Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-70.65.188.97-20170811203633/@comment-29773086-20170813032650

Sounds as if you're arguing against yourself there, Squatch. But still, I must refute what little argument there is.

The Dwarves may well have explored the remnants of the Ered Engrin in the north. But why would they stay there? As you say, it is fairly unfeasible to live there, and nothing suggests that those mountains have anything more than iron in them (which the Dwarves don't care about anyway).

And how would the Dwarves trade with the Lossoth, who do not use iron and do not desire jewels? The Dwarves have nothing else to offer, so no trade would exist.

On the subject of mountains, you are quite wrong. Both the Iron Mountains and the Misty Mountains you mention were not raised by pushing of plates, but rather through the power of Melkor, erecting defenses for his fortresses and a blockade across Middle-earth. Of course that doesn’t stop them from being mineral-rich, though. But even say by chance they were- how would the Dwarves penetrate the snow and ice to make such a venture profitable?

In short, Dwarves may at a time ventured into Forochel, but the area could not sustain a colony which could neither mine nor trade, and is generally quite inhospitable.