Azaghal was Lord of Belegost, one of the two great mansions of the Dwarves in the Blue Mountains, in the years when the Dwarves traded and sometimes fought beside the Elves of Beleriand.1
He marched with the Dwarves of Belegost to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, on the side of Maedhros. When Glaurung came out of Angband with his brood and the host of the East broke before the dragon-fire, the Dwarves alone withstood it, for they were more hardy against fire than Elves or Men, and they wore great masks in battle, hideous to look upon, that guarded them against the dragons.1
Glaurung crawled over Azaghal and crushed him, yet Azaghal, with his last strength, stabbed the dragon in the belly with a knife, so that Glaurung fled the field and all his brood went after him. The Dwarves of Belegost lifted their lord's body and bore it away, walking slowly and singing a dirge, and paid no more heed to the enemy, and none dared stop them.1
He appears again in the history of the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin. Unfinished Tales says it was made by Telchar of Nogrod for Azaghal, who gave it to Maedhros in return for his life, saved from an ambush; from Maedhros it passed to Fingon and then to Hador's house.2
Sources
Citations name the chapter rather than the page, so they work in any edition. The colour of each note shows what kind of source it is.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and Tolkien's late writings on the Elder Days, assembled by Christopher Tolkien from his father's papers.
- Edited posthumously The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 20, “Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad”
- Edited posthumously Unfinished Tales, Part One, II, “Narn i Hîn Húrin”