User blog comment:Gcheung28/A Middle-Earth Character Tree/@comment-5318101-20121222050505/@comment-101.162.9.143-20121224015806

Darn, i'm confusing myself. just brushed through the hobbit, so I should have everything in order now.

DALE was the city of the dwarvs at Erebor (the lonely mountain). The city of DALE itself was possitioned between two arms of the mountain but "outside" and under the sun. So yeas Smaug attacked and took DALE and Erebor and over the many many years he piled up all the treasure of the dwarves (dragons are endlessly crafty like that.)

As for the Dwarves... after Smaug came, most of the survivors fled East to the iron hills. Thorin's fathers (as far as I can tell) fled West past the shire to the "Ered Luin" and /or the "Blue mountains"

Thorin's driving force, i think, is the rebuilding of the dwarven people. To bring them back under a banner and re-live the glorydays. But he cant do that without the lonely mountain and therefor while the the dragon lives. The Arkenstone is tied into this, but for the life of me I cant remember exactly how.