Mount Gundabad

Mount Gundabad
General information
Type	Mountain
Other names	Gundabad
Location	At the northern end of the Misty Mountains and west of the Grey Mountains
People
Inhabitants	Dwarves (early), Orcs (later)
Spoken languages	Khuzdul (early), Orcish dialects (later)
History
Founded/built	Early Years of the Trees
Lifespan	Years of the Trees - Fourth Age

Mount Gundabad was a chief Orc mountain-stronghold situated at the northern end of the Misty Mountains, located to the east of the ancient realm of Angmar.

History

Dwarves, Durin the Deathless, oldest of the Fathers of the Dwarves, awoke at Mount Gundabad in the north of the Misty Mountains shortly after the Awakening of the Elves in the Years of the Trees. Mount Gundabad then became a sacred place to the Dwarves.

In the middle of the Second Age, however, Orcs (ruled over by the servants of Sauron) invaded the mountains again and took Gundabad. The site would not be cleansed until very late in the Second Age, possibly around or after the fall of Sauron and the loss of the One Ring in SA 3441.

In the Third Age, the Orcs of Angmar yet again claimed it as their capital, which was one of the reasons for the Dwarves' special hatred of them. After the fall of Angmar, Gundabad remained an Orc stronghold, until it was cleansed of orcs during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. However, hordes of Orcs seem to have trickled back to this hotly contested strongpoint and fortified it anew during the events of The Hobbit, menacing the Wilderland for yet another time. It was from here the gargantuan Goblin-horde present during the Battle of the Five Armies attacked and marched from. Their leader, Bolg son of Azog, was the supreme commander of the Orcs from Gundabad, and presumably the northern Misty Mountains.

Portrayal in adaptations

The Hobbit film trilogy

Fortress of Gundabad portrayed during The Battle of the Five Armies

In The Hobbit film trilogy, Gundabad plays a key role in the series storyline.

It is portrayed as a tall fortress tower in the middle of a remote mountain range. Hidden cauldrons of fire light up the tower with a dim red glow. The tower is surrounded by sharp angled cliffs.

The fortress is home to Bolg and his father Azog The Defiler, as well as an army of Gundabad Orcs. As eventually revealed in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Gundabad is a stronghold with connections to the Angmar kingdom that died out long ago. In the aftermath, Gundabad Orcs like Azog began to take residence in Moria before forging an alliance with Sauron, in his Necromancer guise at Dol Guldur, in an attempt to revive Angmar through Smaug taking the Lonely Mountain. But when Thorin II Oakenshield reclaims the Lonely Mountain, Sauron is forced to send the Orc army he amassed to the Lonely Mountain. On route at the start of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Azog instructs his son Bolg to bring out an additional Orc army from Gundabad itself.

Legolas and Tauriel follow Bolg north to Gundabad. Once they arrive at the remote fortress they stop, and wait on a ridgeline above the "Red Tower". During their wait Legolas reveals that his mother was taken captive to Gundabad and died after enduring torture.

For a while the area seems deserted, but without warning, huge bats start to swarm the tower. Legolas realizes grimly, that these bats are bred for war. Suddenly, Bolg appears on a precipice and bellows out a signal. A huge army of Berserker Orcs and Gundabad Orcs swarm out and start to march south, towards The Lonely Mountain.

Tauriel and Legolas witness the army of Gundabad Orcs emerging from the mountain, and they rush to warn the armies at Dale. 

Video games

• The video game The Lord of the Rings: War in the North was the first to depict Mount Gundabad in any form.
• Games Workshop's miniature of Bolg gives his full title as "Castellan of Mount Gundabad."

