Tolkienoids: What about Gundabad?

[Ernst-Jan]

Mount Gundabad is the oldest and largest Orcish stronghold in Middle-Earth. I believe many of the Orcs participating in the Battle of the Five Armies came from here, and were of course largely routed. However, one assumes that in the next few decades they would've had ample time to fill out their numbers again, being in a defensible position and having no real force nearby to stand against them.

Why, then, did they play no real part in the War of the Ring? The Wood-Elves fought against the forces of Dol Guldur, Dale and Erebor fought Easterlings, but no threat came west of Mirkwood (as far as I know). Is there a reason for this that I missed, or is this an opening in the lore waiting to be exploited?

[Falenthal]

I don't have any knowledge of what the Orcs of Gundabad did during the War of the Ring, and why the didn't participate in it.

Maybe the reason is that a group of heroes hindered them, with the help of some Rangers of the North and the Elves of Rivendell? Stuff for a nice campaign...

If you need some ideas about it, the videogame War in the North might be of help: see here, from minute 10 onwards.

[Ernst-Jan]

Maybe the reason is that a group of heroes hindered them, with the help of some Rangers of the North and the Elves of Rivendell? Stuff for a nice campaign...

If you need some ideas about it, the videogame War in the North might be of help: see here, from minute 10 onwards.

I'm looking into whether it is indeed good Campaign material, exactly! I love War in the North, definitely one of the more fun LotR videogames, but I think I'd like my One Ring Gundabad a little less... Indiana Jones.

[Summerhawk]

I'm working with this as a concept in my campaign. At the point we area at (40ish xp in), the party are trying to drum up support for retaking and restoring one of the old Eotheod settlements in the Vale of Gundabad to keep the orcs from raiding out of the Vale. I don't think the campaign will go so far as an attack on Gundabad, but rather a containment of the threat, since as you point out, it seems that something prevented this group of orcs from participating in the War.

[Otaku-sempai]

Tolkienoids? Tolkienites, please! Or Tolkienphiles.

Gundabad was sacked by Dwarves during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. And, later, the goblins of the Misty Mountains suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Five Armies. It is possible that the Orcs of Gundabad never recovered their full strength; that may be why they did not seem to play a significant part in the War of the Ring.

However, The Heart of the Wild does include a few notes about Gundabad and the surrounding region. Gorgol, the son of Bolg, has been vying for the leadership of the Orcs of Gundabad. He might also be attempting to forge an alliance with the local Hill-men.

[robert_pat]

Remember that all the settlements in the Vales we know well (Mountain Hall, Beorn's House, etc.) are not given any mention in The Lord of the Rings. It could very well be the case that Orcs from Gundabad had complete control over this area by the time the War of the Ring happens.

[Tolwen]

Why, then, did they [the Orcs from Mount Gundabad; MG] play no real part in the War of the Ring? The Wood-Elves fought against the forces of Dol Guldur, Dale and Erebor fought Easterlings, but no threat came west of Mirkwood (as far as I know). Is there a reason for this that I missed, or is this an opening in the lore waiting to be exploited?

Tolkien does not say anything specific on this, so everything in this context is an interpretation. We have some indirect hints that allow some extrapolation founded on his texts and so some educated guessing.
First, the absence of evidence (here: MG plays no role in the WotR) is not evidence of absence. In our context the fact that Tolkien does not tell anything about the rôle of MG in the WotR is not proof that they didn't have part in it. It is only an indication that they had no noteworthy part in the battles of Dale and in (direct) support of Dol Guldur vs. the Woodland Realm.
We do know that the Beornings became a relative strong and more or less united people in the Vales of Anduin (at least around the Carrock area). This can be used as an explanation based on Tolkien's ideas. If the Beornings indeed have built a stable and reasonably powerful "state" or political entity, they are indeed a major force to be reckoned with and would be a real obstacle for any orcish operations from MG. The orcs could use the underground movement system as they did in the campaign against Erebor, but that would now no longer be a surprise and logistically probably much harder against an organised foe (remember the Erebor campaign was undertaken against a weak enemy that received unexpected aid that led to the orcs' defreat).
Thus my primary explanation would be to use the Beornings as the primary reason/obstacle to an intervention of MG in the aforementioned battles in the North. Their pressure on the orcs in the struggle to keep the High Pass open is well known and IMO fits well to this line of thought.

Smaller contingents of them (the orcs) might slip (or penetrate) past this block and harass the Elves or take part in the Battle of dale, but in both cases their part would be small and insignificant compared to the bulk provided by the forces of Dol Guldur and the Easterlings, repectively.
In addition, they might send troops west to support Mount Gram in Eriador and these orcish forces would keep the bulk of the Rangers (and the Elves of Imladris) occupied with protecting eastern Eriador in this time.

Taken together, this might provide good a explanation for your question. Thus I would favour not a single, "big" explanation for their lack of mentioning but a combination of several factors.

In addition, the thread about Orcish factions might provide you some additional useful information.

We do not know from Tolkien the exact date when Gundabad became orcish, bur only (in the HoME 12) that it was Durin's birthplace and therefore sacred to the Longbeards (Durin's Folk) and the orcish occupation in the Third Age an extreme cause of hatred and shame for Durin's Folk (my emphasis). Thus we have an indirect hint that MG only came under - permanent - orcish rule in the Third Age and not earlier.
The following links that deal with MG may also prove helpful for you:
Issue 25 of Other Hands has a focus on Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, with some referencing to Carn Dûm (which in turn is related to Mount Gundabad, see below).
The Fall of Carn Dûm by Jeff Erwin goes into some more detail (in form a prose narrative) of the fall of this supposedly original dwarvish city that is in turn connected to Mount Gundabad.
Finally, The History of Mount Gundabad builds on these aforementioned ideas, combining them with more extensive research on Tolkien's later text on the Dwarves. The dates for the Fourth Age are drawn from my article in Other Minds, Issue 9 about a timeline for the Fourth Age.
This has also been used in developing the overall dwarven histories and their settlements in Issue 4 and Issue 5 of Other Minds magazine.

Cheers
Tolwen

[Otaku-sempai]

Keeping in mind what Tolwen wrote above, I think that, during the War of the Ring, the role of the Orcs of Gundabad was to keep the Men of the Anduin Vales occupied--if they could not be quickly defeated--and to seize the northern passes through the Misty Mountains. Or they may have been kept in reserve to be used against Rivendell and Eriador. Either way, the fall of Sauron must have played havoc with their discipline and morale.

[Terisonen]

Orcs of Gundabad have suffered big losses in the Battle of the Five Armies from which they have not recovered would be a good reason.

We know nothing of the birth rate of orc.

[TheMonarchGamer]

Orcs of Gundabad have suffered big losses in the Battle of the Five Armies from which they have not recovered would be a good reason.

We know nothing of the birth rate of orc.

Wasn't Saruman able to breed an entire army rather quickly though? Surely it would be rather high.
-TMG