# Population of Erobor at the time of the war of the Ring



## 1stvermont (Feb 16, 2021)

Does anyone have any stats or indicators of the population of Erebor at the time of the war of the ring or when Smaug attacked?


----------



## Hisoka Morrow (Feb 20, 2021)

Sry for it seems JRRT had no certainly direct data, but here're some information adaptable. The Lake-Town military assembly must have been in bloody hell due to Smaug's carpet bombardment, thus their best-class combat personnel must be calculated according to "conscription system", thus, several combat personnel can be multiplied for several times, we can infer there're about several thousands human.
Now it comes to the Dwarf and Elves, we already knew there're respectively at least 2000 and 3000 combat personnel provided by them. The Dwarf could be considered as "recruitment system", for mostly their personnel were veteran survival from the battle of Moria, in other words, they're top-class combat military personnel. Another account was that Thus if our calculation goes thus, the Dwarf's population could be calculated as multiplied for at least 15 times of their armed forces, there might be at least 30000 population of the Dwarf.
About the elves, I prefer the "recruitment" system, after all, the war-zone wasn't at their place.
In general, we could get that there're about 80000 population of the Free People around Erebor in total. And about the Dark Lord's forces...oh...you know at least only the orcs always had "strange birth rate"...XD.
Hope these help


----------



## 1stvermont (Feb 20, 2021)

Hisoka Morrow said:


> Sry for it seems JRRT had no certainly direct data, but here're some information adaptable. The Lake-Town military assembly must have been in bloody hell due to Smaug's carpet bombardment, thus their best-class combat personnel must be calculated according to "conscription system", thus, several combat personnel can be multiplied for several times, we can infer there're about several thousands human.
> Now it comes to the Dwarf and Elves, we already knew there're respectively at least 2000 and 3000 combat personnel provided by them. The Dwarf could be considered as "recruitment system", for mostly their personnel were veteran survival from the battle of Moria, in other words, they're top-class combat military personnel. Another account was that Thus if our calculation goes thus, the Dwarf's population could be calculated as multiplied for at least 15 times of their armed forces, there might be at least 30000 population of the Dwarf.
> About the elves, I prefer the "recruitment" system, after all, the war-zone wasn't at their place.
> In general, we could get that there're about 80000 population of the Free People around Erebor in total. And about the Dark Lord's forces...oh...you know at least only the orcs always had "strange birth rate"...XD.
> Hope these help



Where did you get the numbers of 2,000 and 3,000 for the elves and dwarves as a fighting force? are you referring to the battle of the five armies?


----------



## Alcuin (Feb 20, 2021)

I don’t believe there were any Elves in Erebor except perhaps a few on trading excursions at the time of _The Lord of the Ring_. I think the best estimate of a population before the siege would be those Dwarves under Dáin’s rule, both from Durin’s Folk and Dwarves whose ancestors were originally from Nogrod and Belegost; the others of their close kin were in either the Iron Hills or the Blue Mountains, outside a few who were travelling on business. 

I don’t know how large Dale was. The survivors of Dale joined the Dwarves inside Erebor to withstand the siege. 

Before Smaug’s attack, however, there were a great many Dwarves living in Erebor. Smaug killed many of them. 

There are some sites on the Web that attempt to estimate the populations of Elves, Men, and Dwarves throughout Tolkien’s legendarium.


----------



## Hisoka Morrow (Feb 21, 2021)

1stvermont said:


> are you referring to the battle of the five armies?


Exactly.


Alcuin said:


> I don’t believe there were any Elves in Erebor except perhaps a few on


In addition, could wood realm be considered as part of...Erebor, ehh...you know...JRRT's demarcation of national administrative zone always seemed not clear...XD. Yeah, after all, a single mountain couldn't be a administrative zone, apart from some unique creatures, such as dwarf, seriously.


----------

