Resurrecting Dale, City of A Thousand Untold Stories - Page 5
© Michael Martinez
As a result of the founding of Rohan by the Eotheod in 2510 and the later rise of Dale in close alliance with Erebor, the Easterlings must have been checked. Eorl died in battle with the Balchoth (or their successors) in 2545. Brego, Eorl's son, defeated the Easterlings in 2546, and Rohan seems to have been untroubled by the east for more than 200 years. It would thus seem that the Rohirrim so weakened the Easterlings that the Northmen of Dale were able to push them back across the Carnen. Some Easterlings surely remained near southern Mirkwood, but their great confederation of tribes must have been weakened.
All that changed in the year 2758. This was the year that the rebel Wulf drove Helm out of Edoras. Rohan was attacked from the east again at the same time. The Easterlings need not have been concerned with Dale, but there is the curious matter of King Bladorthin and the spears with thrice-forged heads that were never delivered to his army. If the Easterlings began to move again in the north as well as against Rohan, Bladorthin may have mobilized his army for war. But then the Long Winter set in and the situation must have changed for everyone. Bladorthin died and most likely was succeeded by Girion (presumably his son or nephew).
Girion would then have remained King of Dale until Smaug attacked the city in the year 2770. But Girion probably drove the Easterlings back, or at least followed them to the rivers if they withdrew as a result of long deprivation. Dale became strong and prospered until the dragon arrived.
The prosperity of Dale is summarized by Thorin in The Hobbit. The Dwarves provided the industry on which Dale's merchants grew wealthy. Girion must have controlled a vast trading network between Erebor, Dale, the Iron Hills, and Laketown (which was independent of Dale and itself in control of a riverborne trading network). Of course, trade seems also to have existed with Thranduil's Elven realm in northern Mirkwood.
Dale's economy was probably based originally on trading food to the Dwarves in exchange for stone-masonry, smithing, and specialized industrial fields (such as bell-making -- since there were no churches in Middle-earth, the use of bells seems to have been for sounding alarms and probably great celebrations, but both Minas Tirith and Dale relied upon bells to sound alarms). But as the Dwarves became more productive, Dale most likely exported toys and other items of Dwarven manufacture to other regions.
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