beyond anduin

THE INDIGENOUS POPULATION OF ERIADOR AND GONDOR AND ITS RELATIONSHIPS TO THE NÚMENÓREANS AND THEIR ALLIES

Lalaith: Winkeler Strasse 3, D-65197 Wiesbaden, Germany (andreas.moehn@wiesbaden.netsurf.de)

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 and Gondor who were not reckoned, however loosely, among the Elf-friends. Elves and Dwarves ignored them, the Hobbits had no accounts transmitted, official Dúnadan and Rohirric policy undifferentiatedly stamped them with labels reading "wild" and "enemy"—despite their remote ancestors, the Three Houses of the Edain, having all shown "traces of mingling in the past with Men of other kinds." (DM) 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.
The First Age
From the First Age, scarcely any data on them 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 two different paths.

The Peoples of Bëor and Hador crossed the Hithaeglir or Misty Mountains in the North, close to the dreadful Ered Engrin and yet outside of Morgoth's Shadow. Shortly before they reached Beleriand, "in Eriador and Rhovanion (especially in the northern parts) their kindred must already have occupied much of the land." (DM) Those 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), while those who settled in Eriador after the crossing of the Misty Mountains were mixed of Hador's and Bëor's Peoples (AE). The latter contingency was later reinforced by relatives who in fear of the Evil Power turned back from their encampment in Beleriand; "and they went back over the mountains into Eriador, and were forgotten." (S) Somewhat after them, the Forodwaith followed their traces and settled right in the ever-cold valleys of the Iron Mountains where later was the Bay of Forochel. And by many generations they grew accustomed to the inhospitable climate. Only a few of them lasted to come into the age of history: their chief descendants became the Lossoth, a nomadic people along the coasts of Forochel.

The people of Haleth, however, took the Southern path through the later Gap of Rohan, and then turned northwards to Eriador, rejoining the other Peoples at Ered Luin. This is evident from the notion that "an emigrant branch of the Drúedain accompanied [them], 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." Some of the Drúedain, though, later expanded down the Cape of Andrast without meeting resistance, and a few of them once would make it even to Númenor—for a while (TD). In the Third Age, some of their remnants were known as the Woses who were living hidden in the Drúadan Forest, hunted by Rohirrim like beasts. Thus in general, the Drúedain turned distrustful against other Men and remained secretive throughout most of their existence.

But important for this discussion are their dark persecutors, for they probably provide the earliest glimpse of the fertile nation which in Beleriand was collectively called the Easterlings and by Third Age historians the pre-Númenóreans. Slowly they expanded through Gondor and southern Eriador. A popular legend among the Men of Bree, descending from them, tells that in this very location they had already "survived the turmoils of the Elder Days" (FR); but such claims have to be taken with a grain of salt.

The Second Age
It is evident that 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 pre-Númenóreans finally entered recorded history as an already numerous and wide-spread population. Starting out from their abodes in the White Mountains, they had slowly filtered through the Gap of Rohan: "in the Dark Years [they] had removed to the southern dales of the Misty Mountains; and thence some had passed into the empty lands as far north as Bree." (LP)

In the first millennium of the Dark Years, the pre-Númenóreans, terrorized by scattered refugees from eliminated Angband, inhabited much of the territory between the shores and the Hithaeglir. None of them yet admitted obediance to Sauron, though, and "Men in those parts remain[ed] more or less uncorrupted if ignorant [and] in a simple 'Homeric' state of patriarchal and tribal life." (Letters, no. 131) In fact, many of those who dared to live 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)

But most of the pre-Númenóreans lived far from the coasts, which they feared due to the past inundations. (DM) "The Minhiriath and the western half of Enedwaith between the Greyflood and the Isen were still covered with dense forest. The shores of the Bay of Belfalas were still mainly desolate, except for a haven and small settlement of Elves at the mouth of the confluence of Morthond and Ringló." (DM) The Elves of this port of Edhellond reported that "there was already a primitive harbour there of fisherfolk, but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the mountains" (GC), joining those who were already there. In the late Third Age, their cultural influence was still preserved in a few geographical names throughout Gondor.

