakening of two of the Seven Fathers (with their spouses apparently) could possibly be a dwarven stronghold like Mount Gundabad was for Longbeards. There is also interesting question in story of the fall of Arnor, it is said that Arvedui last king of Arnor fled north from North Downs where Fornost his capital was located after losing to Witch-king’s armies and he reached Ice Bay of Forochel and hid in abandoned dwarf mines at the north edge of the mountains. That mean northern edge of Ered Luin, right? It could not be other mountain range because so far north besides Blue Mountains are only Mountains of Angmar (though there is some speculation that Carn Dum the capital of Witch-king may have been of dwarvish origin).