Bard

The heir of Girion

Bard was a descendant of Girion, the last Lord of Dale, whose wife and child had escaped down the River Running when Smaug destroyed the town in 2770. A hundred and seventy years later his family lived in Lake-town, and Bard served the town as a captain of its archers. He was a grim man, dark-haired and stern-faced, who spoke his mind and was known for predicting floods and poisoned fish, so that the townsfolk called him a prophet of bad news and did not much love him. He was also the best bowman in Esgaroth, and he kept in his family one great heirloom: a black arrow forged in the smithies of the Dwarf-kings under the Mountain, which had never failed him and which he had always recovered.

The death of Smaug

When Thorin Oakenshield and his company came to Lake-town in the autumn of 2941 and were feasted by the Master, Bard was one of the few who doubted that the return of the King under the Mountain would bring anything but trouble. He was right. On the night the dragon came down from Erebor it was Bard who saw the glow in the north and roused the town, and when Smaug fell on Esgaroth in fire it was Bard who commanded the archers from the last tower left standing while the Master fled in his boat. Their arrows could not pierce the dragon's armour of jewels. Then an old thrush from the Mountain, the same bird that had heard Bilbo describe Smaug's underside to the Dwarves, settled on Bard's shoulder and told him, in a speech that the Men of Dale had always understood, of the bare patch on the dragon's left breast. Bard fitted the Black Arrow, aimed by the light of the burning town, and shot Smaug through the heart as he swooped. The dragon fell on Lake-town and destroyed it, and Bard dived into the lake and swam ashore.

The march to the Mountain

The survivors would have made him king at once, and turned on the Master, who had abandoned them; but Bard would not take the title while the town lay in ruins and its people were cold and starving. He put the camp in order, sent to Thranduil for help, and when the Elvenking's army arrived on its way to the Mountain, Bard went with it with every Lake-man who could bear arms, to claim from the dragon's hoard a share of the wealth of Dale that Smaug had stolen and compensation for Esgaroth. He found the Dwarves alive and the Front Gate walled, and Thorin refused every claim while an armed host stood at his door. Bard besieged the Mountain. The stalemate was broken by Bilbo, who brought the Arkenstone secretly to Bard's tent so that it might be bargained for peace, and Bard and Thranduil offered it to Thorin against a fourteenth share of the gold.

The Battle of Five Armies

Before the exchange could be made Dáin Ironfoot arrived from the Iron Hills, and Bard was on the point of fighting the Dwarves when Gandalf revealed the true enemy: the Goblins of the North and the Wargs under Bolg, come to take the Mountain for themselves. Bard, Thranduil and Dáin joined forces and fought the Goblins on the spurs of Erebor through a long day, Bard commanding the Men. The battle was won with the coming of the Eagles and of Beorn, and Thorin died of his wounds after making his peace with Bilbo.

King of Dale

Dáin, now King under the Mountain, honoured Thorin's promise and gave Bard the fourteenth share of the treasure. Bard used it well. He sent much to the Master for the rebuilding of Lake-town, which the Master partly stole; he gave the emeralds of Girion, restored to him by Dáin, to the Elvenking in thanks; and he rewarded Bilbo, who would take only two small chests. With the rest he rebuilt Dale on its old site in the valley below the Gate, and in 2944 he became its king. Under him and under Dáin's Dwarves the whole region prospered, the Long Lake was rebuilt, and the friendship of Dale, Erebor and the Woodland Realm endured through the War of the Ring. Bard reigned for thirty-three years and died in 2977. His son Bain succeeded him, and Bain's son Brand was king when the Easterlings came in 3019.

Died in T.A. 2977 after ruling Dale for thirty-three years; succeeded by his son Bain.