Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, and History in Middle-earth

Carl Edlund Anderson

Presented 25 September 1998, Oxonmoot 1998 (International Tolkien Society), Exeter

College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

The Goths—particularly the language of the Goths—exercised an early and significant

fascination on Tolkien.1 When in school, he happened to buy a copy of Joseph Wright’s
A Primer of the Gothic Language2 from a school-friend (who had himself gotten it from a
missionary sale and did not want it). Tolkien was fascinated by this language, which
survives mostly as 4th century bible translations and some Christian religious
commentary. He soon began inventing new words to fill the gaps in the fragmentary
Gothic vocabulary, and then went on to begin constructing an apocryphal “neo-Gothic”
Germanic language—one which did not actually exist, but could have, and which obeyed
all the linguistic rules associated with Germanic language evolution.3
About the same time as Wright’s Gothic Grammar was published, in 1910,
Tolkien was at the St. Edward’s School where he was a member of the Debating Society.
It was a custom of this society to hold a Model Roman Senate, with debate conducted in
Latin. We need not be surprised that Tolkien—with, actually, characteristic impishness—
once played the role of a barbarian ambassador and addressed this august body in
Gothic.4 Tolkien also would sometimes write little inscriptions in Gothic at the
beginnings of books he owned.5

1 In this day and age I should perhaps stress that when I use the term Gothic I am
referring neither to 12th-century cathedral architecture nor to those who dress
themselves in black clothes and morbid outlooks, but rather to the Germanic
tribes who appeared in the regions North of the Black Sea during the 200s and
300s and who spent the next few centuries careening around Europe in various
guises before eventually disappearing from the light of history. Legends about
them, however, remained popular long after they had vanished from the scene.
2Joseph Wright, A Primer of the Gothic Language (Oxford: Clarendon, 1892).
3 If you want to try Tolkien’s experience for yourself, Wright’s Primer is no longer printed, but you
might be able to find it in a library. Alternatively, you can upgrade to Wright’s Grammar of the Gothic
Language, which replaced the Primer in 1910 and was recently reprinted in hardcover and this can be
had for your very own at the fairly reasonable price of around ₤12 or so.
4 For the record, he at other times addressed them in Greek and Old English.
5 Letters 272, pp. 356-58..
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 2

Gothic—and his own neo-Gothic—remained one of Tolkien’s chief

passions until, one day, he happened across the Kalevala, the collection and collation of
Finnish legends assembled by Elias Lönnröt in the early 19th century. While the Goths
and Gothic retained an important place in Tolkien’s thoughts—and I hope to discuss this
a bit more later—it was now Finnish that Tolkien fell in philological love with.6 It was
Finnish that became his chief inspiration for Quenya.
The rest is history—or perhaps, more usually in Tolkien’s case, philology.
After all, as Tolkien himself would often say, the whole of his Middle-earth
“sub-creation” was more or less an excuse to provide a backdrop for the Elvish
languages. Implicit in this, of course, was Tolkien’s understanding that language alone,
without the culture that employed that language or the history of that culture, was dead.
Tolkien’s original conception of his purpose was to create a “mythology for England”,
fuller than the fragmentary Anglo-Saxon material and more aesthetically pleasing (in his
opinion, at least) than the heavily romanticised medieval Arthurian material. Thus his
sub-creative work generated vast quantities of legend and history, though this process
was driven by the need to find a home for his languages.
Tolkien’s sense of himself as Philologist rather than Historian was
expressed most clearly in a letter to Christopher Tolkien of February 21st, 1958. JRR’s
son Christopher—who is probably best known for drawing the original maps of Middle-
earth and for editing and publishing much of his father’s Middle-earth-related material—
was a trained academic in his own right, and a very good one. Tolkien’s letter was
written after Chris Tolkien, as a university lecturer, had delivered a lecture entitled
“Barbarians and Christians” to a society at St. Anne’s College here in Oxford, his subject
being the heroes of northern legend as seen in different fashion by Germanic poets and
Roman writers. Tolkien, who had attended his son’s lecture, wrote: “I like history, and
am moved by it, but its finest moments for me are those in which it throws light on
words and names!”7 This is very much the sentiment that guides Tolkien’s sub-creation.
My own studies on legends of the Goths as told in Scandinavia led me
naturally to one of Chris Tolkien’s few non-Middle-earth publications, an excellent
edition and translation of The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. This is a rather complex
book and seems to be made up of various fragments loosely stitched together by its
medieval Icelandic composer (or composers). Chris Tolkien’s edition and translation of
this saga was not published until 1960, but that the saga was well known to JRR Tolkien
6 And philology, indeed, comes from Greek roots meaning “love of words”.
7Letters 205, p. 264.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 3