In the interior of the continent, the pre-Númenóreans had by then turned into herd-tenders: presumably of sheep and goats, for horses would have been of small use in the endless forests. Towards the North they apparently had advanced as far as the line from Sarn Ford to the junction of Gwathló and Mitheithel. Here their expansion came to a halt: northern Eriador they found already populated by the Northmen, the descendants of those colonies which the Houses of Bëor and Hador had left behind, mingling with late Edain from Beleriand who had not taken ships to Númenor. These were mainly concentrated in what later turned into 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)

Thus alone of the indigenous population of Middle-earth they 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) Yet some sources even indicate temporarily mixed settlements, for numerous Elves led by Galadriel and Celeborn "for a while ... dwelt in the country about Lake Nenuial (Evendim, north of the Shire)." (GC) It may be possible that the pre-Númenórean enclave of Bree-country was then already present inmidst these Northmen territories. Anyway, there was never likely to have been a distinct borderline between the Northmen and the pre-Númenóreans, and movement to and fro must have been abundant.

When about the year S.A. 600 the first Númenórean ships arrived in Lindon, meeting with Gil-galad, "the news spread swiftly and Men in Eriador were filled with wonder." Before long, a meeting between the sailors and twelve messengers of the Northmen came to pass on the Tower Hills, and for a limited time "they mingled in friendship." (AE) It seems that it was this meeting which found its way into the Bree-country legend according to which the arriving shipmen had found the Bree-folk still where they had been left in the Elder Days. The newcomers remarked that "the native people," whether Northmen or pre-Númenóreans, "were fairly numerous and warlike, but they were forest-dwellers, scattered communities without central leadership." (GC) Unfortunately, the Númenóreans "failed to recognize the Forest-folk of Minhiriath as 'kinsmen', and confused them with Men of the Shadow" (DM): a thorough misunderstanding which led to all those tragic consequences from which Eriador was later bound to suffer.

The situation which Middle-earth presented to the Númenóreans 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. Like the Romans, the Númenóreans began to cultivate the countries, "and none yet dared to withstand them. For most of the Men of that age that sat under the Shadow [i.e. the pre-Númenóreans] were now grown weak and fearful. And coming among them the Númenóreans taught them many things," such as agriculture, stonecraft and smithying; but also their languages, "for the tongues of the Men of Middle-earth" sounded to the Númenóreans (who were used to the soft Elven and Edain tongues) like they "were fallen into brutishness, and they cried like harsh birds, or snarled like savage beasts." (HA)

By the Númenórean colonization, "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) Very probably we have to imagine the pre-Númenóreans now like the later Bree-folk, "brown-haired, broad, and rather short, cheerful and independent." (FR)

However, those houseless woods drawing back from the coasts are only a euphemism, concealing the real events. What had indeed started was an exploitative tree-cutting in supply of Númenórean shipyards, which had begun under the reign of Tar-Aldarion [d. S.A. 1075]. At first, the Númenóreans restricted their environmentally destructive labors to the coastal areas and the riversides, and the pre-Númenóreans "did not become hostile until the tree-felling became devastating." (GC) But in the late first millennium, "as 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) And when they had completely wrecked the banks and shorelines and hacked their paths ever further inland, the Halethian forest-dwellers "became bitter enemies of the Númenóreans, because of their ruthless treatment and their devastation of the forests, and this hatred remained unappeased in their descendants, causing them to join with any enemies of Númenor." (DM) In self-defense, they now "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) Inevitably, "the hostility was growing and dark men out of the mountains were thrusting into Enedwaith" in support of their kinsmen driven back by the Venturers, the Númenórean sea-farer guild. (AE) Having taken up a bitter guerrilla war, the pre-Númenóreans successfully advanced towards the coastline, so that about the year S.A. 840, Tar-Aldarion found the haven of Vinyalondë or Lond Daer "overthrown by great seas and plundered by hostile men." (AE)

