User blog:Monkey Doctor 33/In the Blood of the Mountain King! Azog (Hobbit Trilogy) vs Belegar Ironhammer

Feuds. Sometimes, they can be a temporary expression of hate. In other times, they can be a long-standing war of attrition between people for whatever reason they have. Nobody really wants to have them nowadays, but not in the realm of fiction. In this season's first battle in this new year, we will witness yet another fantasy battle between two grandiose lords of two races that always hate each other, even in their own universes! Today, Azog, the Defiler returns from the dead to spill some more dwarven blood! He was able to fulfill his oath of slaughtering members of Durin's Folk, ending them with Thorin Oakenshield. However, Azog faces an entirely different King Under the Mountain this time. One from a different race of dwarves, a different clan of warriors, and a different world altogether. From his valiant death, Belegar Ironhammer returns as the True King of Karak Eight Peaks, seeking vengeance upon the orcs, goblins, and rat-men who defiled his supposed seat of power! He won't find any Skaven here, but he is still content to slay a wretched warlord from a race his kind has always loathed! Without further ado, let us jump right into the battle! Azog, the enormous Gundabad orc and servant of Sauron who sought the end of Durin's Folk, killing his way through Middle-Earth with his size and strength! vs Belegar Ironhammer, the Clan Angrund's fierce leader who marched towards his doom in an attempt to recover one of the greatest dwarven holds of all! In this battle between grudge-filled fantasy warriors... Who is DEADLIEST?

Azog


"Do you smell it? The scent of fear? I remember your father reeked of it... Thorin, son of Thrain."

- Azog

Belegar Ironhammer


"I came here hoping to take it all back. I came hoping to look upon the far deeps, on the ancestor statues of the Abyss of Iron’s Dream. I dreamed of opening up the Ungdrin again so that armies might freely march between my, Kazador’s and Thorgrim’s realms. I dreamed of reopening the mines, of filling the coffers of our clan with gold and jewels."

- Belegar Ironhammer

X-Factors
Experience

Compared to his contemporary Dwarf Kings, Belegar was a relatively young figure. He mobilized to retake Karak Eight Peaks meager years before the End Times and his prior experience was unknown. As a king, he's expected to have been an experienced warrior and capable tactician, so it can be assumed that he had led dwarven armies and fought alongside them against the likes of Greenskins and Chaos forces. He's no rookie, still. Even 'til the End Times, Belegar spent the rest of his life trying to reclaim his birthright from nefarious Night Goblin forces and the Skaven's Clan Mors. To put into perspective, Belegar had to deal with occasional giants tagging along Skarsnik's army, Night Goblin Fanatics who wield wrecking balls that can shatter even tough dwarven battle lines, goblins who ride giant spiders, and many more orc-goblin creatures. Against the Skaven, he had effectively held his own against one of the biggest clans to ever dwell the Skavendom, facing literal tides of rat warriors and their monstrous warbeastsin a war that he never could win. He survived against death traps, super-weapons, and intricate plots for years until he went down fighting Clan Mors' most notorious warlord, Queek Headtaker.

Thanks to Peter Jackson's creative liberty, Azog ended up being a major villain in the movies instead of a supposedly strong figure who had died before the book even started. Before the Battle of Azalnulbizar, it had been apparent that Azog was already a fearsome leader, to begin with. He led a huge contingent of orcs in the defense of Moria and banished many dwarven warriors to the void of death, including Thorin's father. He lost the battle to Thorin after his hand got cut off and returned years later for another go. He participated in multiple skirmishes against Bilbo and his party, squared off against his nemesis, led his orcs in more battles, and finally, participating in the dreaded Battle of Five Armies where he had commanded legions of orcs, giants, and ogres before he lost in his final battle against Thorin.