is indubitable. For one thing, it contains a riddle game between King Heidrek and a
figure called Gestumblindi (who is the god Oðinn in disguise), in which several of the
riddles seem to have inspired some of those used for Bilbo and Gollum’s riddle-match in
The Hobbit. For another, the saga ends with many verses from a poem commonly called
“The Battle of the Goths and the Huns” which appears to be “one of the oldest poems
preserved in the North”.8 As the saga we have tells it, this poem concerns a struggle for
dominance between the half-brothers Angantýr and Hlöð, sons of King Heiðrek. After
Heiðrek’s death, Angantýr has claimed the inheritance of the Gothic kingdom which
Heiðrek ruled. Hlöð, who was illegitimate and lived with his mother’s father, King
Humli of the Huns, is not happy about this and travels to Angantýr’s court to demand
half the inheritance, including half the ruler-ship of the Goths. Angantýr refuses to an
equal split, though offers Hlöð a third share, which seems to have been a traditional
inheritance share for illegitimate children in early Germanic custom. This does not sit
well with Hlöð, and he returns to grandfather Humli (who himself is far from thrilled
with these developments).
Accordingly, Humli and Hlöð assemble a vast host of Huns and set off for
Angantýr’s place. Along the way, they overrun the forces of Hervör the shield-maiden,
who is sister to Angantýr and half-sister to Hlöð, and she is slain. When Angantýr learns
of Hervör’s death, the Gothic host is summoned and the Huns are challenged to battle.
Massive slaughter ensues in an eight-day battle. Eventually Angantýr slays Hlöð and
Humli, and the Huns try to flee.
“But,” Chris Tolkien translates, “the Goths slew them, and made such
carnage that the rivers were choked and turned from their courses, and the valleys were
filled with dead men and horses.”9 Truly this is a battle whose epic bloodshed can hold its
own against any battle depicted by JRR Tolkien in Middle-earth. The poem concludes
with a brief lament by Angantýr over the ill fate that brought him into conflict with his
half-brother.
Stirring stuff, and all very well—but how is this linked with JRR Tolkien’s
sub-creation?
“The Battle of the Goths and the Huns” formed the starting point for my
exploration of this issue. On reading the poem, one salient feature leaps out immediately.
Between the territories of the Goths and the Huns in the poem is a vast forest called
Myrkviðr. Chris Tolkien, in his modern English translation of the saga, translates this
8Heiðreks saga, ed. by C. Tolkien, p. xxi.
9Heiðreks saga, ed. by C. Tolkien, p. 57.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 4

name, perhaps not surprisingly, as Mirkwood. This same word is, of course, used by JRR
Tolkien for the name of the great forest of Middle-earth lying between the river Anduin
and the plains of Rhovanion.
For an English-speaker, it is easy to think of this name as meaning “the
murky wood”. Such is the sense that JRR Tolkien seems to imply when he writes that the
forest received this name when the Shadow fell upon it, though it had been formerly
known as Greenwood—and was so called again when the Shadow was lifted. In fact the
Mirk- part of this name stems from an old Germanic noun *marko (Proto-Indo-European
mereg- “edge, boundary”), which survives in Modern English as both mark and (through
French) march, meaning “a boundary or border”. Tolkien’s beloved Mercians (in whose
territory Oxford lies), probably derived their name from a form of this word. Tolkien’s
Rohirrim lived in the Mark of Rohan, the term mark signifying its status as a border state
of Gondor.
Christopher Tolkien points out that in the ancient time of the Germanic
tribes, border areas between two groups were often heavily forested in contrast to the
cleared lands where people dwelt. The Old Norse cognate of English mark is mörk, and
is only used in the sense of “forest”. Nevertheless, place-names like Denmark (Danish
Danmark) might originally have meant either “border of the Danes” or “forest of the
Danes”, or both. In fact, it is difficult to fully separate the two meanings.
Mirkwood in its Norse form, Myrkviðr, appears in another Scandinavian
poem as the boundary of Múspell, the land of fire—suggesting the use of the name to
note boundaries in Germanic legend was well-established amongst early medieval
Germanic audiences. The 11th-century German chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg uses
the name Miriquidui for “the Erzgebirge, the mountains on the north-western borders of
Bohemia.”10 In some of Tolkien’s early writings—such as “The Lost Road” and “The
Notion Club Papers”—JRR Tolkien has created a Old English form of the name,
Myrcwudu, which seems to have referred to the Eastern Alps.11 Chris Tolkien suggests
that the historical name Mirkwood (in its various Germanic cognate forms) might
originally have been applied to “the whole of the vast mountain-system that extends from
the Erzgebirge to the Transylvanian Alps, the wooded mountain-barrier par excellence”.12
We might begin to see how JRR Tolkien placed the Mirkwood where he did
in Middle-earth. Accepting Chris Tolkien’s suggested identification of the legendary

10Heiðreks saga, ed. by C. Tolkien, p. xxvii.

11HOME 5, p. 91; HOME 9, p. 277.
12Heiðreks saga, ed. by C. Tolkien, p. xxvii.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 5

Mirkwood, we see that it would run north and east of the river Danube—the Central
European river par excellence—down nearly to the Black Sea. On its far side lie Poland
and the Ukraine, and then the great Eurasian steppe beyond. In JRR Tolkien’s Middle-
earth, the Mirkwood lies east of the river Anduin—Middle-earth’s river par excellence—
down to the Brown Lands. On the far side lie the plains of Rhovanion and the mysterious
regions of Rhûn.

