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The Indigenous Population of Eriador and Gondor

and their Relationships to the Númenóreans and their


Allies
by Lalaith <andreas.moehn@wiesbaden.netsurf.de>

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Introduction
The recorded history of Middle-earth centers on the Elves and those Men who joined
them. Little is known about the others, those inhabitants of Eriador, Rhovanion and
Gondor who were not reckoned, however loosely, among the Elf-friends. In Gondor
they became eventually known as the "Middle Men", the decisive distinction from the
"Men of Darkness" being their political attitude towards Elves and Númenóreans. They
as well as the Dwarves mostly ignored them, however, the Hobbits had no accounts
transmitted, official Dúnedain and Rohirrim policy undifferentiatedly stamped them
with labels reading "wild" and often "Enemy" despite their own remote ancestors, the
Three Houses of the Edain, being related to them. Thus, the story of their fates was
never compiled but spread in mere glimpses across numerous sources. It is, however,
worth the task to extract their many-faceted history from the available material.

Note on Nomenclature:

The ethnographical terminology is often confusing. According to S, the Quenya


expression Atani originally referred to all Men but the Sindarin equivalent Edain only to
the Three Houses who first entered Beleriand. These tribes are then most frequently
referred to as Bëorians, Hadorians (though their original leader was known as Marach),
and Haladin, later also Halethians or Halethrim, but though the name-giving heroes
lived in Beleriand these epithets are also indiscriminatingly applied to their ancestors
before they reached the West. On the other hand, LP calls the earliest parent language
of Adûnaic Atani, even though it was spoken by the Hadorians and Bëorians only and
the language of the Halethrim was not even remotely related to it. And finally, PR
refers to the first Bëorians as "the Lesser Folk" while they became distinct from the
Hadorians; we may thus conclude on a corresponding "Greater Folk".

For the convenience of the following discussions, I will standardise the nomenclature in
the following way:

 Northern Atani: The common ancestors of Bëorians and Hadorians, as opposed


to the Southern Atani, the Haladin (the distinction of Northern and Southern is
made with regard to their migratory pattern).
 pre-Bëorrim, pre-Marachrim, pre-Haladin: the ancestors of the three Edainic
peoples during the migratory phase, including their relatives who did not enter
Beleriand (Marach preceded Hador in the leadership of his tribe).
 Bëorians, Hadorians, Halethians: The Beleriandic Edain and their descendants,
including scattered groups who left Beleriand.
 Bórrim: The Swarthy Men of the people of Bór who settled in Eriador and
Beleriand.
 Northmen: In the Númenórean nomenclature, the Men of Rhovanion among
which the pre-Marachrim element was predominant.
 Middle Men: In the Númenórean nomenclature, the Men of Eriador among
which the pre-Marachrim and pre-Bëorrim element was predominant, including
Edain who did not relocate to Númenor. (Historically, the term was later used to
classify all Men friendly to the West who were not Dúnedain, thus including the
Northmen, particularly the Rohirrim.)
 pre-Númenóreans: In the Númenórean nomenclature, the Men of predominantly
pre-Haladin origin, once spread between Eriador and Umbar.

The First Age


From the First Age, scarcely any data on the indigenous Mannish populations have
survived. The Elves of Beleriand did not gaze beyond the Ered Luin, and the early Men
possessed no written records. It can be deduced, however, that they immigrated into
northwestern Middle-earth on at least two very distinct paths, one in the far North, the
other in the South.

The latter was taken earlier, and not by the Atani. "Historians in Gondor believed that
the first Men to cross the Anduin were indeed the Drúedain. They came (it was
believed) from lands south of Mordor, but before they reached the coasts of Haradwaith
they turned north into Ithilien, and eventually finding a way across the Anduin
(probably near Cair Andros) settled in the vales of the White Mountains and the wooded
lands at their northern feet. 'They were a secretive people, suspicious of other kinds of
Men by whom they had been harried and persecuted as long as they could remember,
and they wandered west seeking a land where they could be hidden and have peace.'"
(TD) Thus at first, the Drúedain or "'Pukel-Men' occupied the White Mountains (on
both sides) in the First Age." (TD)

Next arrived the Southern Atani, the pre-Haladin whom we have to imagine like the
Bree-folk, "brown-haired, broad, and rather short, cheerful and independent", (FR)
would also settle the valleys of the White Mountains but stayed on friendly terms with
the Drú-folk. When the core of the pre-Haladin was pressed to wander on, "an emigrant
branch of the Drúedain accompanied the Folk of Haleth at the end of the First Age ...
but most had remained in the White Mountains, in spite of their persecution by later-
arrived Men, who had relapsed into the service of the Dark." (TD) These Men of
Shadow hunted the Drúedain and brought them almost to extinction: "from the East,
they said, had come the tall Men who drove them from the White Mountains, and they
were wicked at heart." (TD) The pursued Drúedain escaped only into the forests of
Anórien and down the Cape of Andrast into Drúwaith Iaur where they may have
survived even into the War of the Ring (TD).
The migrants meanwhile carried on northwards, passing between the Hithaeglir and the
Ered Nimrais through the Gap of Rohan. Evidently, many stayed behind during that
trail, finding that "the Minhiriath and the western half of Enedwaith between the
Greyflood and the Isen were still covered with dense forest" (DM) and there becoming
herd-tenders presumably of sheep and goats: horses would have been of small use in the
woods. So, many of those who later lived in the forests "of the shore-lands south of the
Ered Luin, especially in Minhiriath, were as later historians recognized the kin of the
Folk of Haleth". (DM) Also, groups of remaining Drúedain became "a fairly numerous
but barbarous fisher-folk [which] dwelt between the mouths of the Gwathló and the
Angren [Isen]" (GC) or more precisely, "in the marshlands around the mouths of
Greyflood and Isen," (FI) a population that was till the Second Age reduced to "a few
tribes of 'Wild Men', fishers and fowlers, but akin in race and speech to the Drúedain of
the woods of Anórien." (FI).

