The title and surname of Dáin son of Náin, ruler of the Dwarves of the Iron Hills and later King under the Mountain. While still a youth of thirty-two, he fought in the Battle of Azanulbizar, and gained great fame by slaying the leader of the Orcs, Azog, before the gates of Moria. Some sources suggest that Dáin gained the name Ironfoot from that victory, holding down Azog's iron collar under his foot and then chopping off his head (though the history of the event in The Lord of the Rings is not so explicit, saying simply that Dáin '...slew [Azog], and hewed off his head.' [Appendix A III, Durin's Folk]). However he acquired the title, it suited him well as the ruler of the Iron Hills, but when his distant cousin Thorin was slain in the Battle of Five Armies, Dáin Ironfoot succeeded him to become King Dáin II of the Longbeards.
Notes
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The use of 'Ironfoot' as a title for Dáin is nowhere canonically explained. As mentioned above, it has been speculated that he received it from his great deeds in the Battle of Azanulbizar in III 2799 (the same battle where Thorin earned the name 'Oakenshield') but this is never explicitly stated. In early drafts of The Hobbit (quoted in John D. Rateliff's The History of the Hobbit), there is a reference to the Dwarves of the Iron Hills wearing caps and shoes of iron, and the origins of the title 'Ironfoot' may simply be a reference to this customary armour of Dáin's people.
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- Updated 15 August 2020
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