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Them Dwarves, Them Dwarves, Part II - Page 8

© Michael Martinez

In "The Quest for Erebor" (Unfinished Tale) Christopher Tolkien collated fragments of texts his father had written in attempts to explain (mostly through Gandalf) how the expedition of Thorin and Company to Erebor was arranged in 2941. In the course of one discussion Gandalf admonishes Gloin for thinking too little of the Shire folk because the Dwarves never sold them any weapons. One may infer from this remark that the Dwarves were indeed selling weapons to someone, but Tolkien doesn't indicate to whom. Perhaps the Elves needed weapons, but they should have been capable of making their own. It seems more likely the Dwarves would have supplied the Dunedain of Eriador with weapons. The Rangers seem an unusually well-equipped core of soldiers to be wholle sustained by a "wandering folk". If the Dunedain needed to turn to anyone for supplying crafted items the Dwarves seem a logical choice. But as Eriador's population centers declined throughout the late Third Age it would become more and more difficult for the Dwarves to make a profitable living. The Dunedian continued to dwindle. While Thrain and his small company lived in Dunland they probably traded with the people of Tharbad, but Tharbad was abandoned in 2912 after the Fell Winter resulted in severe flooding. The peoples' reluctance to rebuild their town implies there was simply too little economic reason to do so. Bree also went into a period of decline, possibly around the same time, though it seems to have depended more on the traffic of the east-west road than on traffic coming up from the south. Markets for Dwarven crafts thus were in short supply by the last century of the Third Age: the Shire, the Buckland, Bree, and a few scattered Dunedian. Possibly some Elves also traded with them. The restoration of the Kingdom under the Mountain in Erebor in 2941 meant that the colony of Longbeards probably departed soon afterwards to join Dain II in the east. This would have reduced competition for trade, but Sauron's subsequent return to Mordor in 2951 and the eventual westward migration of many Dwarves must have strained the Dwarves' economy considerably. Who were these Dwarves, travelling from troubled eastern lands? They don't seem to be Longbeards, who had a strong kingdom in Erebor and still probably held the Iron Hills in force. It seems more likely they were from the eastern kindreds, whose lands may have been ravaged or threatened by great wars in preparation for Sauron's assaults on the west. Hence, at the end of the Third Age there may have come an influx of eastern Dwarves who might help rejuvenate the Ered Luin.

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