JRR Tolkien also knew the Old English poem Widsith, which is essentially a catalogue of
references to Germanic legendary material. It some of it has a bearing on “The Battle of
the Goths and the Huns”, as it mentions several characters from Heiðreks saga in their
Old English forms, as well as struggles between the Goths and Huns ymb Wistlawudu,
which means “around the Vistula-wood”. The Vistula is the river running through central
Poland and down into the Baltic Sea.
Archaeology suggests that the ancestors of the Goths did indeed probably
live in the lower Vistula valley in the first several centuries of the first millennium AD.
By the time their early encounters with the Huns, however, they had moved south to the
area of the Ukraine north of the Black Sea, stretching as far south as the banks of the
Danube.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 6

Widsith is wrong in locating the struggles of the Goths and Huns where it does, but it
may well remember a very old piece of lore that places the Goths in the Vistula valley.
In the Scandinavian “Battle of the Goths and the Huns” poem, the battle itself takes place
on Dúnheið, which Chris Tolkien translates as the “Danube-heath”. In Heiðreks saga
there is a cursed sword called Tyrfing, which is described as heirloom of the house of
Heiðrek and Angantýr. When Hlöð asks for half of Angantýr’s inheritance, Angantýr
replies in verse that he will not “sunder Tyrfing in twain”. The idea of splitting the sword
between them doesn’t make much sense, it must be said. But Christopher Tolkien
suggests that originally the name Tyrfing was derived from the ethnonym Tervingi,
which identified of the old sub-divisions of the Gothic peoples. Only later, through
misunderstanding, did the name get transformed in to that of a sword. The verse in
Heiðreks saga seems far older than the prose, however and Angantýr’s poetic refusal to
divide Tyrfing makes more sense if we see him as having been refusing to split the ruler-
ship of the tribe with Hlöð.
The Tervingi’s northern neighbours were the Greuthungi, whose name may
be preserved in that of a minor character in Heiðreks saga called Gizur Grýtingaliði
(which can be interpreted as “vassal or retainer of the Greuthungi”). The historical
Greuthungi lived north of the Tervingi on the banks of the Dnepr river, the name of
which appears in the “The Battle of the Goths and the Huns” as Danpar.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 7

Having examined some of the background on Gothic history and legend which
JRR Tolkien would have known, we may turn more fully to its reflections in Middle-
earth. The obvious links between the historical Germanic peoples and Tolkien’s
Northmen, as well as between the historical Huns and Tolkien’s Easterlings, has long
been recognised. In the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien assures us that he
has rendered the alien Mannish languages of Middle-earth into historical languages
which most closely mirror the relations of the Middle-earth languages—though this often
seems little more than a thin excuse which allows him to depict the Rohirrim, while
living at a vast remove from the historical Anglo-Saxons, to speak the Tolkien’s beloved
Mercian dialect of Old English. Similarly, in one of his letters, Tolkien describes the
tongue of the Men of Dale and the Long Lake as corresponding to Old Norse—though
this is only evidenced in his books by the representation of the Dwarf names, which are
taken from Dwarf names in Old Norse poetry.
That Tolkien used Old English (specifically Mercian Old English) to
represent the names of the Rohirrim is well known. However we care to view Tolkien’s
linguistic conventions in The Lord of the Rings, it’s clear that by 1977 TA Tolkien is
granting Old English personal names to members of the Éothéod (the precursors of the
Rohirrim); for example, Frumgar (OE for “first spear”) leads the Éothéod to the Northern
Anduin.
Before this point, however, the situation is less clear. In Unfinished Tales, it
is stated that the Éothéod were “first known by that name in the days of Calimehtar of
Gondor (who died in the year 1936 of the Third Age).”13 Éothéod is certainly an OE
word, and means “horse people”. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that
as late as the 1940s, Tolkien gave members of this group names which may appear more
Gothic in form (following Christopher Tolkien’s own identification of them as such): for
example, Forthwini son of Marhwini, and also the leader of the Éothéod contingent at the
battle north of the Morranon (where King Ondoher of Gondor and his sons fell in 1944
TA) whose full name is unknown but began Marh-.14
Marhwini certainly looks a Gothic-style name that could mean “horse
friend”, assuming an unrecorded (or newly invented by Tolkien) Gothic word marh that
would be cognate with OE mearh (the plural of which, mearas, Tolkien uses as a term
for the horses of the Rohirrim).15. An element -wini “friend” could be seen as cognate

13Unfinished Tales, p. 288.

14Unfinished Tales, pp. 291, 294.
15The feminine form of the word, mére, has produced Modern English “mare”.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 8

