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.
List of Abbreviations

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