"In Aldarion's day the Númenóreans did not yet desire more room, and his Venturers remained a small people." But "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) For from his primary abode in far-away Rhûn Sauron had been paying close attention to the events, and now he began to exploit and support the conflict, following his own designs. Sauron took the opportunity to draw closer to the Númenórean force whose cultural and military power much concerned him; and after the year S.A. 1000, when he had installed himself in Mordor and was raising the Barad-dûr, "the Shadow crept along the coasts and men whom [the Númenóreans] had befriended became afraid or hostile." To their sorrow, the shipmen found "that iron was used against them by those to whom they had revealed it." (DN) They answered the challenge with cultivation by the sword's edge, and "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; 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 'Púkel-men' [i.e. the Drúedain]" (GC)

Cleansing the area and destroying what lay before them, the Númenóreans now 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 had, of course, no reason left for any friendliness. Their retreat to Eregion seems surprising, for the Noldorin Gwaith-i-Mírdain had already set up their community there; but presumably it was too small and inaccessible to be of much concern to the Proto-Dunlendings as they might now be called. Or perhaps in comparison to the pressure by the advancing Númenóreans the Mírdain's proximity was considered the lesser of two evils. Sauron might even have considered the Proto-Dunlendings' presence in the neighborhood of the Noldor to be potentially useful, and he may have looked for them not to move from where he wanted them to be.

Under given circumstances, he found a fertile soil from which to recruit guerrilla forces. "The exiled natives welcomed Sauron and hoped for his victory over the Men of the Sea. Sauron ... used these haters of Númenor as spies and guides for his raiders." And they "made much havoc on the fringe of the forests." But by the end of the 17^th century of the Second Age, Sauron had forged the One Ring and completed Barad-dûr, his immeasurable fortress: now the worst times for the pre-Númenóreans set in. For he felt strong enough now to attempt assailing all of Eriador at once and driving Númenóreans and Lindon Elves into the Sea. During the following War of the Elves and Sauron, "he ravaged the lands, slaying or drawing off all the small groups of Men." By S.A. 1700 he "had mastered all Eriador, save only besieged Imladris, and had reached the line of the River Lhûn." Likely it was then that he first established, or won over, communities of evil Men in north-eastern Eriador whose descendants would later ally with the witch-realm of Angmar.

Eventually, a Númenórean fleet arrived at the port of Vinyalondë, catching Sauron's advance troops in the rear and utterly defeating them. It was reported that during this time the felling of trees for supply turned more devastating than ever (GC), and shortly after "Eriador was cleared of the enemy, but lay largely in ruins." By then, "most of the old forests had been destroyed." (GC) The Proto-Dunlendings presumably had for some part escaped from the massacres and had again crossed the Glanduin back to Dunland which now seemed safer than wrecked Eregion. But the main burden of Sauron's eradication campaign the Northmen of Eriador had had to carry, and they mostly vanished from recorded history: at the beginning of the Third Age their lands still were reported as "empty" (LP). Only the Proto-Dunlendish enclave of Bree-country which had remained distinct, though it had assimilated much from the cultural exchange with the adjacent Northmen, seems to have survived by lucky chance, but it never recovered to its former size.

Soon after, the King's Men, those Númenóreans who had turned away from Valar and Elves, pressed into Middle-earth with increasing lust for power. They "now made settlements on the west-shores, but these became rather strongholds and 'factories' of lords seeking wealth, and the Númenóreans became tax-gatherers carrying off over the sea ever more and more goods in their great ships." (Letters, no. 131) Especially King Tar-Calmacil (d. S.A. 2899) earned a bad reputation on that behalf, for "in his youth he was a great captain, and won wide lands along the coasts of Middle-earth" (LE), so that even Sauron withdrew once more into the East. The occupied areas were turned by the King's Men into dominions: till the end of the Second Age the "scattered communities without central leadership" had been replaced by numerous vassal states and vice-kingdoms, some led by Númenórean overlords, others by local princelings of Númenor's grace, such as one self-proclaimed "King of the Mountains" who resided in the western Ered Nimrais and, with his people, served and feared the Dark Lord. Probably much to the dismay of the still loyal "Númenórean settlers about the Mouths of Anduin [who] 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)