The remainder of the Halethians and Drúedain proper finally turned northwards into
Eriador. But there they met other wanderers: the Easterling Bórrim. "Of the people of
Bór, it is said, came the most ancient of the Men that dwelt in the north of Eriador in the
Second Age and ... after-days." (GA). These must have come from southern Rhovanion
where they had met the Entwives, for "many men learned the crafts [of agriculture] of
the Entwives and honoured them greatly", (TT) and the Bórrim were then known as
skilled "tillers of the earth". (GA) Unfortunately, we do not know who the later
descendants of these "most ancient" people of Eriador were: Could they be the Hillmen
of Rhudaur?

The pre-Haladin of the White Mountains apparently were later driven off from the most
part of the range by the Men of the Shadow, and so "in the Dark Years others ...
removed to the southern dales of the Misty Mountains; and thence some ... passed into
the empty lands as far north as the Barrow-downs. From them came the Men of Bree."
(LP) We do not know when this happened. Usually, the "Dark Years" refer to the
Second Age only; but the Bree-folk remembered in their folklore that in very Bree-
country they had already "survived the turmoils of the Elder Days" (FR).

The Northern Atani had taken a completely different path. It was said of them that "they
were ever at war ... with Men who had made him [Melkor] their God and believed that
they could render him no more pleasing service than to destroy the 'renegades' with
every kind of cruelty." (DM) Somewhere in northern Rhún, they had found that "in
ancient days the Naugrim dwelt in many mountains of Middle-earth, and there they met
mortal Men (they say) long ere the Eldar knew them." (NE) Thus it came to pass that
their earliest language, Atani, showed distinct influences of Khuzdul.

The legends of the Northern Atani otherwise begin at the shores of the Sea of Rhún
where they separated into two folks of distinct language, phenotype, and culture. The
Greater Folk of the pre-Marachrim "long dwelt ... by the shores of a sea too wide to see
across; it had no tides, but was visited by great storms. ... They lived in the north-east, in
the woods that there came near to the shores." The other part, the Lesser Folk of the pre-
Bëorrim, had advanced somewhat further and "had reached the same sea before them,
and dwelt at the feet of the high hills to the south-west. They were thus some two
undered miles apart, going by water." (PR) Because of that distance, even when the pre-
Marachrim "developed a craft of boat-building ... they did not often meet and exchange
tidings. Their tongues had already diverged ... though they remained friends of
acknowledged kinship." (PR) And not only that: if it is allowed to conclude from their
generally darker, sometimes even swarthy appearance, the pre-Bëorrim had been
"mingling in the past with Men of other kinds" (DM), and from that as well, the
language they now spoke seemed to the pre-Marachrim to contain "many elements that
were alien in character." (DM) This odd mixture of Northern Atani and Easterlings was
maybe the origin of the Men of Dorwinion, see "The mysterious king Bladorthin".

Because of the thin flow of information, the pre-Marachrim learned only afterwards that
one day (parts of?) "the Lesser Folk had fled from the threat of the Servants of the Dark
and gone on westward, while they had lain hidden in their woods." (PR) The pre-
Marachrim then followed on their trail through the Hithaeglir/Misty Mountains in the
North, close to the dreadful Ered Engrin and yet outside of Morgoth's Shadow. But
many sub-tribes of both peoples stayed behind, and when the shrinking vanguard, led by
Bëor and Marach respectively, ultimately reached Beleriand, "in Eriador and Rhovanion
(especially in the northern parts) their kindred must already have occupied much of the
land." (DM) Especially, the Northmen of Rhovanion "appear to have been most nearly
akin to the third and greatest of the peoples of the Elf-friends, ruled by the House of
Hador" (CE). Their history cannot be dealt with in this place. In Eriador the ancestors of
the Middle Men began to concentrate into what later turned out to become the
population centers of Arnor: "about Lake Evendim, in the North Downs and the
Weather Hills, and in the lands between as far as the Brandywine, west of which they
often wandered though they did not dwell there." (AE, DM) There were aside of Bórrim
found "many, it would seem, in origin kin of the Folk of Bëor, though some were kin of
the Folk of Hador" (DM, cf. also AE). The Númenóreans would later even believe that
"some of their ancestors may indeed have been fugitives from the Atani", (DM) and
they recalled that some Hadorians had in fear of the Evil Power turned from their
encampment in Beleriand; "and they went back over the mountains into Eriador, and
were forgotten." (S) It seemed thus that they had rejoined with "their laggard kindred
[who] were either in Eriador, some settled, some still wandering, or else had never
passed the Misty Mountains and were scattered" (DM) in eastern Rhovanion. That there
were true Edain among them "may have been actually true of those Men in Middle-
earth whom the returning Númenóreans first met ...; but other Men of the North ... can
only have been akin as descending from peoples of which the Atani had been the
vanguard." (DM)

