The Encyclopedia of Arda - Seven Hoards (original) (raw)
The treasure of the Dwarf-kings
Seven ancient hoards of treasure amassed by the kings of the Dwarves. Rumour said that each of these hoards was founded by one of the Seven Rings given to the Dwarves by Sauron, and for that to be possible the hoards must have come into existence after the making of the Rings of Power in the middle of the Second Age.
We have almost no definite information about the Seven Hoards; given that there were seven clans of Dwarves, each descended from one of their seven Fathers, it seems at least reasonable to assume that each clan had a Ring and a hoard of its own, but even this is speculation.
The one certain fact we have about the hoards is that they were all destroyed, with all seven apparently being consumed by Dragons.1 It might be natural to imagine that the great hoard of Thrór at Erebor was one of the seven, and it is true that it had connections to both a Ring and a Dragon. Erebor was, however, founded long after the giving of the Seven Rings (something like four thousand years, in fact) so this identity is questionable.
Notes
| 1 | The reference to the destruction of the Seven Hoards comes from Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age in The Silmarillion, where we're told that '...all those hoards long ago were plundered and the Dragons devoured them...' That seems to imply that all seven of the Hoards were consumed by Dragons, though there is some slight ambiguity in the wording. |
|---|
Indexes:
About this entry:
- Updated 24 August 2017
- This entry is complete
For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.
Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2013, 2017. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.