Follow Up to the Blue Mountains Question - Gundabad

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

Is it possible that they suspected that, even if they were to retake Gundabad, the Orcs would simply return in a generation or two (as they did) and seize it from them again? "If this is victory, then our hands are too small to hold it." Even without a menace like the Balrog, perhaps the Dwarves knew that they simply didn't have the strength to hold Gundabad in the long term.

That's actually very plausible (probably moreso than my not-so-crackpot theory). I feel like 'we recaptured but didn't reoccupy' is something that happens more than once in Tolkien - Osgiliath for one, but also the whole fall of Arnor. It fits the theme of Good being in decline even without Evil to directly oppose it - and also draws on Tolkien's experiences in the Great War, where the land recaptured during the Somme wasn't exactly repopulated.

The one downside is that it assumes the dwarves are willing to allow that much common sense in. Given that Thorin faced down a dragon to retake Erebor with 12 companions, and Balin took a stab at reclaiming Moria despite Dain (the king at the time) saying 'haha, if we do that we'll all die horribly'... would they really be deterred from populating Gundabad just by the threat of a few Orcs?

hS