At the end of the First Age, the situation could thus be described like this: the
predominant culture in Rhovanion and south of it were the Northmen of chiefly pre-
Marachrim origin, except for maybe a surviving pre-Bëorrim enclave in Dorwinion and
some Bórrim in southern Rhovanion. The Númenórean "term Middle Men was ...
originally applied to Men of Eriador" (DM) who mainly inhabited the territory of later
Arthedain. The pre-Haladin, now pre-Númenóreans, had spread from Umbar through
the White Mountains to Isengard and Dunland, across Enedwaith and Minhiriath and as
far North as Cardolan, their northernmost relatives apparently living along the line from
Sarn Ford to the junction of Gwathló and Mitheithel. At the territories of the Middle
Men, their expansion had stopped. The otherwise entirely mysterious Forodwaith,
ancestors of the Lossoth, centered in the very foothills of the Ered Engrin. A thriving
population of Swarthy Men was also found in Eriador, more or less mingling with the
others. The Drúedain finally dwelt in small parts of White Mountains and along the
coasts of Andrast and Minhiriath.
Aside of the Drú-folk, these ethnic and geographical boundaries of course were not
absolute: There was much traffic and mixture to and fro, and in the War of Wrath and
after this melting-pot was profoundly stirred up.

The Second Age


In the Second Age, "the dark years for Men of Middle-earth" (KR) in which "Middle-
earth went backward and light and wisdom faded" (AK), the indigenious Men of
Eriador, Gondor, and Rhovanion entered recorded history in the shape of many
numerous and wide-spread populations.

The Middle Men had stayed in contact with Gil-galad’s kingdom of Lindon, and "they
were friendly with the Elves, though they held them in awe and close friendships
between them were rare. Also they feared the Sea and would not look upon it". (DM)
But there also did exist such close friendships, for Elves led by Galadriel and Celeborn
as well "for a while ... dwelt in the country about Lake Nenuial (Evendim, north of the
Shire)", (GC) side by side with the Middle Men.

The cultural influence of the Elves slowly stretched out even to the pre-Númenóreans in
the White Mountains, and because of that "between Pelargir [which did not exist yet]
and the Gulf of Lune ... the settlers in this region had refused to join in the rebellion
against the Valar. " (DM) They were frequently terrorised and subjected by scattered
fugitives from Angband who apparently took in larger numbers to the hills of Rhúdaur
and the Mountains of Angmar, but still "Men in those parts remain[ed] more or less
uncorrupted if ignorant [and] in a simple ‘Homeric’ state of patriarchal and tribal life"
(L131). It was thus recorded that "the native people were fairly numerous and warlike,
but they were forest-dwellers, scattered communities without central leadership." (GC)
In other words, the situation resembled that which the Romans found in Gallia and
Germania: an uncountable lot of tribal territories among which border skirmishes and
raids were frequent but large-scale wars rare.

In Gondor, the pre-Númenóreans dwelt far from the coasts. "The shores of the Bay of
Belfalas were still mainly desolate [though the tale of Tar-Elmar shows that this was not
entirely so (EL)] except for a haven and small settlement of Elves at the mouth of the
confluence of Morthond and Rínglo." (DM) Inhabitants of this port, known by the name
of Edhellond, reported that during its foundation "there was already a primitive harbour
there of fisherfolk, but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the [White] mountains." (GC)
This targic circumstance brought the pre-Númenórean adventure into the Bay of
Belfalas to a preliminary end, and because of that "it was long before Númenórean
settlers about the Mouths of Anduin ... made contact with Men who dwelt in the valleys
on either side of the White Mountains", (DM) not before the Faithful had founded
Pelargir in 2350 SA.

When the first Númenórean ships arrived in 600 SA it was the Middle Men with whom
they first came into contact. They landed in Lindon and their crews met with Gil-Galad,
and "the news spread swiftly and Men in Eriador were filled with wonder." Before long,
a meeting between the sailors and twelve messengers of Edainic descent came to pass
on the Tower Hills of which a detailed account is given in AE. And for a limited time
"they mingled in friendship". (AE)
The Númenóreans soon began to cultivate their new-won friends, "and none yet dared
to withstand them. For most of the Men of that age that sat under the Shadow were now
grown weak and fearful. And coming among them the Númenóreans taught them many
things" (TA), such as agriculture, stonecraft and smithying; but also their language. For
when in the early 9th century SA the Númenóreans established themselves at the port of
Vinyalondë (in the 3rd millenium Lond Daer Enedh), they noticed with contempt that
"the tongues of the Men of Middle-earth" sounded to them who were used to the soft
Elven and Edainic tongues like "fallen into brutishness, and they cried like harsh birds,
or snarled like savage beasts." (HA) This was as emphatical as prejudiced, for since
"many of the forest-dwellers of the shorelands south of the Ered Luin, especially in
Minhiriath, were ... the kin of the Folk of Haleth" (DM) they spoke of course tongues of
the Halethian language family which was in its origin Edainic. But this derogative
judgment "may have been one of the reasons why the Númenóreans failed to recognize
the Forest-folk of Minhiriath as ‘kinsmen’, and confused them with Men of the Shadow;
for as has been noticed the native language of the Folk of Haleth war not related" (DM)
to Atani. And this led to tragic consequences.