with the OE element wine, which appears in numerous Rohirric names. The name
Forthwini would likewise appear to contain this -wini element, though the meaning of
the forth- section is harder to identify. This element could have been a neo-Gothic
creation of Tolkien’s, but might more likely be based on some early Old English form.
Indeed, this interpretation rapidly leads to the recognition that in fact Forthwini is good
early Old English (Forþwini/Forthwini) but bad Gothic (**Faurþwins/**Faurthwins),
while Marhwini is neither good OE, even early OE (**Mærhwini) nor good Gothic
(**Marhwins). Possibly, in these names Tolkien wished to represent a stage of OE so
early that it might better be called Late West Germanic, after loss of final -z (PGmc
*marχaz > *marχa > *marh; PGmc *winiz > early OE wini) but before Germanic a
changed to early OE æ (Late West Germanic *marh > early OE mærh). Thus, names like
Forthwini and Marhwini are probably best understood as not being Gothic in inspiration
(as Christopher Tolkien suggested in Unfinished Tales, p. 311), but something more like
Late West Germanic or very early Old English.
Thus, what appear to be the most obviously “Gothic” elements in Tolkien’s
literature (thanks to his sons apparently erroneous identification of them as such) turn out
not to be. However, if we turn to examine the history of Tolkien’s various Northman
groups in greater detail, we can definitely identify elements of inspiration from Gothic
history at work. It may even be that Tolkien deliberately chose ambiguously early
Germanic names for characters set in the early history of the Éothéod—names that could
be (and have been) mistaken for Gothic name—to blur the linguistic line between his
distinct use of OE for the Rohirrim and his use of material from the Gothic world
elsewhere.
Turning back a number of centuries from the well-known period in which
The Lord of the Rings is set, to the 13th century TA and the period of the of the Kin-strife
in Gondor, Tolkien gives several Northmen names that definitely are strongly
reminiscent of real historical Gothic names. Vidugavia is a slightly Latinized form of
Gothic Widugáuja, meaning “countryman of the wood”—this name is historically
attested in use amongst the Goths. In fact, Widugáuja was a long-remembered hero
amongst the Germanic peoples—his name appears in the Old English poem Widsith as
Wudga, and the historian Jordanes tells us that the Goths sang the tale of how he fell in
battle against the Sarmatians, a nomadic horse tribe from the Black Sea region, though
later legends changed Widugáuja’s foes to the more familiar Huns. Tolkien’s Vidugavia
had a daughter called Vidumavi, and this name Tolkien has created from Gothic elements
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 9

meaning “maiden of the wood”. These are certainly appropriate names for the Northmen
of that period, dwelling under the eaves of Mirkwood.
Tolkien gave Valacar’s son by Vidumavi the Rhovanion/Gothic name of
Vinitharya. This is also an historically attested name, and its first element, Vinit-, might
refer to the historical tribe known as the Weneti, or Wends—alternatively it might stem
from a lost word meaning “pasture land”. The latter would certainly be more appropriate
for Tolkien’s usage. The second element, -harya, is similar to Gothic word harjis
(“army”) and might be taken to mean “warrior”. In his early drafts, Tolkien suggests
Vinitharya’s name is similar to that borne by his grandfather, which was Romendacil, a
Quenya name meaning “East-victor”. As the historical Weneti were a Slavic tribe living
east of most Germanic peoples (thought not the Goths), perhaps Tolkien’s implication
could be interpreted as suggesting Vinitharya is to be understood as “one who wars
against eastern peoples (such as the Weneti)”, which is not so far from Romendacil’s
meaning of “East-victor”.
Assuming that these names formed on real Germanic languages overlie
unrecorded Middle-earth names in some variant of Westron, Tolkien’s use of Gothic
must be intended, among other things, to engender a sensation of archaism. During the
“Gothic name phase” of the Northmen, we may imagine an archaic period before the
Migrations in which some of them, the Éothéod (with their Late West Germanic or early
Old English names), moved to their modern territories. Likewise, we might see the Men
of Dale and the Long Lake, whose “Old Norse” style language is used by the Dwarves
for their public names, as representative of a people who had not moved very far from
their old homes. Indeed, in real history, Scandinavia has often figured as the “origin
place” for many Germanic peoples in their own legends (whether or not this was
historically true). In any event, Tolkien’s assertion that his use of languages like Gothic
and Old English in the context of Middle-earth was simply a “translation” of “genuine”
Middle-earth languages certainly saves him the trouble of explaining how the ancient
Northmen’s Gothic language mutated into the Old English of the Rohirrim. Certainly,
Gothic and Old English are related languages, but Old English is not a descendant of
Gothic—rather both have a common ancestor. Tolkien might have been able to concoct a
linguistic explanation to explain how, in his sub-creation, Old English did descend from
Gothic, but this would have been needlessly complex and might even have diminished
the impact of the connotations associated with his use of these languages.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 10

