Battle of Azanulbizar

History

The Battle of Azanulbizar was fought in the year TA 2799, between Orcs of the Misty Mountains and a host of Dwarves, in the Dimrill Dale, which was also named Azanulbizar. Much of it occurred outside the entrance to the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm, which had been lost six centuries beforehand.

The battle was the greatest and final of the War of Dwarves and Orcs, being a decisive, if pyrrhic, victory for the Dwarves. The battle claimed the lives of many, including Frerin, the second son of Thráin II and younger brother of Thorin Oakenshield. Fundin, father of Balin and Dwalin, also fell. Náin, son of Grór was slain in a fight with Azog. Azog was then slain in turn by Náin's young son, Dáin Ironfoot.

The victory did not, however, avail the Dwarves in reclaiming Khazad-dûm. Balin would attempt to secure and re-settle the abandoned realm ninety years later.

In adaptations

The portrayal of the Battle of Azanulbizar in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy was altered in several significant aspects from the account given by J.R.R. Tolkien, notably in the condensing of the battle and the survival of Azog.

As shown in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and the extended edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, after Smaug had driven the Dwarves out of the Lonely Mountain, Thrór attempted to lead all of his people back to their ancestral realm in Azanulbizar only to find that the Gundabad Orcs, led by Azog, had gotten there first. Before going into battle, Thrór gave his son Thráin his Ring of Power in case he was slain. If this occurred, his son would take his position as King of Durin's Folk. Leading a legion of Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain and the Iron Hills, Thrór fought with his son and grandson during the battle, and attempted to fight against Azog, but the Orc darted aside and decapitated him. Thorin witnessed his grandfather's death and attempted to avenge him, but Thráin stopped him and warned him that Azog the Defiler was meant to destroy the line of Durin. Refusing to allow his son suffer the same fate as Thrór, Thráin attempted to take down Azog himself, but the deadly Orc managed to take him down and steal the ring by slicing off his finger.

While Thráin led a charge towards the Dimrill Gate and never returned, the rest of the Dwarf Army was driven back by the Orcs in a retreat that threatened to turn into a rout, with Orcs slaughtering the fleeing Dwarves on the run. Thorin, hoping to rally his army, decided to face off against Azog in single combat. The Orc easily overpowered him, relieving Thorin of his sword and shield. Thorin defended himself desperately with an oaken branch as a shield, and eventually managed to slice off Azog's left arm with his retrieved sword. The wounded Azog was then dragged back by his subordinates, and Thorin rallied the remaining Dwarves, including Balin and Dwalin against the remaining Orcs and won a pyrrhic victory, defeating the Orcs. Most of the Dwarves were slain. While Balin, and Dwalin walked amidst the heaps of their slain kin, Thorin was told by several Dwarves that Thráin was gone as well. Thorin refused to believe it, and spent hours searching among the slain Dwarves, to the last body, and finally realized that his father was not among the fallen. Azog had been presumed dead, dying of his injuries. However, as it was shown in An Unexpected Journey, Azog lived, and vowed revenge on Thorin.

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