Also known as: Bard I, King Of Dale
A grim man of Esgaroth and captain of its archers, Bard was descended in long line from Girion, the last Lord of Dale who fell when Smaug first seized the Lonely Mountain. When the dragon, roused by Thorin's company, came down in fire upon Lake-town, the townsfolk fled, but Bard stood his ground upon a ruined tower with one shaft left to him -- the black arrow handed down from his fathers. A thrush brought him word of the single bare patch in Smaug's jeweled hide, and he loosed the arrow true into the hollow of the dragon's left breast, and Smaug crashed dead among the burning ruins.
In the aftermath Bard led the homeless folk of the Lake and pressed his claim to a share of the hoard, and when Thorin refused him the quarrel of Men, Elves, and Dwarves brought them to the edge of war -- until the sudden onslaught of goblins and wargs out of the mountains united them in the Battle of the Five Armies. With the treasure that fell to him afterward, Bard rebuilt the long-ruined city and refounded the Kingdom of Dale beneath the Mountain, ruling it justly as Bard the Bowman, first king of the restored realm. From his line came Brand, who in the War of the Ring stood with the Dwarves of Erebor against Sauron's armies out of the East.