We might now turn away from the “names and words” which so delighted
Tolkien and to the history of the Northmen of Middle-earth, upon which Tolkien’s use of
language throws no little light with regards to his underlying inspiration and
methodology.
The history of Tolkien’s Northmen is fairly straightforward. In the Chronology
they appear primarily as independent allies of Gondor, interposed between Gondor and
the Easterlings. The Éothéod/Rohirrim subgroup has a habit of appearing at battles
unlooked for and taking the enemy in the rear, thereby saving the Gondorian army.16
Eventually they enter into a formal defence pact with Gondor.
This may be contrasted with a brief summary of Gothic history. The Gothic
peoples initially appeared between the Romans’ Danubian borders and the steppe to the
east. Driven from their territories by the Huns, they alternated between being Roman
allies and enemies. Eventually, Gothic groups more or less seized control of the Western
Roman Empire, but—having determined that they were better off preserving the Empire
than dismantling it—were in many ways assimilated to Roman culture. In Italy their
power reached a peak under Theodoric the Great in the early 6th century, but they
essentially disappeared soon after. A Gothic kingdom in Spain lingered until the Moorish
invasions in 711.
The reality of Gothic history is considerably more complex than that
summary, of course. Gothic tribes had already been making a name for themselves in
raids on the Roman Empire in the 200s and 300s AD. However, at the same time, Gothic
groups also worked as Roman allies and some kind of military pact might have existed
between the Romans and some Gothic tribes.
This situation might echo the links between the Northmen and Gondor in
the earlier part of the Tolkien’s Northman chronology. The Northmen were said to be
“nearest in kin of lesser men to the Dúnedain.”17 Tolkien, of course, was a great
aficionado of things Germanic—but also of things Roman, and much of his treatment of
the relations between the Northmen and Gondor can be ascribed to this fact. Tolkien’s
history not only provides a backdrop for his languages, but reflects his sensibilities
regarding those languages and the world in which they existed. Tolkien’s Elvish was a
holistic expression of his linguistic aesthetics, not just in the form of its vocabulary, the
beauty of individual words, but in its evolution and function—the beauty of its
16Calimehtar’s battle with the Wainriders on Dagorland, the Battle of the Fields of Celebrant, and the
Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Within Rohan, Erkenbrand appears unlooked for at the Battle of Helm’s
Deep, though on foot, and assaults the army of Isengard from behind, saving Théoden’s army.
17LOTR, Appendix A.iv, p. 1021.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 11

phonology and grammar. Similarly, Tolkien’s history reorganises his understanding of

real history in a way more pleasing to him.
The historical Gothic tribes were not a cohesive entity, but consisted of
various groups that formed, dissolved, and reformed various alliances—not just with
other Gothic groups, nor just with Romans, but with everyone. As an example, in 451
AD at the great battle of the Catulanian Fields in Gaul, we may read that the Hunnish
army of Attila squared off against the Roman army of Aëtius. In fact, both armies were
primarily made of Germanic troops and there were large Gothic contingents on both
sides.
About a century before this battle, perhaps the most decisive event in Gothic
history had taken place. In the mid-300s AD, the Hunnish tribes from the steppe had
collided with the Gothic kingdoms north of the Black Sea. Christopher Tolkien has
suggested the early conflicts resulting from this meeting might have given rise to the
legend recounted in the much later “The Battle of the Goths and the Huns” poem. In that
poem, it is Angantýr’s Goths who are victorious. In history, however, the Goths could
not stand against the Huns. Many Goths fled south, seeking refuge within the Roman
Empire. Here, they were badly treated, however, and their grievances led eventually to a
clash in 378 AD between the Gothic army and that of the Eastern Roman Emperor
Valens.
In this, the battle of Adrianople, the Gothic forces were positioned in laager
with their wagons, and were attacked by the Roman infantry. The battle was fierce, but
inconclusive, until the Gothic cavalry that had been out foraging returned unexpectedly
and assaulted the Romans from behind. Caught off-guard, the Roman army was
annihilated and the Emperor slain—one the greatest Roman military disasters. Further
warfare continued without either side being able to conclusively gain the upper hand.
Eventually a peace was concluded in 382 AD—the Goths were made federates, which
meant they would receive land as a group in return for military service for the Romans.
Tension between Goths and Romans remained, however, and open warfare again broke
out in 395 AD, leading eventually to one group of Goths sacking Rome in 410 AD. Soon
after a settlement was concluded with these Goths, who were reorganising themselves as
the Visigoths, and they were settled in southern Gaul, later expanding their influence into
Spain.
Meanwhile, other groups of Goths had come under the dominion of the
Huns, and accompanied them under Attila on the invasion of Gaul in 451 AD. After
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 12

Attila’s death in 453, the Hunnish empire began to fall apart, and these Goths—settled in
Pannonia, what is now eastern Hungary—were able to reassert their autonomy. Known
now as the Ostrogoths, they reached their peak after their king Theodoric the Great
conquered Italy in 493 AD. As it happens, Theodoric’s great-grandfather was named
Vinitharius according to Latin sources—this name is exactly Gothic Winitharjis, and can
be equated with Tolkien’s Vinitharya, King of Gondor and descendant of Vidugavia the
Northman.
Nevertheless, chains of events such as these would hardly suit Tolkien’s
purposes in Middle-earth. The idea of the Northmen, pushed south from Rhovanion by
the Easterlings, slaughtering Gondorian armies and sacking Minas Tirith verges on the
unthinkable. Bits and pieces of Gothic history, however, shine through clearly in
Tolkien’s writing—not always without being turned around, and not always in our
history’s chronological order.
Early on we see conflict between Gondor and the Easterlings from which
Gondor emerges victorious. This establishes the primary conflict as one between Gondor
and the Easterlings. The Northmen are not mentioned except possibly as “Men in the
Vales of the Anduin” who acknowledge Gondorian supremacy during the reign of
Hyarmendacil.
The historical early Gothic kingdoms were certainly disrupted by the Huns
in the mid-300s, but over the following centuries one was perhaps as likely to find Goths
fighting for Huns as fighting against them. The only acknowledgement of collusion
between the Tolkien’s Northmen and the Easterlings against Gondor comes in the 1200s
TA, during the reign of Narmacil I. In 1248 TA, however, we are told that Minalcar
(later Romendacil I) was assisted in his war against the Easterlings by Vidugavia the
Northman—and after this the Northmen appear only in the role of Gondorian allies.
Tolkien combines his Northman royal house and the Gondorian heirs of
Númenor by marrying Vidugavia’s daughter Vidumavi to Valacar of Gondor. In some
ways this seems to echo the marriage of Visigothic leader Athaulf (brother of Alaric,
who had sacked Rome) to Galla Placida, sister of the Western Roman Emperor Honorius
in the early 410s AD. Their son was named Theodosious, after the child’s grandfather,
the Roman Emperor of that name. Athawulf is said to have considered replacing the
Roman Empire with a Gothic Empire, but to have changed his tactics towards
maintaining the Roman Empire with Gothic military power. Certainly, being father to a
Roman imperial candidate would have assisted with this plan, but Athaulf was
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 13

