Thruda of Erebor lived with her stepfather Danlin, her mother Arabella, and her half- brother Sharin on the Lonely Mountain for her entire childhood. Even though Thruda asked, Arabella would never say anything about Thruda's father, only telling her that he was a very powerful wizard. Eventually, out of annoyance, she gave Thruda an old diary of his, but it was written in a different language, so Thruda couldn't read it. Still, it became one of her most prized possessions. Often Thruda though of him and wondered if he knew that she was living on Erebor and if he wanted her to live with him.

Arabella told her-often angrily- to be content with the family she had. Danlin was a general of King Thror's mighty army, Sharin was a fine blacksmith, and everyone knew Arabella by her marvelous cooking. They lived richly, and Thruda was a pampered princess. She should have been happy. But she wasn't.

Thruda's real father had passed on some of his magical powers to her. She made things happen unexpectedly using magic that she didn't know how to control. Arabella, however, hated magic because she felt that it was unnatural and didn't want Thruda to be learned in the magical arts. She taught Thruda the same, so Thruda hated the wizard part of herself and tried to embrace the dwarf. But during life-threatening situations, her magic sometimes escaped her, and she could control it if she wanted (even though she never did).

She didn't look much like her father. She had her mother's breathtaking beauty, figure, and wavy black hair. The only thing she didn't get from her mom were her eyes... somewhat. Most of the time, they were Arabella's gorgeous emerald green, but when Thruda was in a mad/ murderous mood or using her magic, they turned into cat eyes. Her pupils were vertical black lines and the whites (well, they technically weren't white any more) were a gorgeous red/orange color. She never figured out why it happened, but she assumed it had something to do with her father's powers.

When Thruda was old enough, her parents started taking her to King Thror's parties. And that was where she first laid eyes on Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror. He was three years older than her, but they had the same likes and dislikes. She admired his leadership and pride, and he enjoyed her sarcastic sense of humor, intelligence, and independence. During that first party, they were with each other the whole time. After a few years, they were best friends and spent all their time together.

Around that time, Thruda started working. Danlin was able to get her a job in the army as a bowman. She excelled with the bow, and soon she was moved into active duty. She was assigned to troops that were all the way on the border of Greenwood. Thorin and Thruda were out of touch for a few years. Those were the years that she grew up during; she killed people. She enjoyed the sport of it and her skill with the bow.

Then, a few years later, she was moved onto the king's personal troops. That meant that she was going back to the Lonely Mountain; she was going to see Thorin again.

When she got back, it seemed like he was avoiding her. He didn't make an effort to see her, and when she saw him when she was on duty, he seemed indifferent to her. Then, he came to her house one day, acting like a nervous wreck. After a few minutes of Thruda pestering him, Thorin admitted that he was in love with her and asked to court her. Thruda realized that she had been in love with Thorin since the first party that they saw each other at. She agreed to the few years of happiness that he could give her, even though she knew full well that they could never get married because Thorin was a prince and she was just a solider.

For three years, they were happy. He gave her many gifts, like his dead grandmother's sword and a special necklace that was traditionally given to the heir's love. Then Thorin's grandfather wanted him to marry someone. A princess from a foreign land. Her name was Susan, and she was a human. Thorin and Thruda talked about it and decided to keep dating in secret. He seemed happy with Thruda, and he didn't seem to want to have anything to do with Susan.

Then Thruda walked in on them kissing one day.

It was the end of their relationship. She started dating new boys. They didn't have the same thing that Thorin had, that mix of leadership, caring, and pride. Usually she broke up with them, not feeling the happiness that she had felt with Thorin. She had stopped attending the king's parties. She couldn't bear to see Thorin again, but after a few weeks, the king ordered her to attend. She went with a group of friends, and she didn't talk to Thorin at all. She could tell that he was trying to find an opening for him to take her somewhere alone, but she purposefully was with one of her friends the whole time so that he couldn't approach her.

Then Smaug came and ruined her life even more.

Her family had been called by the king to the castle, but that was her day off. She was alone in the house, but when she heard news of a dragon in the air, she hurried to the castle. The second she had arrived, Thror told her to escort Thorin out of the castle. She brought him outside, hurrying past troops and fleeing civilians. She didn't have time to look for her family, but she hoped that they had made it out of the castle before the dragon attacked.

By the time she and Thorin were out of the castle, the dragon was attacking. They watched from a distance as the dragon set fire to the castle and destroy what had been their home for their whole lives.

Eventually, the last people had come out of the castle. Her family was not with them.

She wanted to go back into the castle and find them. They would be alive. They had to be. She knew that they could still be alive.

Thorin kept her back. He didn't want her to die. He had to wrap his arms around her waist to keep her back, and even then, she struggled. He remembered, months ago, when she had craved his embrace. Now she wanted to get away from him. He knew that she would never forgive him, but he wanted her to be safe. He knew that her cries for her family would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The surviving dwarves left the mountain, driven out by Smaug. They scattered throughout Middle-Earth. Thruda had a harder time than the rest of the dwarves. Since they were all guy dwarves, they were taken somewhat seriously. However, Thruda, as a girl, was taken as a joke and sent away. She was forced to turn to the musical arts, since she knew a little bit of dwarf music. She was forced to preform for humans, Elves, more dwarves... basically everybody. After all that, she hardly had enough money to get by.
She lived a wandering life, not wanting to go live with Thorin and the other dwarves in the Blue Mountains. When she got money, it was instantly used on food and paying for her stay at whatever inn she was in at the time. Since Thruda didn't want anybody asking her about Erebor, she kept her background secret and lived as privately as she could. That eventually turned into a paranoia of sorts, so she wiped her tracks every time she got to a town and every time she left.

But then Gandalf came.