"Seven for the Dwarf
-lords in their halls of stone..."
From the Verse of the Rings
The Fellowship of the Ring I 2
The Shadow of the Past
The rulers of the Dwarves. Though the term is never explained in detail, its association with the number seven above implies that the Dwarf-lords, or at least the most important of them, were those descended from the seven Fathers of the Dwarves created by Aulë. Thus each of the seven clans of the Dwarves would have their own line of Dwarf-lords dating back into the First Age. The best known of these lines (indeed the only one known in any detail) was that of the Longbeards, whose lords were descendants of Durin the Deathless. Only one Dwarf-lord from outside this line of descent is ever mentioned: Azaghâl, a Lord of Belegost during the First Age.1
Based on rather sketchy evidence, Azaghâl of Belegost belonged to the clan known as the Broadbeams, while nearby Nogrod was ruled by the Dwarves known as the Firebeards. The Dwarf-lords of the Longbeards were descended from Durin, and the remaining four clans, based far to the east, were the Ironfists and Stiffbeards, and (farther east still) the Blacklocks and the Stonefoots. These names come from the essay Of Dwarves and Men in volume 12 of The History of Middle-earth.
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