It seems that Sauron took advantage of the worsening situation of Middle-earth by "donating" the Nine Rings to selected overlords of the dominions: for three of them "were great lords of Númenórean race," it was said (AK), certainly including the later Nazgûl-lord and Khamûl, the Shadow of the East; the other Nazgûl probably originated in the indigenous population. Finally, in the time of Ar-Pharazôn, Sauron began "to assail the havens and forts of the Númenóreans, and invaded the coastlands under their dominion." (HA) But when Ar-Pharazôn landed and took Sauron into (supposed) captivity, the situation of the pre-Númenóreans improved for a while. Before Númenor foundered, "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]." (S) Fearing the far-ranging power of Lindon, the King's Men, sent by Sauron to colonize and carry tribute and victims for human sacrifice, left the pre-Númenóreans alone, concentrating on the far-away coasts of Harad. However, the Elves will not have bothered much about them, and the pre-Númenóreans will have continued to dwell alone in their petty communities, superstitiously fearing any alien power, whether coming from the West or the East.

But in the Cataclysm of S.A. 3319, when Númenor was destroyed, also the Númenórean dominions were almost completely eradicated, causing countless casualties. Also, the pre-Númenóreans suffered terrible losses. "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 far inland: in and around the White and the Misty Mountains, in Eregion and Dunland, from where they slowly repopulated Enedwaith and Minhiriath—and in Bree-country and beyond.

When the Faithful, the Exiles of Númenor, arrived and established themselves in Middle-earth, again "many Men turned ... from evil and became subject to the heirs of Elendil." (RP) Yet with regard to past events, most pre-Númenóreans still had few reasons to love the Dúnedain, particularly as they had stayed unaware of the latter's inner disputes and had never learned to distinguish between the King's Men and the Faithful. Thus "yet many more remembered Sauron in their hearts and hated the kingdoms of the West," (RP) and other pre-Númenóreans still who did not quite go that far yet stayed in tormenting fear of the Dark Lord. The current King of the Mountains, apparently the last remaining one of the local dominion regents, 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.

The Gwathuirim (or, later more commonly, the Dunlendings) as well had become subject to the crown of Gondor, though more by decree than by conviction, and presumably during the War of the Last Alliance, many were pressed into auxiliary cohorts.

The Third Age
It seems that the two Realms-in-Exile followed quite distinct minority policies. The people who in the later half of the Second Age "had passed into the empty lands" in the North "had become subjects of the North Kingdom of Arnor and had taken up the Westron tongue." (LP) This concerned, among others, the Bree-folk, surviving and immigrating pre-Númenóreans—and Númenóreans—from the ancient dominions, perhaps some remnants of the Northmen, and eventually the Hobbits: "When they entered Eriador (early in the second [millennium] of the Third Age) 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) Aside from the latter, these "Númenorized" minorities turned into trustworthy auxiliaries to the throne of Annúminas: even the Hobbits felt ready to send troops on request (FR).

The others, however, had not forgotten the tensions of old. They joined ranks with Angmar, where there "were gathered many evil men." (KR) Especially the easternmost province and later sub-kingdom of Rhudaur was exposed to severe pressure by "Hillmen of the North," a mysterious population which now for the first time entered the chronicles of the West. They were no doubt descending from the "remnants of Men of evil kinds," but aside from this, little is known about them. It cannot be deduced whether they were Northmannish survivors from the Weather Hills, finally fallen under the dominion of the Shadow, pre-Númenóreans—even Easterlings—or maybe a remnant of the Forodwaith which may have dwelt in the foothills of the northernmost Misty Mountains. Despite being "remnants," they seem to have been quite numerous still, and slowly they pushed back the Dúnedain of Rhudaur whose number had never been large. Some sources state that from the 14^th century on, they "build dark forts in the hills" (HE) and that they were "much given to sorcery" (YT). In the end, "power [was] seized by an evil lord of the Hillmen, who was in secret league with Angmar." Thus, after the fatal year of T.A. 1409, "Rhudaur was occupied by evil Men subject to Angmar, and the Dúnedain that remained there were slain or fled west." (KR) Probably at this time, allied Trolls appeared in eastern Rhudaur, advancing into the regions which later were known as the Trollshaws.