Translations around the World

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Berg Gundabad
Albanian	Mali Gundabad
Amharic	ጎንዳባድ ተራራ
Arabic	جبل جونداباد
Armenian	Գունդաբադ լեռ
Azerbaijani	Gundabad dağı
Basque	Gundabad mendia
Belarusian Cyrillic	гара Гундабад
Bengali	গুণ্ডাবাদ পর্বত
Bosnian	Brdo Gundabad
Breton	Menez Gundabad
Bulgarian Cyrillic	планина Гундабад
Cambodian	ភ្នំ Gundabad ?
Catalan	Mont Gundabad
Cheyenne	Vose Gundabad
Chinese (Hong Kong)	剛達巴山脈
Croatian	Brdo Gundabad
Corsican	Muntagna Gundabad
Czech	Hora Gundabad
Danish	Gundabadbjerget
Dutch	Gundabadberg
Esperanto	Monto Gundabad
Estonian	Gundabadi mägi
Filipino	Bundok Gundabad
Finnish	Gundabadin vuori
French	Mont Gundabad
Galician	Monte Gundabad
Georgian	გუნდაბადის მთა
German	Berg Gundabad
Greek	Όρος Γυνδαβαδ
Gujarati	માઉન્ટ ગોંડબાદ
Hausa	Dutsen Gundabad
Hawaiian	Mauna Gundabad
Hebrew	ג'בל גונדאבאד
Haitian Creole	Mòn Gundabad
Hindi	गुंडबड पर्वत; Gundabad Parvat (Latin)
Hungarian	Gundabad-hegy
Icelandic	Fjall Gundabad
Iloko	Bantay Gundabad
Indonesian	Gunung Gundabad
Irish Gaelic	Sliabh Gundabad
Italian	Monte Gundabad
Japanese	グンダバード山
Javanese	Gunung Gundabad
Kannada	ಗುಂದಬಾದ್ ಪರ್ವತ; Gundabad Parvata (Latin)
Kazakh	Тауына Гұндабад (Cyrillic) Tawına Gundabad (Latin)
Korean	건다 바드 산
Kurdish	Çiyayê Gundabad (Kurmanji Kurdish)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	тоосунда Гундабад
Latin	Mons Gundabad
Latvian	Gundabad kalnu
Lithuanian	Gundabad kalnas
Luxembourgish	Montéierung Gundabad
Macedonian Cyrillic	Гундабад Гора
Malayalam	ഗുണ്ടബാദ് മല
Malaysian	Gunung Gundabad
Maori	Maunga Gundabad
Marathi	गुंडबाडचा डोंगर
Mongolian Cyrillic	Монт Гундабад
Nāhuatl	Tepētl Gundabad
Navajo	Dził Gundabad
Nepalese	माउन्ट ङुन्दबद
Norwegian	Gundabadfjellet
Northern Sami	Várri Gundabad
Occitan	Mont Gundabad
Old English	Gundabad Beorg
Pashto	غر عونداباد
Persian	کوه گونداباد
Polish	Góra Gundabad
Portuguese (Brazil)	Monte Gundabad
Punjabi	ਪਹਾੜ ਗੁਨ੍ਦਬਦ
Romanian	Muntele Gundabad
Romansh	Muntogna Gundabad
Russian	гора Гундабад
Samoan	Mauga Gundabad
Sanskrit	गुंडबड पर्वत; Gundabad Parvat (Latin)
Scottish Gaelic	Beinn Gundabad
Serbian	Гундабад гора (Cyrillic) Gundabad gora (Latin)
Sesotho	Thabeng Gundabad
Sindhi	مائونٽ گند آباد
Sinhalese	ගුන්තබාද් කන්ද
Slovak	Hora Gundabad
Slovenian	Gora Gundabad
Somalian	Buurta Gundabad
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Monte Gundabad
Sudanese	Gunung Gundabad
Swahili	Mlima Gundabad
Swedish	Gundabadberget
Tagalog	Bundok ng Gundabad
Tajik Cyrillic	Маунт Гундабад
Tamil	குண்டபடி மலை
Telugu	గుందాబాద్ పర్వతం
Turkish	Gundabad Dağı
Turkmen	Gundabad dagyna ?
Urdu	کوہ گوندآباڈ
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Гора Ґундабад
Uzbek	Гундабад тоғига (Cyrillic) Gundabad tog‘iga (Latin)
Vietnamese	Núi Gundabad
Welsh	Mynydd Gundabad
Xhosa	Entabeni Gundabad
Yiddish	מעמד הר גונדאַבאַד
Yoruba	Òkè Gundabad
Zazaki	Koyê Gundabad
Zulu	Entabeni Gundabad