As the Faithful would one day put it in the Akallabêth, "the Men of Middle-earth were
comforted, and here and there upon the western shores the houseless woods drew back,
and Men shook off the yoke of the offspring of Morgoth, and unlearned their terror of
the dark. And they revered the memory of the tall Sea-kings, and when they had
departed they called them gods, hoping for their return; for at that time the
Númenóreans dwelt never long in Middle-earth, nor made there as yet any habitation of
their own." (AK) But looking behind this fountain of euphemism, the "houseless woods
drawing back from the coasts" can hardly conceal the irrecoverable damage that
Númenórean exploitation would inflict when Tar-Aldarion began to dream of ruling a
maritime super-power.

"In Aldarion's day the Númenóreans did not yet desire more room, and his Venturers
remained a small people." (FI). But "Aldarion had a great hunger for timber, desiring to
make Númenor into a great naval power" (CE), and so in about 810 he founded
Vinyalondë as "a timber-port and ship-building harbour". (CE) From then on, "the
power of Númenor became more and more occupied with great navies, for which their
own land could not supply sufficient timber without ruin, their felling of trees and
transportation of wood to their shipyards in Númenor or on the coast of Middle-earth ...
became reckless." (DM) Aldarion proved to be quite'short-sighted with regard to
matters of environmental protection, not to mention minority policies; and this led to a
perpetual decrease of reputation with the pre-Númenóreans. Patient they were: Long
they suffered in silence and "did not become hostile until the tree-felling became
devastating." (GC) But slowly, "hostility was growing and dark men out of the
mountains were thrusting into Enedwaith" in support of their kinsmen. (AE) Aldarion
met the first sign of resistance when in 820 SA he found Vinyalondë "overthrown by
great seas and plundered by hostile men." (AE) Then he witnessed how "Men near the
coasts were growing afraid of the Númenóreans, or were openly hostile; and Aldarion
heard rumours of some lord in Middle-earth who hated the men of the ships." (AE)

He thought this lord to be simply some powerful chieftain among the natives. But Gil-
Galad of Lindon was on the right track, perceiving that "the Shadow crept along the
coasts and men whom they had befriended became afraid or hostile" (FI), correctly
concluding on a more transcedental power that was at work. The Elven-king understood
as well that the hidden instigator had not himself kindled the resentments but that like
any good demagog he made witty use of the animosities already available. Of course,
the utmost hint that diplomatic courtesy allowed him was the sober remark to the king
of Númenor that ""It is no tyranny of evil Men, as your son believes; but a servant of
Morgoth is stirring, and evil things wake again. Each year it gains in strength, for Men
are ripe to its purpose." (AE)

Aldarion failed to grasp that. And so he and his successors continued to find to their
own incomprehensibility and dismay "that iron was used against them by those to whom
they had revealed it." (DN) To the pre-Númenóreans, it was still a desperate act of self-
defense when they "attacked and ambushed the Númenóreans when they could, and the
Númenóreans treated them as enemies, and became ruthless in their fellings, giving no
thought to husbandry or replanting." (GC) When they had completely wrecked the
banks and shorelines and "drove great tracks and roads into the forests northwards and
southwards from the Gwathló", (GC) the pre-Númenóreans "became bitter enemies of
the Númenóreans, because of their ruthless treatment and their devastation of the
forests" (DM) The Númenóreans answered the challenge with cultivation at the sword's
edge: Cleansing the area and destroying what lied ahead of them, they pushed far into
Minhiriath and Enedwaith, establishing themselves inland as far as the river Glanduin,
"the southern boundary of Eregion, beyond which pre-Númenóreans and generally
unfriendly peoples lived, such as the ancestors of the Dunlendings" (GC), "who were a
remnant of the peoples that had dwelt in the vales of the White Mountains in ages past"
(LP). "The native folk that survived fled from Minhiriath into the dark woods of the
great Cape of Eryn Vorn, south of the mouth of the Baranduin, which they dared not
cross, even if they could, for fear of the Elvenfolk. From Enedwaith they took refuge in
the eastern mountains where afterwards was Dunland (minding the Elves of Lindon but
not those of Eregion?); they did not cross the Isen nor take refuge in the great
promontory between Isen and Lefnui [being the Cape of Andrast] ... because of the
'Pukel-men'" (GC) who themselves - despite having living relatives in Númenor - began
to fear the Men from the Sea: "When the occupation of the coastlands by the
Númenóreans began in the Second Age they survived in the mountains of the
promontory [of Andrast], which was never occupied by the Númenóreans." (TD)