"But all [Hillmen] were destroyed in the war that brought the North Kingdom to its end." (FR) The losses were tremendous on both sides, and Eriador, which had never really recovered from Sauron's genocidal campaign of the mid-Second Age, fell once more into desolation. Its sparse population growth was finally irrevocably broken by the Great Plague of T.A. 1636 from which all the remaining settled areas suffered almost fatal blows. "Minhiriath had been almost entirely deserted, though a few secretive hunter-folk lived in the woods [of Eryn Vorn, etc.]" (RK), "a fairly numerous but barbarous fisher-folk dwelt between the mouths of the Gwathló and the Angren [Isen]" (GC), said by some to be "akin in race and speech to the Drúedain of the woods of Anórien" (FI), and "in Enedwaith the remnants of the Dunlendings [still] lived in the east, in the foothills of the Misty Mountains." (FI) But even northern Dunland had now fallen deserted (RK), and the Stoors, finding their abode increasingly untendable, finally had headed for the Shire. The Dunlendings alone had "suffered ... less than most, since they dwelt apart and had few dealings with other men." (LP) North of them, though, only a few Dwarves were later found, notably Thrór (KR).

Thus, the history of the pre-Númenóreans in the North had almost 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) From the south, never were attempts made to settle it. It must be understood that Gondor's eyes had always been turned East and South, never northwards; and the surviving Dunlendings were both not numerous enough and too superstitious to immigrate in large numbers into the vast, now desolate regions. After Arnor had fallen into oblivion the city of Tharbad (where once a large population of pre-Númenóreans may have dwelt in the suburbs) turned into the Ultima Thule of its age: beyond, it seemed, there lay an almost mythical country, full of strange, otherworldly creatures, such as Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and probably worse. And then after a long and dreadful winter Tharbad was inundated and fell into ruin, and its Bridge was no more. Now the river Greyflood formed not only an effective psychological barrier but a physical one as well. Only those few who had no other hope established fragile trade connections to Bree-country and beyond. Among them was "an outlaw driven from Dunland, where many said that he had Orc-blood." Like others, he repeatedly was found traveling from Dunland to "the Shire, where he had been negotiating for the purchase of 'leaf' and other supplies." (HR)

The southern kingdom had taken a completely different stance. While Arnor was mainly looking for inner stability, Gondor followed an expansionistic policy and likewise maintained a more restrictive attitude against its minorities. Isildur's curse against the King of the Mountains may have been only the most prominent of several such incidents, and it was probably traditioned for a long time among the indigenous population. In the 8^th century of the Third Age, 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 many pre-Númenóreans were subdued, never to regain political independence.

On a private level, much intercourse between Dúnedain and the occupied Gondorian minorities was established. Mixed marriages became frequent, and slowly "the blood of the Númenóreans became much mingled with that of other men, and their power and wisdom was diminished." (RP) This concerned chiefly the pre-Númenóreans in and around the White Mountains, except the later Dead Men of Dunharrow and the isolated Drúedain. Gondor's easternmost provinces, meanwhile, mingled with the Free Men of the North (i.e., Rhovanion), who had been "spreading southwards: mostly east of the Greenwood, though some were establishing themselves in the eaves of the forest and the grasslands of the Vales of Anduin," where "they had been mingled with men of broader and heavier build" (GC), causing among them an average loss of physical height.

