| Boromir: "Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing? So small a thing!" - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring II:10 |
Amon Rûdh (S: Bald Hill), the Bald Hill, arose alone and prominently in the midst of the wild moorland of Talath Dirnen, the Guarded Plain, south of the forest of Brethil and west of Doriath, in Beleriand in the First Age. Its sides were steep bare rock, save for the red-flowering Seregon plant that crowned it.
Hidden near the summit, and virtually inaccessible except to those who knew the way, was Bar-en-Nibin-Noeg, the "House of the Petty-dwarves", subterranean home of the old Petty-dwarf Mîm and his sons Khîm and Ibun.
History
Called Sharbhund by its Petty-dwarven inhabitants, Amon Rûdh long held a hidden dwelling of the Petty-dwarves, exiles from the eastern Dwarf-cities, who settled secretly among the lands of Beleriand. Indeed, they had been there long before the return of the Noldorin exiles.
After Mîm's capture and ransom by Túrin and his companions, it was also occupied by that outlaw band between 1A 487 and 1A 489, becoming (after the arrival of Beleg) the center of the "realm" of Dor-Cúarthol, the "Land of Bow-and-helm". But the treacherous Mîm betrayed his unwelcome "guests" to the Orcs of Morgoth, who then raided the place, destroying the outlaws and capturing Túrin. Although Mîm (and possibly Ibun) survived the raid, it seems that Bar-en-Danwedh (as the House had come to be called) and Amon Rûdh were abandoned afterwards, as they were clearly no longer secret nor safe.