And there, Sauron found a handy potential to draft recruits. For the pre-Númenóreans'
understandable "hatred remained unappeased in their descendants, causing them to join
with any enemies of Númenor." (DM). In the early second millenium he imcreased
pressure on the West and drew closer to the Númenórean sphere of influence by leaving
his stronghold in Rhún and relocating to Mordor which became his prime residence
throughout the Ages to come. When by the end of the 17th century SA he had forged the
One Ring, completed Barad-dúr and launched the War of the Elves and Sauron, he had
the ground well-prepared to recruit and support partisan forces. "The exiled natives
welcomed Sauron and hoped for his victory over the Men of the Sea. Sauron knew of
the importance to his enemies of the Great Haven and its ship-yards, and he used these
haters of Númenor as spies and guides for his raiders. He had not enough force to spare
for any assault upon the forts at the Haven or along the banks of the Gwathló, but his
raiders made much havoc on the fringe of the forests, setting fire in the woods and
burning many of the great wood-stores of the Númenóreans." (GC) The pre-
Númenórean guerillas were enough to keep the Venturers occupied while Sauron's
regular troops "attempted to gain the mastery over Eriador ... ravaged the lands, slaying
or drawing off all the small groups of [Middle] Men and hunting the remaining Elves."
(GC). It seems that indeed most of the Middle Men perished during the War, and the
remaining population never recovered, for at the end of the Second Age, Arnor was
founded in virtually "empty" lands. (LP)

Till 1700 SA Sauron "had mastered all Eriador, save only besieged Imladris, and had
reached the line of the River Lhûn." (GC) Then the Númenórean fleet sent by king Tar-
Minastir arrived, catching Mordor's troops in the rear and utterly defeating them. Within
a short time, "Eriador was cleared of the enemy, but lay largely in ruins" (GC) and in
Enedwaith and Minhiriath "most of the old forests had been destroyed." (GC) But "for
many years the Westlands had peace. and time in which to heal their wounds." (GC)
The surviving pre-Númenóreans now apparently crossed the Glanduin back south to
Dunland which now seemed safer than wrecked Eregion.

In 2350 SA, Pelargir was founded as another great haven, and the inhabitants at last
discovered the pre-Númenóreans of the Ered Nimrais when they "ventured north of
their great haven at Pelargir and made contact with Men who dwelt in the valleys on
either side of the White Mountains." (DM) These were, however, "relapsed into the
service of the Dark" and worshipped Sauron, such as the "King of the Mountains" (RK)
who ruled the pre-Haladin people of Dunharrow. Pelargir seems to have exceeded a
positive influence upon them, though, and the pre-Númenóreans repented during
Sauron's absence from Mordor when "the power of Gil-galad had grown great ..., and it
was spread now over wide regions of the north and west, and had passed beyond the
Misty Mountains and the Great River even to the borders of Greenwood the Great, and
was drawing nigh to [Mordor]." (RP)

In the Cataclysm of 3319 SA, all the indigenious peoples must have suffered terrible
losses when the coastlines were inundated and earthquakes and storms must have
demanded their tolls. "The Bay of Belfalas was much filled at the east and south, so that
Pelargir which had been only a few miles from the sea was left far inland, and Anduin
carved a new path by many mouths to the Bay. And the Isle of Tolfalas was almost
destroyed, and was left at last like a barren and lonely mountain in the water not far
from the issue of the River." (YS) Survivors were found only in and around the White
and the Misty Mountains from where they slowly repopulated Enedwaith and
Minhiriath, and in the interior of Eriador.

When the Elendili established the Realms in Exile, the situation stabilised and "many
Men turned ... from evil and became subject to the heirs of Elendil." (RP) But with
regard to past events, the pre-Númenóreans still saw few reason to love the Dúnedain,
particularly as they certainly had stayed unaware of the inner disputes of Westernesse
and never learned to distinguish between King's Men and Faithful (not that the
distinction would have meant much to them, anyway). Thus "yet many more
remembered Sauron in their hearts and hated the kingdoms of the West." (RP) And so,
in the War of the Last Alliance, they will likely have served as auxiliaries to Mordor.
Others feared the Dark Lord so much that they refused to fight on either side, such as
the current King of the Mountains who first swore allegiance to Isildur "but when
Sauron returned and grew in might again, Isildur summoned the Men of the Mountains
to fulfill their oath, and they would not: for they had worshipped Sauron in the Dark
Years. ... They fled before the wrath of Isildur, and did not dare to go forth to war on
Sauron's part; and they hid themselves in secret places in the mountains and had no
dealings with other men, but slowly dwindled in the barren hills." (RK) Eventually,
they faded and became the Dead Men of Dunharrow, ghastly shadows haunting the dark
vales of Ered Nimrais. This was the end of the pre-Númenóreans of Gondor.

