Goblins marching to mount gundabad in war in the north
Mount Gundabad was a chief Orc mountain-stronghold at the northern end of the Misty Mountains, ESE (East-South-East) of Angmar.
According to the dwarves, Durin the Deathless, oldest of the Fathers of the Dwarves, awoke at Mount Gundabad in the north of the Misty Mountains shortly after the Awakening of the Elves in the First Age. Mount Gundabad then remained a sacred place to the Dwarves temporarily.
In the middle of the Second Age, however, orcs (ruled over by the servants of Sauron) invaded the mountains again and took Gundabad. The site would not be cleansed until very late in the Second Age, possibly around or after the fall of Sauron and the loss of the One Ring in SA 3441.
In the Third Age, the Orcs of Angmar yet again claimed it as their capital, which was one of the reasons for the dwarves' special hatred of this people. After the fall of Angmar, Gundabad remained an Orc stronghold, until it was cleansed of orcs during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. However, hordes of orcs seem to have trickled back to this hotly contested strongpoint and fortified it anew during the events of The Hobbit, menacing the Wilderland for yet another time. It was from here that the gargantuan Goblin-horde present during the Battle of the Five Armies attacked and marched from. Their leader, Bolg son of Azog, was the supreme commander of the Orcs from Gundabad, and presumably the northern Misty Mountains.
Appearances in adaptations
Gandalf states in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that the "Gundabad Wargs" are faster than other breeds of Warg. When Radagast the Brown volunteers to distract the Warg-riders that are pursuing Thorin's Company, Gandalf tells him, "These are Gundabad Wargs; they will outrun you!" (To which Radagast replies, "These are Rhosgobel rabbits. I'd like to see them try.") Also, when Balin tells the story of the Battle of Azanulbizar, he refers to Azog as a "giant Gundabad orc", although in the flashback Azog is fighting at Moria, where in Tolkien's story he comes from.
Mount Gundabad appears to be shown in the trailer for the upcoming film The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
The video game The Lord of the Rings: War in the North was the first to depict the Mount Gundabad in any form.
| 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 |