In the Third Age, these Northmen had turned into "a numerous and powerful confederation of peoples living in the wide plains between Mirkwood and the River Running, great breeders of horses and riders renowned for their skill and endurance, though their settled homes were in the eaves of the forest ... and [they] contributed much of their blood to the people of Gondor." (CE) They, by now separated into various tribes such as the Woodmen, the Dale Men, and the early Eótheód, formed a veritable "bulwark of Gondor, keeping its northern and eastern frontier from invasion; though that was not fully realised by the Kings until the bulwark was weakened and at last destroyed." (CE)

But the most sturdy of the Gondorian minorities proved to be the small nation of the Dunlendings. Enedwaith was "shared by the North and South Kingdoms, but was never settled by Númenóreans 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) Indeed: despite a full 2000 years of political domination by the Dúnedain, the Dunlendings remained in spirit as independent as their relatives of Bree-country. Evidently, they maintained some kind of autonomy within the confines of Gondor's influence. Their recall of lost sovereignty never ceased, and while their northern kinsmen were quickly "Númenorized" and merged into the Arnorian culture, the Dunlendings throughout the age-long occupation "did ... hold to their old speech and manners: a secret folk, unfriendly to the Dúnedain" (LP). This old speech was a late descendant of the original language which the Folk of Haleth had spoken, alien to the speeches of the other Edain, and otherwise forgotten. (DM)

With regard to their sufferings throughout the Second Age, which certainly were passed on as unforgettable traditions (though the original reasons for the resentments no doubt were long forgotten), it should not come as a surprise that they "had little love for Gondor" (LP). But "though hardy and bold enough [they] were too few and too much in awe of the might of the Kings to trouble them" (LP), and the Kings generally ignored them. Yet contrary to popular belief, they did not display any more significant vulnerability against the Shadow than they had done in the late Second Age when need had seemed the most urgent. All throughout the Third Age, they never again would join sides with Sauron, save for one single occurrence: they rejected business with Orcs and recordedly expelled those from their society who were found to have dealings with them (HR), they did not even collaborate with Sauron's Easterling worshippers who posed a constant threat to the Peoples of the West, though occasionally they took advantage of these conflicts when available. Where there were no such animosities kept in tradition, however, the Dunlendings seem to have remained quite a hospitable nation, though secretive and self-sufficient (a natural and understandable property, shared by many other non-Númenórean ethnic groups). For example, the early Stoor branch of the Hobbits lived as unharmed near them "at the borders of Dunland" (FT), or even among them, as they later lived in Bree-country. Cultural exchange was evidently frequent, and from that, the Stoors "appear to have adopted a language related to Dunlendish before they came north to the Shire." (LP)

By their stealthy and untroubling way of life, however, the Dunlendings increasingly faded out of Gondor's east- and south-oriented attention, 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) Slowly, with Eriador being inaccessible, and West and South inhabited by that more than dubious "barbarous fisher-folk," they began to expand into the only direction possible: eastwards, into the Gondorian province of Calenardhon, later known as Rohan. "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)

It must be considered a tragic consequence of the notorious Gondorian ignorance of Dunlendish positions that, after the Battle of the Camp (T.A. 1944), it was Calenardhon which was passed on by decree to the Eótheód or Rohirrim, migrating south from their territories north of Greenwood. To the Dunlendish herdsmen, these strange horse-breeders originally must have appeared simply as competitors for the pastures of Calenardhon, which was more fertile and prosperous than their own hilly regions. But the situation escalated beyond the point of no return when the Kings of the Rohirrim decided to rid themselves of local minorities their own way:

"Under Brego and Aldor the Dunlendings were rooted out again and driven away beyond the Isen, and the Fords of Isen were guarded." What was worse, Aldor "even raided their lands in Enedwaith by way of reprisal." (FI) This brutal ethnic cleansing the Dunlendings, the "wild hillmen and herd-folk," as the Rohirrim called them (TT), never forgot. In times of peace there was yet much traffic with the western-march of Rohan. Even Freca, father of the usurper Wulf and counselor of Helm Hammerhand, "had, men said, much Dunlendish blood, and was dark-haired" (KR) in contrast to the often blond Men of the North. But against the distant court of Edoras, ever since Aldor's pogrom the Dunlendings maintained a hatred so strong that "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)

