Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
Well, keep in mind that the Dwarven army was made up of other houses as well, which had come to Thrįin from other parts of Middle-earth. Those of Durin's house who remained in the West were very possibly, as Zigūr suggests, simply too depleted in numbers to resettle the Mountains.
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That option doesn't seem to compute on deeper analysis.
Yes, their population was undoubtedly down but was it really down to the point that they couldn't have settled in an unoccupied spot they had recently liberated somewhere in the Misty Mountains? The implication of that would be that there were so few of them left they didn't have the ability to have a home anywhere. That would be nearly to the point of extinction, and even then you can still set up shop somewhere to wait for the end.