Seeking the Wayward Children of Numenor - Page 4
© Michael Martinez
There were many different kinds of Men in Eriador in the Second Age. There were Edainic peoples mostly of Beorian descent (but also some Marachians). There were Gwathuirim, who were related to the Folk of Haleth in Beleriand and thus to the Numenoreans. There were in the far northern lands Men related to the Folk of Bor, the swarthy men who had settled in Lothlann in the late Second Age and allied themselves with Maedhros. And there were "evil Men", living in the eastern lands, presumably the ancestors of the hill-folk of Rhudaur and the Men of Angmar in the Third Age who served the Lord of the Nazgul.
There were at least two kinds of Men living along the Anfalas and in the Ered Nimrais, not including the Druedain. Some of these men were Gwathuirim, the ancestors of the Dead Men of Dunharrow and many of Gondor's people in the Third Age. These Gwathuirim inhabited the mountains or the lands adjacent to them and are occasionally referred to as the "wild men of the dales". The other men are an unnamed group who lived along the coasts. They appear to be swarthy (dark-skinned) and very unlike the Numenoreans in appearance.
Perhaps because of the proximity of the Elves and Mordor there weren't many men living in the lands near Pelargir. Many of the Gwathuirim worshiped and served Sauron, and that would give the Numenoreans reason not only to fight them but to take their lands. They would have retreated to the higher dales. The men of the coasts either submitted to Numenor or withdrew farther west and south. That left the lands of Belfalas and Lebennin open to colonization.
A natural consequence of the tendency of the Faithful to settle in or near Pelargir would also be a division of the Faithful Numenoreans into an "old blood" group and a "new blood" group. That is, the majority of the families in the northern lands were probably descended from early colonists. The majority of the families in the south were probably constantly infused with new bloodlines emigrating from Numenor.
Despite the animosity of the Gwathuirim, the northern Dunedain seem to have become better adjusted to living in and among many different peoples. They didn't drive other Men out of their lands, and probably due to the influence of Gil-galad's kingdom enjoyed greater peace and security. The southern Dunedain lived with the threat of war from both the mountains and Mordor.
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