Azanulbizar

Azanulbizar is the valley below the Great Gates of Khazad-dûm on the east side of the Misty Mountains. Also called Dimrill Dale in Westron and Nanduhirion in Sindarin.

The valley lay between mountain ridges leading up to the peaks of Bundushathûr in the north, and Zirak-Zigil in the south. The great peak Barazinbar towered over the vale in the west. The river Kibil-nâla ran through the valley, east, through Lothlórien and into the Anduin. In the valley there was also the lake Kheld-zâram and the monument Durin's Stone. In the early days of the the valley was considered beautiful and sacred but by the later part of the Third Age it was barren desolate strip of land. A geographical buffer between the orc infested mines of Moria and the Forest of Lothlórien.

The valley was included in the Dwarf kingdom of Khazad-dûm and it is not unlikely that Durin's Folk practiced some kind of agriculture there at the height of their power.

The final and greatest battle in the War of the Dwarves and Orcs was fought in this vale in the 2799th year of the Third Age, and was called the Battle of Azanulbizar. In that battle the orc king Azog was slain by Dáin Ironfoot, and Thorin son of Tráin earned the name Oakenshield when he picked up a oak log to defend himself at the height of the battle.