Bródda

Biography: Bródda
Birth - Death	Third Age Circa 2600
Race:	Man
Gender:	Male
	Bródda
Descendant(s):	⁞ Girion ⁞ Brandjarn ⁞ Bain of Lake-town ⁞ Bard the Bowman ⁞ King Bain ⁞ Brand ⁞ Bard II
Info:	First Lord of Dale. Also named "Geirjarn Ironbolt".

Bródda, later named Geirjarn Ironbolt, was a Northman archer who became the first Lord of Dale under the Dwarves of Erebor. Originally a common man of the vale, he rose to lordship after saving the life of Thrór, King under the Mountain. From him began the line later known through Girion and, in distant days, Bard the Bowman.

In the years before the coming of Smaug, the vale about the Lonely Mountain prospered through close alliance between the Dwarves of Erebor and the Men who dwelt beside them. During this time, Thrór was set upon by Orcs while abroad from his halls. Bródda, then a simple archer of Dale, came upon the assault and drove off the Orcs, preserving the life of the Dwarf-king. In gratitude, Thrór raised him above his station and granted him lordship over Dale, establishing him as the first ruler of Men in the shadow of the Mountain under Dwarven patronage. With this elevation, Thrór bestowed upon him a new name in the tongue of the North: Geirjarn, meaning "Ironbolt," in honour of his skill with the bow.

As a further token of alliance, Thrór gifted Bródda a Black Arrow, thrice-forged and hardened so that it might pierce stone. He declared that each succeeding Lord of Dale would likewise receive such an arrow, binding together the fates of Erebor and Dale. Thus began the tradition of the Black Arrows, eight in all, passed from lord to lord. The arrow was both a symbol of honour and a pledge of mutual defence between Dwarves and Men.

In time, the name "Geirjarn" passed down the line and was later rendered by Elves and other tongues as "Girion". It was a descendant bearing that name — Girion, third of his line — who faced Smaug when the dragon descended upon Dale. Though Girion fell and Dale was destroyed, a single Black Arrow survived through Bródda's bloodline. In the Third Age it came at last into the hands of Bard the Bowman, who used it to slay Smaug and restore the kingship of Dale. In this way, Bródda’s courage not only founded a lordly house but shaped the destiny of the North in the long struggle against the Dragon.