assassinated and his wife and children were killed in the ensuing coup—all perpetrated
by rival Goths (kin-strife of a different kind than Tolkien’s in Gondor). Tolkien’s half-
Northman king of Gondor was able to recover his throne, eventually, with the help of
many Northmen.
Though the Gondorian Kin-strife is cast as an internal Gondorian matter, and only
precipitated by events concerning the Northmen, this can be compared to situations
where Gondor is aided more directly in battle by the Northmen. Prior to the Kin-strife,
we are told that Romendacil had brought many Northmen into his army, often giving
them high-ranking positions. This is reminiscent of the situation of the late Roman army,
which contained many Germanic troops, including high officers. It is particularly
reminiscent of the military service agreements concluded between the Romans and Goths
following the battle of Adrianople in 378 AD. After Eldacar regains his throne, many
Northmen enter Gondor to help repopulate it in the wake of the Kin-strife. Here may be
echoes of the various Gothic resettlements by the Romans, particularly the resettlement
of the Visigoths in Gaul, after they helped defeat an imperial usurper there in 412 AD
and campaigned further for the Romans in Spain in 414 AD.
The attack of the Wainriders in 1851 TA, which shatters the Northmen in
Rhovanion, is the assault of the Easterlings which best recalls the effects of the historical
Hunnish invasions on the Gothic tribes. Tolkien, however, has the king of Gondor go
forth and rally the Northmen against the Wainriders—although admittedly to no avail.
Gondor is defeated and their king slain, as is Northman leader Marhari, leaving the
people of Rhovanion to be enslaved by the Wainriders. Some Northmen are led by
Marhari’s son Marhwini to the middle Anduin, where they form the Éothéod. Barring the
battle between the Gondorians and Northmen against the Wainriders, this seems a lot like
the Hunnish assault which broke the Gothic kingdoms in the mid/late 300s which led to
the migration of various Gothic peoples—such as the Visigoths who end up in Gaul and
Spain.
It is worth remembering that, in our history, shortly after the Visigoths
settled in Gaul in the 410s, various Germanic peoples were settling in Britain, creating
the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and simultaneously the Old English language. It may or may
not be accidental that Tolkien marks his shift from genuinely Gothic to West Germanic
and Old English names with the migration under Marhwini in 1856 TA. Within a
hundred years, by Frumgar’s time it seems, Tolkien was satisfied to associate the
Éothéod purely with classical Mercian Old English.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 14

The Goths (and quite possibly the Anglo-Saxons) were used as federates by
the Romans. That is, they were they were given land as a group in exchange for military
service. This is paralleled by the Oath of Cirion and Eorl, in which Calenardhon was
granted to the Éothéod in exchange for their assistance in the defence of Gondor.18
The cataclysmic battle of Adrianople between the Goths and Romans in 378
could have no equivalent in Tolkien’s world. Yet echoes of it may be seen in all of the
rescues that the Éotheod and Rohirrim effected for Gondorian armies. The Romans were
defeated at Adrianople by a surprising rear attack from the Gothic cavalry. Tolkien
consistently casts Easterlings and Orcs in the places occupied by the Romans in such
battles, Gondorian armies in the role of the Gothic infantry, and the Éothéod or Rohirrim
starring as the Gothic cavalry.
Finally, we may return to “The Battle of the Goths and the Huns”, where
possibly one further detail that entered Tolkien’s world might be glimpsed. The great
battle before the Morannon between Ondoher and the Wainriders in 1944 TA seems to
have been fought in the same place as the Host of the West and the armies of Mordor in
3019 TA. The landscape in 3019 is described in terms of “great heaps and hills of slag
and broken rock and blasted earth”,19 as well as “grey mounds” where “dust rose
smothering the air”.20 The northern mountain chain of Mordor above the battle site is
called Ered Lithui, or the Ash Mountains. In “The Battle of the Goths and the Huns”
poem, the battle is said to take place on the Danube-heath below the Jassarfjöll, a name
that Chris Tolkien translates as “Hills of Ash”. It seems that the poem’s description of
it’s battle taking place “on the Danube-heath below the Hills of Ash” may well be
paralleled by Tolkien’s Dagorlad (“Battle-plain”) below the Ash Mountains.
In conclusion, we can detect a use of (or inspiration from) real history in
Tolkien’s sub-creation that parallels his use of (or inspiration from) real linguistics. We
do not need to look far to understand the reasons for this: Tolkien wanted his invented
history and legend to be no less “beautiful” than he wanted his invented languages to be.
Just as Tolkien’s invented languages reflect his aesthetic ideals—being modelled on and,
in Tolkien’s conception, improving on real world languages—so do his invented history
and legend take real world examples as their starting point but then reshape or (as