The Third Age


The Third Age saw the further extinction of many of the surviving indigenious cultures
and languages. After the foundation of the Realms in Exile, those peoples who in the
later part of the Second Age "had passed into the empty lands" of Eriador were
successfully "númenorised": they "had become subjects of the North Kingdom of Arnor
and had taken up the Westron tongue." (LP) But the losses of the War of the Last
Alliance provoked that the North Kingdom would never gain save ground. Though
Isildur's son "Valandil took up his abode in Annúminas, ... his folk were diminished,
and of the Númenóreans and of the Men of Eriador [i. e. the Middle Men] there
remained now too few to people the land or to maintain all the places that Elendil had
built; in Dagorlad, and in Mordor, and upon the Gladden Fields many had fallen." (RP)
This massive depopulation was held to be the main reason of Arnor's ultimate
splintering "into petty realms and lordships" (RP) that were individually without chance
to survive. In the early second millenium, the Hobbits entering Arnor still had the
impression that "Men were still numerous there, both Númenóreans and other Men
related to the Atani, beside remnants of Men of evil kinds, hostile to the Kings", (DM)
but none ever recovered enough to conceal the dramatic underpopulation of the entire
kingdom. The númenorisation of the indigenious peoples was the most effective in the
Western parts of Arnor that later comprised Arthedain; but elsewhere, particularly in
Rhúdaur were the Dúnedainic upper class had always been the thinnest, it utterly failed.
By all likelihood, Isildur's curse against the Men of Dunharrow had left there a lasting
impression of how the Kings used to deal with subjects who refused to follow them into
disaster. And the quickly dealt out epithet "Men of evil kinds" did not ease the tension
any more than Valandil's relocation closer to his people's problems did. So, when
Angmar was founded by the Witch-king there "gathered many evil men" (KR), for it
was by not a few considered a serious alternative to the Realm in Exile.

When Rhúdaur was turned into a sovereign kingdom it became immediately exposed to
severe pressure by "Hillmen of the North", mysterious people who now for the first time
entered the chronicles of the West. They were no doubt descending from the appointed
"remnants of Men of evil kinds" who may have been descended from Bórrim or other
Swarthy Men from Beleriand. But beyond that, little is known about them. Some
sources state that from the 14th century on, they "build dark forts in the hills" (HE) and
that they were "much given to sorcery" (YT). Slowly, they pushed back the Dúnedain of
Rhúdaur until the throne was "seized by an evil lord of the Hillmen, who was in secret
league with Angmar" (KR). By this time, there were still loyal minorities living beyond
the Weather Hills; but after the fatal year of 1409 TA, all of Rhúdaur "was occupied by
evil Men subject to Angmar, and the Dúnedain that remained there were slain or fled
west." (KR. Probably at this time, Trolls appeared in eastern Rhúdaur, advancing into
the regions which later were known as the Trollshaws.) But the Hillmen as well were
ultimately doomed, for "all were destroyed in the war that brought the North Kingdom
to its end." (FR)

This must have meant a tremendous ethnical cleansing on both sides, and Eriador fell in
major parts into desolation from which it never recovered. Cardolan was deserted and
withstood attempts to resettle it (HE). Rhúdaur was inhabited only by fell non-human
creatures. An even further blow was the Great Plague of 1636 TA from which all the
remaining settled areas suffered almost fatal blows. Then, "Minhiriath had been almost
entirely deserted, though a few secretive hunter-folk lived in the woods [of Eryn Vorn,
etc.]".

When also Arthedain, last remnant of the disintegrating Northern Kingdom, collapsed,
the history of the Middle Men in Eriador had come to an end. Till the Fourth Age,
former Arnor never was repopulated. "In Bilbo’s time great areas of Eriador were empty
of Men", (DM) and within a hundred leagues from the only survivors, the pre-
Númenóreans of Bree, and even further from the Lossoth in the far North, no significant
Mannish settlements were found any longer. (FR) The South never attempted to resettle
the North Kingdom. Gondor had no interests to defend there, and the other peoples were
both not numerous enough and too superstitious to immigrate in large numbers into the
vast, desolate regions. The city of Tharbad (where once a large population of pre-
Númenóreans may have dwelt in the suburbs) became the Ultima Thule to the Southern
Kingdom beyond which was lying an almost mythical country, full of strange,
otherworldly creatures, such as Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and probably worse. Finally, after
a long and dreadful winter, even Tharbad was inundated and fell into ruin, and its
Bridge was no more. The river Greyflood now formed not only an effective
psychological barrier but a physical as well, hard to cross only at the dangerous Ford at
the site of the former bridge.

The Southern Kingdom had taken a completely different stance against indigenious
minorities than Arnor. While the Northern Kingdom kept striving for survival but
successfully integrated most of its peoples, Gondor pursued an expansionistic policy,
maintaining a restrictive attitude against non-Dúnedainic locals. Isildur's curse may
have been only the most prominent of incidents, and it was probably traditioned for a
long time among the indigenious population. On a private level of course intercourse
between Dúnedain and the occupied minorities prevailed. Mixed marriages were
frequent, and slowly "the blood of the Númenóreans became much mingled with that of
other men, and their power and wisdom was diminished." (RP) But politically, the
Dúnedain retained a somewhat mild apartheid, suspicious even against those of "mixed
blood".

In the 8th century TA, the victories of crown prince Tarannon "extended the sway of
Gondor far along the shore-lands on either side of the Mouths of Anduin" (HE), and the
few pre-Númenóreans living there were subdued, never to regain political
independence. In Gondor and Umbar, they became almost extinct: In the late Third Age,
their memory was preserved only in a few geographical names whose meaning was lost
in time. Soon, the White Mountains followed where the Men of Dunharrow were no
more, and Calenardhon as far as the Isen and the Argonath, and parts of Rhovanion as
far East as Dorwinion. Only in the latter - and the most thinly covered - part, a
successfully númenorised indigenious people prevailed the age of the Kings, see "The
mysterious king Bladorthin".

