The Encyclopedia of Arda - Frerin (original) (raw)
A Dwarf of the royal line of Durin’s Folk
The second son of Thráin II, and thus younger brother of Thorin Oakenshield. He was born in Erebor during the time that his grandfather Thrór ruled as King under the Mountain, and grew up during a time of peace and prosperity. In his nineteenth year, disaster struck the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain: the Dragon Smaug descended from the North and drove out the Dwarves. Frerin and the royal family survived, but they were left as dispossessed wanderers in Middle-earth.
They travelled southward and westward, and settled for a time in Dunland beneath the Misty Mountains. After a time, Thrór became restless and set out into Middle-earth, finding his way northward to Moria, where he was slain by the Orc Azog. Thus began the War of the Dwarves and the Orcs, and the young Frerin was swept up into that conflict. He fought in the climactic Battle of Azanulbizar, and was slain there at the age of just forty-eight.
If he had survived the Battle, doubtless Frerin would have been one of the chief members of Thorin's Company that achieved the Quest of Erebor and reclaimed the Lonely Mountain. When the Erebor was reoccupied by the Dwarves, though, Frerin had been dead for 142 years.
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- Updated 28 January 2011
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