18 The dual language Oaths here are reminiscent of the Oath of Strasbourg, which cemented an alliance
between Charles the Bald and Louis the German in 842, and was sworn both in Old French and Old High
German. This is particularly interesting in light of Tolkien’s own comparison of the return of the king in
Gondor—the ascension of Aragorn—to the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne
(grandfather of Charles the Bald and Louis the German).
19RK, p. 869.
20RK, p. 873.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 15

Tolkien might well have conceived it) “fix” the imperfections that he saw in the real
world. For example, it is clear Tolkien ardently admired many aspects Gothic culture but
must have seen their often-antagonistic history with the Roman world (either as military
foes or as adherents to the Arian heresy) as “problems” that needed “resolution”. In
drawing up a history of the relations between the various Northman groups (analogous to
the Germanic peoples) and Gondor (analogous to the Roman world) in his Middle-earth,
Tolkien has clearly drawn on features of real history while excising or streamlining
elements that would not suit his vision of idealized harmony between the Germanic and
Roman worlds: events analogous to the Battle of Adrianople or sack of Rome clearly
have no place in Tolkien’s conception of idealized history. This process of ideological
expression, cast in literary form, may be compared to his oft-cited intention to create the
“mythology for England” that he felt the real England lacked, or had lost. In Tolkien’s
use of Gothic language, legend, and history, however, we can see this intention taken
further—Tolkien is creating a mythologically idealized wider European history that
resolves and replaces the elements that most clash with his own sense of aesthetics.
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 16

Appendix A: Abbreviations

PGmc Primitive Germanic

ON Old Norse (Old Icelandic)
OE Old English
NE New (Modern) English
Anglian Anglian dialect of Old English
Northumb. Northumbrian dialect of Old English
> developed into
~ related to
= equivalent to
+ combined with
* inferred form
** false or non-occuring form
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 17

Appendix B: Early Germanic Names and Words in Middle-earth

PGmc *markó (border? forest?)

> Gothic marka (‘border, coast)
> ON mõrk (forest; border?)
> Old Danish mark (Danmark)
> early OE mærc (‘border’)
> WS mearc
> Anglian merc
+ Northumb. merce > ME merke > NE “mark” (Mark of Rohan)
~ OE Mierce/Myrce, ‘Mericans, i.e. people of the border regions’

PGmc *widuz (‘forest’)

> Gothic *widus, *widu-
> ON viðr
> OE wudu > NE ‘wood’

ON: Mirkviðr
Thietmar: Miriquidui (= Erzgebirge, mountains on borders of NW Bohemia)
Tolkien’s OE: Myrcwudu (= Eastern Alps?)

OE: eoh (horse) + þéod (people, nation) > **Éoþéod/Éothéod

Gothic Gut- (Goth-) + þiuda (people, nation) > Gutþiuda
ON goti (Goth) as poetic word meaning “Gothic horse”
Old Swedish guti (Goth = “Gothic horse” in c. ad 800 runic inscription)

PGmc *winiz ‘friend’

> Gothic *wins (**Marhwins; Odoin? Guduin? Osuin? Toluin? Nanduin?)
> early OE wini > standard OE wine (Gléowine, etc.)

PGmc *furþa ‘forwards, in front’

> OE forþ ‘forwards, further, onwards’ (Forþwini/Forthwini) > NE “forth”
~ Gothic faúrþis ‘first, beforehand, formerly’ (**Faurþwins/**Faurthwins)
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 18

PGmc *marχaz “horse”

> Gothic? *marhs, *marh- (Marabadus?)
> very early OE mærh
> early OE mearh
= WS mearh (plural mearas)
> Anglian mearh/*mærh/*merh (Tolkien’s plural Mearas)

PGmc *harjaz (“army”)

> Gothic harjis
> early West Germanic *hariz
> late West Germanic *hari (*marh + *hari = Marhari)
> OE here (Dúnhere, Herefara, etc.

Latinized: Vidigoia
Gothic: *Widugáuja; *widus, *widu- (“forest”) + gáuja (“countryman”)
Tolkien: Vidugavia
[OE: Wudga, Widia]

Latinized: Venetharius; perhaps from *Winiþa- (Wends, a Slavic tribe) + Gothic harjis
“army”
Tolkien: Vinitharya; -harya from a Tolkien-Gothic *harja “warrior” (from PGmc
*χarjón, like *PGmc *χarjaz “army”)?
Quenya: Romendacil (“East-victor”) — grandfather of Vinitharya

Tolkien: Vidumavi; from Gothic *widus, *widu- (“forest”) + mawi (“maiden”)

ON: Jassarfjöll; Jassar- (from Slavic jasen/jesen ‘ash tree’) + ON fjöll

(mountains) [= Gesenke (also from jasen/jesen), mountains in
Silesia]
Tolkien: Ered Lithui = Ash (i.e. burnt matter) Mountains
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 19

Appendix C: Chronology of Northmen and Easterlings in the Third Age

The Early Years

490 The first invasion of Gondor by the Easterlings.

500 Romendacil I defeats the Easterlings.
541 Romendacil the first is slain by the Easterlings, but his son Turambar goes on to defeat the
Easterlings and extend Gondors territory eastward.
1050 Hyarmendacil conquers Harad; Gondorian power is at its height, and the Men of the Vales
of Anduin acknowledge Gondorian authority.