The most sturdy of the Gondorian minorities proved to be the small nation of the
Gwathuirim or Dunlendings. For to the Enedwaith "few Númenóreans had ever come,
and none had settled there" (FI) "owing to the hostility of the Gwathuirim
(Dunlendings), except in the fortified town and haven about the great bridge over the
Greyflood at Tharbad." (DM) There is some doubt about the status of the region: once,
it is claimed that it "belonged to neither kingdom [though] both kingdoms shared an
interest in this region. ... A considerable garrison of soldiers, mariners and engineers
had been kept there until the seventeenth century of the Third Age. But from then
onwards the region fell quickly into decay; and ... back into wild fenlands." (GC), and
also that "in ancient days ... the western bounds of the South Kingdom was the Isen",
(FI) but the latter source continues to tell that "in the days of the Kings it was part of the
realm of Gondor, but it was of little concern to them, except for the patrolling and
upkeep of the great Royal Road." (FI) These apparently contradictory informations may
indicate that Enedwaith was a kind of Gondorian protectorate which the South Kingdom
oversaw but did not settle, similar to some barbarian regions adjacent to the Roman
Empire. It is clear, though, that from some unknown beginning till 1636 TA the
Dunlendings were nominal subjects of Gondor but more by decree than by conviction.
They lived remote enough from major population centres that they would not feel
affected by the crown. In spirit they remained as independent as their relatives of Bree-
country, and the old animosities - whose reasons no doubt were long forgotten -
prevailed among them so that they "did ... hold to their old speech and manners: a secret
folk, unfriendly to the Dúnedain" (LP. This "old speech" was the last survivor of the
Halethian language family), and they "had little love for Gondor, but though hardy and
bold enough were too few and too much in awe of the might of the Kings to trouble
them." (FI) Gondor whose eyes were turned East and South inclined to ignore them.
This was tragic insofar as the Dunlendings thus never became númenorised like the pre-
Númenóreans of Arnor. But despite Gondorian claims that throughout the millenia their
"hatred remained unappeased in their descendants, causing them to join with any
enemies of Númenor", (DM) they never wilfully fell in with the Necromancer or any of
his subjects. Indeed they rejected business with Orcs and expelled those whom they
suspected to have dealings with them, such as a certain "outlaw driven from Dunland,
where many said that he had Orc-blood. ... He was the squint-eyed Southerner at the
Inn." (HR). The majority of the Dunlendings did not collaborate with Sauron's minions
(except once) though that did not hinder them from taking advantage of the larger
conflicts when available. But to non-Dúnedainic foreigners they showed as much
hospitability and generosity as the Bree-folk, and the Stoors who "liked to live with or
near to Big Folk of friendly kind" (DM) happily dwelt "at the borders of Dunland"
(FT). Cultural exchange was frequent enough that the Stoor hobbits "appear to have
adopted a language related to Dunlendish before they came north to the Shire." (LP)

Profound changes came with the Great Plague of 1636 TA. When it had passed, "in
Enedwaith the remnants of the Dunlendings [still] lived in the east, in the foothills of
the Misty Mountains" (FI) and they had "suffered ... less than most, since they dwelt
apart and had few dealings with other men." (LP) But even northern Dunland had been
considerably emptied (RK), and the Stoors, finding their abode increasingly untendable,
finally headed for the Shire. The Dunlendings now found North of them only a few
Dwarves. (KR) But Gondor's hold on Enedwaith was loosened due to heavy losses
among the troops and garrisons, and "when the days of the Kings ended (1975-2050)
and the waning of Gondor began, they ceased in fact to be subjects of Gondor." (FI)
From then on, they quite naturally took interest in settling the plains of Calenardhon, ,
being more fertile and prosperous than their hilly homesteads - especially since Eriador
was inaccessible and West and South inhabited by that more than dubious "barbarous
fisher-folk". (GC) The Dunlendings began to traverse the Fords of Isen that before
"were ever guarded against any incursion from the 'Wild Lands'. But during the
Watchful Peace (from 2063 to 2460) the [Númenórean] people of Calenardhon
dwindled ... the garrisons of the forts were not renewed, and were left to the care of
local hereditary chieftains whose subjects were of more and more mixed blood. For the
Dunlendings drifted steadily and unchecked over the Isen." (FI)

This did not by default mean trouble. But it proved tragic when of the notorious
Gondorian ignorance of Dunlendish positions resulted in the problem that after the
Battle of the Camp (1944 TA) Calenardhon was passed on by decree to the Eótheód or
Rohirrim who had come south from their territories North of Greenwood. In the view of
the Dunlendish herdsmen, these strange horse-breeders were natural competitors for the
fertile pastures of Calenardhon and thus not welcome on what with some right they by
now considered their own land. But the situation escalated beyond the point of no return
when the Kings of the Rohirrim decided to rid themselves of local minorities in a
manner that looked reminiscent of the Men of Shadow: "Under Brego and Aldor the
Dunlendings were rooted out again and driven away beyond the Isen, and the Fords of
Isen were guarded." Worse, King Aldor "even raided their lands in Enedwaith by way
of reprisal." (FI)
This ethnical cleansing was never forgotten by the "wild hillmen and herd-folk", as the
Rohirrim scornfully used to refer to them (TT). Neutral historians record that it was
then when "the Rohirrim earned the hatred of the Dunlendings, which was not appeased
until the return of the King, then far off in the future. Whenever the Rohirrim were weak
or in trouble the Dunlendings renewed their attacks" against "the 'wild Northmen' who
had usurped the land" (FI). Centuries later a man from Rohan still found reason to
recall: "Not in half a thousand years have they forgotten the grievance that the lords of
Gondor gave the Mark to Eorl the Young and made alliance with him." (TT) But that
meant of course to project the historical responsibilities away from their own and to the
distant throne of Minas Tirith.

