The Sauron Strategies: Footsteps into Failure - Page 5
© Michael Martinez
Hence, the Longbeard Dwarves themselves must have posed a considerable threat to Sauron's plans. Their kingdom had been strengthened early in the Second Age by an influx of Dwarves emigrating from the Ered Luin. These were mostly Belegostian Dwarves, former allies of the Eldar in Beleriand and enemies of Morgoth. Khazad-dum, the chief city of the Longbeards, provided a key avenue of supply and reinforcement between Eregion and the Vales of Anduin. Considerable trade must have passed through the Longbeards' hands. But more importantly, the Longbeards were the traditional central power of Dwarvendom. They were the guardians of Gundabad, where the Dwarven peoples had communed for countless years.
If the Eldar posed a threat to Sauron's control over Middle-earth, the Dwarves were at the very least an obstacle in his path. They would not have accepted his domination and they were, in the westlands, allied with the Eldar and the Edainic peoples who were friendly with the Eldar. Sauron well knew what the Edain were capable of, for he had fought them in Beleriand. Among Men, the Numenoreans may have presented the greater threat, but their homeland lay far beyond Middle-earth. Relatively few Numenoreans dwelt in Middle-earth. The Edainic peoples provided Gil-galad and his allies with a tremendous resource.
Therefore, Sauron's assault on the lands east of the Misty Mountains makes sense. While he lay siege to Eregion, Khazad-dum's priorities were divided. Sauron may not have anticipated the assault that Durin III launched against the invaders from Khazad-dum's west-gate. Or else he intended the battles in the east to draw off a great part of Durin's strength. The Edainic peoples were driven from their lands, and most were apparently killed. The survivors fled into the mountains, where the Dwarves could protect them, or the deeper woodlands, where they were isolated from other peoples. Most of them probably fled into the far northern lands anyway.
The Silvan Elves probably suffered terribly. They may have been incapable of mounting or sustaining the kind of war which the Eldar could achieve, but they were more numerous than the Eldar and, in some lands, were led by Eldarin princes. It may be that several smaller realms were wiped out or driven to seek refuge in Greenwood the Great and Lothlorien. Yet Sauron's failure to destroy the realms of Amdir (father of Amroth) and Oropher (father of Thranduil) implies that he lacked the resources to fight a woodland war. He must have had few if any troops trained to for warfare under the trees.
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