The Kin-strife

1226- In the days of Narmacil I, some Northmen join with the Easterlings in attacks against
Gondor.
1294 [Note: The Northmen live in the plains between Mirkwood and the River Running, where
they are already noted horsemen. Their settled homes are along the eaves of
Mirkwood, especially the East Bight which was made by their clearing of the forest.]
1248 Minalcar defeats the Easterlings between Rhovanion and the Inland Sea (Sea of Rhûn), and
takes the name Romendacil. He was assisted in these wars by the Northman, King
Vidugavia.
1250 Valacar, son of Romendacil/Minalcar is sent to Rhovanion as an ambassador to the
Northmen and learn their ways. Valacar falls in love with Vidugavia’s daughter,
Vidumavi, and they are married. Their son is Vinitharya, later called Eldacar.
1304-1366 Romendacil/Minalcar is crowned as Romendacil II; he builds the pillars at Argonath at the
entrance to Nen Hithoel. Foreigners are forbidden passage of the Emyn Muil.
Romendacil, however, offers places in his army to many Northmen, including high-
ranking positions.
1432 Death of Valacar; the Kin-strife begins over the issue of Eldacar’s mixed blood.
1437 Eldacar flees to the Northmen of Rhovannion.
1447 Eldacar, with the assistance of many Northmen, recovers the Gondorian throne. Many
Northmen enter Gondor, helping to repopulate it after the Kin-strife.

The Wainriders

1636 Beginning in the winter of 1635, the Great Plague ravages Gondor and, even more so,the
Northmen of Rhovannion.
1851 The Wainriders attack Gondor from the East. The Northmen bear the brunt of their assualts.
1856 Narmacil II marches into the plains south of Mirkwood and rallies many Northmen to him,
but is defeated and slain by the Wainriders. Marhari of the Northmen is slain in the
retreat. Southern and eastern Rhovanion is enslaved by the Wainriders. Gondor
Reflections of Gothic Language, Legend, & History in Middle-earth 20

retracts its frontiers to the Emyn Muil. Some Northmen flee north to merge with the
kinfolk in Dale.
1856-1936 In the days of Calimehtar, the Éothéod emerge as a distinct group, dwelling in the Vales of
Anduin, between the Carrock and the Gladden Fields, mostly on the western side of the
river. They were led there by Marhwini, son of Marhari and descendant of Vidugavia,
after the defeat of Narmacil II in 1856. They are described as “close kin” of the
Beornings. [Note: This marks shift from more clearly Gothic names or the Northmen to
more West Germanic names.]
1899 Marhwini sends messages to Calimehtar that the Wainriders plan to invade Calenardhon,
and also that Rhovanion intends to revolt against the Wainriders. Calimehtar leads an
army against the Wainriders to draw them from Rhovannion. Calimehtar fights the
Wainriders on Dagorlad, and Marhwini’s troops save the day. Meanwhile, Rhovanion
had revolted but was laid waste in the process. Marhwini returns to the Anduin vales.
1940- Wainriders ally with the Men of Khand and Near Harad. Forthwini, son of Marhwini, warns
1944 Ondoher that the Wainriders are regaining strength, as they are raiding the Éothéod up the
Anduin and through Mirkwood.
1944 Ondoher and his sons are slain by the Wainriders in battle by the Morannon. Some men of
the Éothéod take part in the Battle, led by Marh????21 (son of Forthwini?); they retreat
through the Dead Marshes. Eärnil II defeats the Wainriders and drives them to the
Dead Marshes.

The Northern Anduin and Calenardhon

1975 The Witch-king of Angmar is defeated.

1977 Frumgar leads the Éothéod to the vales of the Northern Anduin, where they drive out the
remnants of the Witch-kings minions. The Éothéod now dwell between the Misty
Mountains and the Forest River in Mirkwood, and south to the confluence of the
Greylin and Langwell, where they have a fortified burg.
2510 Orcs and Easterlings (identified as the Balchoth) overun Calenardhon. Eorl, son of Léod,
leads his warriors south to the Battle of the Field of Celebrant, taking the Orcs and
Balchoth from behind. The Oath of Cirion and Eorl grants Calenardhon to the Éothéod,
who move there. It is renamed Rochand, or Rohan.
3019 Muster of Rohan and Battle of the Pelennor fields in which Théoden fulfils the Oath of Eorl,
as told in The Lord of the Rings.
[4th Age] Éomer leads the Rohirrim under King Elessar in wars in the South and “beyond the Sea of
Rhûn”.

21 The name is illegible in Tolkien’s original handwritten manuscript.