Belegost was one of two Dwarven cities in the Blue Mountains during the First Age in Middle-earth, or eastern Beleriand.[2]
History
Belegost was one of the seven great kingdoms of the Dwarves and home to the dwarvish clan the Broadbeams. [1] With her sister realm, Nogrod, Belegost was dug deep beneath Mount Dolmed in the Blue Mountains in the Ages of Stars.
Amongst the Dwarves of Belegost were the finest smiths and stone-carvers in Middle-earth. In their armourer's halls they made many bright weapons and were the first people to forge chain-mail. The Dwarves of Belegost traded with the Sindar Elves of Beleriand and supplied them with weapons of incomparably tempered steel; furthermore these Dwarves carved the stone chambers of Menegroth. One of their payments for these services was Nimphelos, a great pearl. [3]
In the First Age of the Sun, the Dwarves of Belegost and their lord, Azaghâl, won great fame in the War of the Jewels. In the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, the dwarves alone could withstand the heat of the Dragon-fire because being a race of smiths were used to great heat and on their helms they wore masks of steel. Their axes too that they forged were strong enough to hold the Dragons in check. Though Azaghâl was slain, he wounded Glaurung, the Father of Dragons and the Dragon brood fled the battleground, all the way back to Angband.
Yet as valiant as the dwarves were, neither Belegost nor Nogrod survived the First Age of the Sun. For when the War of Wrath was fought at the end of the Age, Beleriand and the Blue Mountains were broken apart in the struggle and all the land and mountains shifted and collapsed into the sea. Those dwarves that did not perish in this ruin fled to the mansions of Khazad-dûm.
Etymology
Belegost was a Sindarin word for "mighty or great fortress". Its name in Westron was Mickleburg, and the Khuzdul name for it was Gabilgathol.[4]
| Dwarven Realms of Middle-earth throughout the Ages | |
|---|---|
| Years of the Trees & First Age: | Bar-en-Nibin-Noeg | Belegost | Khazad-dûm | Mount Gundabad | Nogrod | Nulukkizdîn | Iron Hills | Blue Mountains |
| Second Age: | Khazad-dûm | Belegost | Nogrod | Mount Gundabad | Blue Mountains | Iron Hills |
| Third Age: | Grey Mountains | Iron Hills | Khazad-dûm | Lonely Mountain | Blue Mountains | Dunland |
| Fourth Age: | Glittering Caves | Khazad-dûm | Lonely Mountain | Blue Mountains | Grey Mountains | Iron Hills |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Peoples of Middle-earth: Of Dwarves and Men pg. 322, note 24 eleventh line
- ↑ The Atlas of Middle-earth pg. 13
- ↑ The Silmarillion: Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Sindar"
- ↑ The Silmarillion: Index
