Mountain · Angmar
Mount Gundabad
Where Durin the Deathless awoke, later the chief orc-hold of the north
- Appears in
- The Hobbit, Appendices
- Region
- Angmar
Gundabad marks the top corner of the great mountain map of Wilderland. The Misty Mountains run south from it for hundreds of miles, and the Grey Mountains run east from it toward the Withered Heath and Erebor. The vale of Anduin begins below it, and the river Langwell rises on its southern slopes.
To the Dwarves it is the oldest holy place they have. Durin the Deathless, first of the Seven Fathers, woke there, and the Longbeards counted it the origin of their line before they moved south to Khazad-dûm. Orcs took the mountain and held it for most of the Third Age, which the Dwarves treated as a standing insult.
That insult helped start the War of the Dwarves and Orcs after Thrór was murdered in Moria. The Dwarves sacked orc-holds along the whole range from Gundabad southward between TA 2793 and 2799, and the war ended in the Battle of Azanulbizar before Moria's East-gate.
Gundabad refilled. Bolg, son of Azog, mustered the goblins of the Misty Mountains and the north there and brought them down to Erebor in TA 2941, where they were destroyed in the Battle of Five Armies. Orcs still lurked in the north afterward, and Gundabad remained a name the Dwarves of Erebor watched closely.
Events at this place
-
TA 2793 · Appendices
Dwarves sack the orc-holds
The War of the Dwarves and Orcs opened with attacks on orc strongholds from Gundabad south along the Misty Mountains.
-
TA 2941 · The Hobbit
Bolg musters for the Battle of Five Armies
Goblins gathered at Gundabad under Bolg and marched to the Lonely Mountain, where they were beaten by Men, Elves, Dwarves and Eagles.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Mount Gundabad on the map?
At the far north end of the Misty Mountains, where that range meets the Grey Mountains, above the vale of Anduin.
Why is Gundabad sacred to Dwarves?
Durin the Deathless, eldest of the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves, awoke there, so the Longbeards regard it as the birthplace of their people.
Who held Gundabad during The Hobbit?
Orcs. It was their chief stronghold in the north, and Bolg gathered his army there before the Battle of Five Armies.