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How did Tolkien actually portray the Rohirrim? - Page 6

© Michael Martinez

The Eriadorian Edain flourished until the War of the Elves and Sauron. By then the Numenoreans and the Gwathuirim were enemies but the Numenoreans were still friendly with the Bëorians and Marachians who lived in the more northern lands. Sauron destroyed most of Eriador and slew or drove off many of its people. Tolkien is not clear on who survived, although obviously the Men of Bree were incporporated into Arnor at the end of the Second Age. It is entirely possible that some of the Bëorians survived the war to eventually become merged into Arnor's people as well. The Edain of Wilderland formed an alliance with the Dwarves of Durin's Folk (the Longbeards) early in the Second Age as Orcs and other evil creatures settled in the mountains and began to trouble the Dwarves and Men. This alliance benefitted both races considerably, and the greatest military contribution of the Men consisted of companies of mounted archers. Their cavalry forces were thus quite different from the forces of the Eotheod and Rohirrim of the Third Age. The great alliance between Dwarves and Men was destroyed by Sauron in the War of the Elves and Sauron. The villages and towns of the Edain were destroyed and the survivors fled deep into the Greenwood or to the northern mountains for refuge. Whether they were one tribe or many, all that had composed their culture was lost and forgotten. Many centuries later, near the end of the Second Age and early in the Third Age, the Elves of Greenwood reported (presumably to the scholars of Arnor and Gondor) that the "Free Men of the North" were beginning to migrate south along the eastern eaves of the forest. In time the Men of the mountains also settled in the Vales of Anduin. The Men of the Vales of Anduin were eventually joined by Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides (the Hobbits), who migrated from the east and with these Edainic men formed a symbiotic culture much like the later Breeland, until the Shadow arose in the forest and it was renamed Mirkwood. Thereafter the Hobbits began migrating into Eriador and the Men of the Vales of Anduin became diminished as Easterlings invaded the lands under the influence of Dol Guldur. Eastern Edainic peoples settled the northeastern parts of Mirkwood and moved south to colonize the lands around Erebor and along the Celduin. One or more groups moved further south to the lands between Mirkwood and Celduin and the lands beyond. The kingdom of Rhovanion rose in the area between Mirkwood and Celduin, and its first named ruler was Vidugavia, who allied himself with Gondor.

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