Such statements meant of course to project the responsibility away from themselves and onto the distant throne of Minas Tirith. Neutral historians record, though, that it was clearly the massacre in the western-march and Enedwaith by which "the Rohirrim earned the hatred of the Dunlendings, which was not appeased until the return of the King, then far off in the future." (FI) At that time, however, Gondor considered the unsolved Dunlendish question a matter of Rohan's interior politics. This was an unfortunate position, for had it put its weight into arranging a political solution in time, the wizard Saruman could not have exploited the brooding conflict, almost to the ruin of both Rohan and Gondor. But "the enmity of the 'wild' Dunlendings seemed of small account to the Stewards. In the reign of King Déor (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. ... As was later known, the Dunlendings, having been admitted as friends, had 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) The reason for Egalmoth's denial was "renewed war with the Orcs." (HE)

Then, in the year T.A. 2758, "Rohan was again invaded from the East, and 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) This was, as mentioned before, the only recorded incident in which the Dunlendings actually found themselves side by side with servants of Sauron. Wulf, no pure Dunlending but a renegade of mostly Rohirric origin and in the west-march held in high esteem, had successfully negotiated with the Corsairs of Umbar who, stirred by Sauron, at the same time were raiding the coasts around the Bay of Belfalas and beyond. Genuinely turning away the immediate peril of plunder from his own properties at the river Adorn, for once he managed that the Dunlendings "were joined by enemies of Gondor that had landed in the mouths of Lefnui and Isen." (KR)

Gondor was again asked for help, but due to the raids of as much as three Corsair fleets at its own coasts, once more she could not send any. Thus, the Dunlendings kept Edoras and Isengard occupied until "reduced by the great famine after the Long Winter (2758-9) they were starved out and capitulated to Fréalaf." (FI) "Before the year [2759] was ended the Dunlendings were driven out, even from Isengard" (KR), which was passed on to Saruman's control. And, due to the renewal of the old hostilities, "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 found in the west-march. But their stay lasted only while Edoras was kept busy by Orc-bands which, escaping from the grip of the Long Winter, tried to invade the White Mountains. Almost as soon as these had been eliminated with Gondor's help, another pogrom was raised by Folcwine (2830-2903) and "he reconquered the west-march ... that Dunlendings had occupied." (KR)

Political decisions of course cannot override social realities, however: "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 program. The Dunlendings were ensnared by his cunning strategies, and finally found themselves side by side with the wizard's evil legions at Helm's Deep. But the awakening from Saruman's spells was terrible. Then, ultimately, the Dunlendish chieftains turned out to be able to recognize their own folly. To this sudden terror as well as to King Elessar's diplomacy may be attributed that in the Fourth Age the already closely related neighbors this side and that of the river Isen could be reconciled. "In Eómer's day in the Mark men had peace who wished for it." (KR)

Abbreviations
AE: "Aldarion and Erendis" in: Unfinished Tales, 1980.
AK: "Akallabêth" in: The Silmarillion, 1977.
CE: "Cirion and Eorl" in: Unfinished Tales, 1980.
DM: "Of Dwarves and Men," in: The Peoples of Middle-earth, 1996.
DN: "A Description of Númenor" in: Unfinished Tales, 1980.
FI: "The Battles at the Fords of Isen" in: Unfinished Tales, 1980.
FR: The Fellowship of the Ring, 1965.
GC: "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn" in: Unfinished Tales, 1980.
HA: "The History of the Akallabêth," in: The Peoples of Middle-earth, 1996.
HE "The Heirs of Elendil," in: The Peoples of Middle-earth, 1996.
HR: "The Hunt for the Ring" in: Unfinished Tales, 1980.
KR: "Annals of the Kings and Rulers," Appendix A in: The Return of the King, 1965.
LE: "The Line of Elros" in: Unfinished Tales, 1980.
Letters: The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1981.
LP: "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age," Appendix B in: The Return of the King, 1965.
RP: "Of the Rings of Power" in: The Silmarillion, 1977.
RK: The Return of the King, 1965.
S: The Silmarillion, 1977.
S.A.: Second Age.
T.A.: Third Age.
TD: "The Drúedain" in: Unfinished Tales, 1980.
TT: The Two Towers, 1965.
YS: "The Tale of Years of the Second Age," in: The Peoples of Middle-earth, 1996.
YT: "The Tale of Years of the Third Age," in: The Peoples of Middle-earth, 1996.