Iron Hills

Iron Hills
J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium location
Type	Mountain range
Location	East of the Lonely Mountain in northeastern Rhovanion

The Iron Hills are a fictional range of mountains in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. They are remnants of the Iron Mountains of the First Age and are located east of the Lonely Mountain in the northeastern part of Rhovanion and the northwest of Rhûn. In the Third Age, they are home to a Dwarf kingdom. In Tolkien's novel, The Hobbit, an army of dwarves from the Iron Hills under Dáin II Ironfoot comes to the aid of Thorin Oakenshield in the Battle of the Five Armies.

The Iron Hills were rich in minerals, most notably iron – whence came the name of the Hills. The Hills were originally a part of the massive Iron Mountains where Morgoth dwelt; other remains of this vanished range were the Mountains of Angmar and Ered Mithrin. The Iron Hills were also the source of the River Redwater, the reddish colour of which came from iron particles in its water. The river joins onto the River Running.

The Dwarves who first settled in the Iron Hills during the First Age were of the clan of the Longbeards, most commonly known as Durin's Folk, and consequently were of the most noble kind of Dwarves. The Hills were mined uninterruptedly for thousands of years by them, because of the hills' rich amount of iron. The Old Dwarf Road that crossed Mirkwood was, in fact, built by the Longbeards to connect their mansions in the Misty Mountains (namely, Khazad-dûm and Gundabad) with the Iron Hills.

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Wikipedia