Gondor though considered the unsolved Dunlendish question a matter of Rohan's


interior politics. And this was unfortunate for had it put its weight in time into arranging
a political solution, Saruman could not have exploited the conflict almost to the ruin of
both Rohan and Gondor. But as it had been to the kings "the enmity of the 'wild'
Dunlendings seemed of small account to the Stewards." (FI) And so Rohan dealt alone
with the problem. " In the reign of King Deor (2699 to 2718) ... the line of the
Gondorian chieftains of Angrenost [Isengard] had failed, and the command of the
fortress passed into the hands of a family of the people. These, as has been said, were
already long before of mixed blood, and they were now more friendly disposed to the
Dunlendings ...; with Minas Tirith far away they no longer had any concern. After the
death of King Aldor ... the Dunlendings unmarked by Rohan but with the connivance of
Isengard began to filter into northern Westfold again, making settlements in the
mountain glens west and east of Isengard and even in the southern eaves of Fangorn. In
the reign of Déor they became openly hostile, raiding the herds and studs of the
Rohirrim in Westfold." (FI)

Of course, in times of peace there was always as well much local traffic with the
western-march of Rohan, and Northmen and Dunlendings frequently joined in marriage.
Even the Landlord Freca, counsellor of Helm Hammerhand, "had, men said, much
Dunlendish blood, and was dark-haired" (KR) in contrast to the often blond Men of the
North. And "as was later known, the Dunlendings [were] admitted as friends" (FI) in
Angrenost until they successfully "seized the Ring of Isengard, slaying the few
survivors of its ancient guards who were not (as were most) willing to merge with the
Dunlendish folk. Déor sent word at once to the Steward in Minas Tirith (at that time, in
the year 2710, Egalmoth), but he was unable to send help, and the Dunlendings
remained in occupation of Isengard". (FI) According to other sources, the reason for
Egalmoth's denial was "renewed war with the Orcs." (HE)

In 2758 TA the halfly Dunlendish Wulf, Freca's son, in the west-march held in high
esteem, successfully negotiated an alliance with the Corsairs of Umbar who, stirred by
Sauron, were raiding the coasts around the Bay of Belfalas and beyond. He thus turned
away the peril of plunder from his own properties at the river Adorn and talked the
Dunlendings from outside of Rohan into a fatal alliance with Men of Shadow. Now for
once they "were joined by enemies of Gondor that had landed in the mouths of Lefnui
and Isen" (KR) and while "Rohan was again invaded from the East ... the Dunlendings
seeing their chance came over the Isen and down from Isengard. It was soon known that
Wulf was their leader. ... Wulf took Edoras and sat in Meduseld and called himself
king." (KR) Rohan called again to Gondor for help. And once again, this time due to the
raids of as much as three Corsair fleets at its own coasts, she could not send any. The
Dunlendings stayed in control of Edoras and Isengard until "reduced by the great famine
after the Long Winter (2758-9) they were starved out and capitulated to Fréalaf." (FI)
Only to this tragic circumstance it was thus due that "before the year [2759] was ended
the Dunlendings were driven out, even from Isengard" (KR) which was now passed on
into Saruman's governship so that nothing like that would ever repeat. And due to the
revival of the old animosities by Wulf "for many years the Rohirrim had to keep a
strong force of Riders in the north of Westfold." (FI)

Of course, this guard was lessened with time and the border opened again. Then once
more, many Dunlendings were eventually found in the west-march. And this time, their
stay was tolerated while Edoras kept busy with Orc-bands that, themselves escaping
from the grip of the Long Winter, tried to invade the White Mountains. But almost as
soon as these had been eliminated, this time with Gondor's help, another pogrome
against the Dunlendings was launched by Folcwine (2830-2903) and "he reconquered
the west-march ... that Dunlendings had occupied." (KR) But the Rohirrim never
realised that military decisions cannot change social realities: "beyond the Gap the land
between Isen and Adorn was nominally part of the realm of Rohan; but though
Folcwine had reclaimed it, driving out the Dunlendings that had occupied it, the people
that remained were largely of mixed blood, and their loyalty to Edoras was weak." (FI)

Thus Saruman found the ground well-prepared when he started to seek for recruits and
for victims of his Man/Orc cross-breeding programme. The Dunlendings were readily
ensnared by his cunning diplomacy and thus at last found themselves side by side with
those they feared the most: the wizard's orcish troops. The awakening from the spell
was terrible. To this dreadful experience and to King Elessar's successful diplomacy
may be attributed that in the Fourth Age the neighbours this side and that of the river
Isen, closely related by many generations of mutual marriage and procreation, were at
least in parts reconciled. "In Éomer's day in the Mark men had peace who wished for it".
(KR) The books politely keep silent about what happened to the others.

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