Physicality

Azog is the largest orc in the movie universe's Middle-Earth. He possesses superhuman strength and he could overpower peak human warriors without difficulty. With a single swing, he knocked back three armored dwarf warriors and disarmed Thrain and Thorin of their metal shields. With three swings, he broke apart an oak branch but screamed like a girl the moment his hand was hacked. His size grants him an advantage in combat in addition to a profound psychological impact, allowing him to soak up quite some damage. He's not without his flaws, however. For a record, Azog's not as strong as the likes of Grommash Hellscream and he could still be momentarily overpowered. When Thorin threw his ball weapon back to him, he seemed to struggle holding it up for a bit. He too couldn't survive a stab to the heart from a dwarven sword, but he could survive freezing cold waters and break apart ice floors with a single leap. If there are any more indications of his vulnerability, take a look at all those scars on his face.

To put it bluntly, Belegar has no feats of physicality to speak of. However, he is actually pretty tough if scaling is to be used. Regular dwarfs are sturdier and more durable than normal humans. Dwarf warriors are capable of taking lots of punishment from arrows to getting back up from the charge of a horde of knights and orcs. Hammerers, bodyguards to Dwarf Kings, can break apart hordes of enemies (mostly greenskins) with their two-handed hammers and those hammers are considered regular. Belegar's Hammer of Angrund? One can only wonder what it can do knowing what normal dwarf hammers can do. In his last battle against Queek Headtaker, the weakened king briefly matched the less exhausted warlord with blows that can turn stone to dust (he only has his hammer, mind you) and delivered an armor-piercing swing with a sword while dying. Say, the Skaven are weaker than the dwarfs no matter what class they're at, right? That's not a wrong statement, but Queek there was in his prime, fresh and all, fighting against Belegar. Despite his weakness, though, he was still injured in the aftermath. Since Belegar will be in his prime for this battle, expect a surprising amount of stamina to accompany him, courtesy of his long battles in the Eight Peaks. Don't think he'll move as fast as an athlete, though.

Skill and Training

Azog is more of a fighter than a scholar, and that's a good thing. In wars, Azog was a surprisingly decent tactician who knew where and when to strike at the enemy, as Battle of Five Armies' showed. He knew how to use intimidation and taunts as weapons if Belegar understood what he's saying and hadn't fought worse beings than him. Azog specialized more on open and direct warfare, and dueling against him was the worst thing a warrior could expect in his days. Ironhammer had been formally trained in the ways of war by other veteran dwarfs before he grew up, therefore having knowledge of how to fight well in a world where dragons bigger than houses prowl and eldritch demons walk the material plane. He was described as a specialist in underground combat and was said to be cunning enough to match his trickster enemies, Skarsnik and Queek. This is no underground battle, though. Azog uses brute strength and speed with a hint of self-taught combat training thrown in while Belegar utilizes his sturdiness in conjunction with superior equipment and immense willpower plus muscles.

Armor

Belegar wears a thick set of plate armor as pictured in his profile, covering his entire body from head to toe. Not the beard, though. His heavy armor somewhat hinders his mobility, but dwarfs have never been the fastest of sprinters anyways. As of his status as a warrior who was fighting in a war the size of Somme (Old World edition), it can be assumed that he wore armor made of gromril or anything close to it that made it stronger than normal plate armor. Gromril is basically Warhammer Fantasy's equivalent of adamantium (NO, it's not as strong as it), considered the hardest metal in the world. Eh, sufficient blunt force would do. For once, Queek's Dwarf Gouger managed to split apart Belegar's head and helmet after he had been weakened. The Gouger is made of magical materials, though.

<p style="text-align:center;">Azog, the brutal badass he is, wears a lighter form of armor made of iron that emphasizes on mobility. With his armor on, Azog was still as mobile as he was without armor. Like Belegar, it can be assumed that his armor was made of superior materials compared to his underlings' few cuirass-like plates. And if one noticed in An Unexpected Journey, a glancing blow from a dwarven sword dealt no damage to a random orc. A full-on slash or stab though? Don't expect the armor to take it.