Timeline Event
Thráin imprisoned by Sauron in Dol Guldur
Event Type: General
Age: 3rd Age - The Stewards
Years: 2845 ~ 2850
Description:
2845
Thráin the Dwarf is imprisoned in Dol Guldur; the last of the Seven Rings is taken from him.
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix B, The Tale of Years: The Third Age
It would now seem that as soon as [Thráin] was abroad with few companions he was hunted by the emissaries of Sauron. Wolves pursued him, orcs waylaid him, evil birds shadowed his path, and the more he strove to go north the more misfortunes opposed him. There came a dark night when he and his companions were wandering in the land beyond Anduin, and they were driven by a black rain to take shelter under the eaves of Mirkwood. In the morning he was gone from the camp, and his companions called him in vain. They searched for him many days, until at last giving up hope they departed and came at length back to Thorin. Only long after was it learned that Thráin had been taken alive and brought to the pits of Dol Guldur. There he was tormented and the Ring taken from him, and then at last he died.
The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Durin's Folk
'It was nine years after Thráin had left his people that I found him, and he had then been in the pits of Dol Guldur for five years at least. I do not know how he endured so long, nor how he had kept these things hidden through all his torments. I think that the Dark Power had desired nothing from him except the Ring only, and when he had taken that he troubled no further, but just flung the broken prisoner into the pits to rave until he died.'
Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 3, The Quest of Erebor: Appendix
'How he got there I don't know, but I found him a prisoner in the dungeons of the Necromancer.'
'Whatever were you doing there?' asked Thorin with a shudder....
'Never you mind. I was finding things out, as usual; and a nasty dangerous business it was. Even I, Gandalf, only just escaped. I tried to save your father, but it was too late. He was witless and wandering, and had forgotten almost everything except the map and the key.'
The Hobbit, Ch 1, An Unexpected Party
'And he said that he had possessed a great Ring.
'Nearly all his ravings were of that. The last of the Seven he said over and over again. But all these things he might have come by in many ways. He might have been a messenger caught as he fled, or even a thief trapped by a greater thief. But he gave the map and the key to me.'
Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 3, The Quest of Erebor
Contributors:
Lyllyn 9.16.03
added quotes: Elena Tiriel 29Sep05, 5Oct05
