Have Island, Will Rebel - Page 2
© Michael Martinez
For more than 50 years the vast majority of the Dunedain were separated from their rightful lords. Tuor was never raised among his people, although he spent three years as a slave among them after he had been captured. When Tuor finally left Hithlum, never to return, Turin was already a man set upon his doomed path. Tuor's deeds as an outlaw after his escape from slavery must have become legendary, for the Easterlings set a high price on his head.
So, at least two generations of Edain were raised in slavery after Tuor's departure. A lot can happen in the course of two generations. The slaves would develop leaders who would become important to them in some fashion. And from these leaders would have emerged their first commanders when they finally joined the Host of Valinor in the War of Wrath. Presumably Elrond and Elros also joined the army of Valinor, for how else could Elrond have recalled the Breaking of Thangorodrim? And why would Elros have been able to contemplate a kingship over the Edain?
The War of Wrath lasted for 42 years, and for another 35 years Elros prepared his people for eventual departure over Sea. Somewhere in those years the Edain of Beleriand became the Dunedain, and their leaders must have gathered about them various factions of people. Elros undoubtedly must have gathered his own following, people who had come to admire him and to serve him willingly. These would have included his captains and their families, and his chief warriors. Perhaps the bravest of the Dunadan warriors were all led by Elros by the end of the war.
The Edain of Dor-lomin consisted of Marachians and Beorians. The Marachians were the most numerous people, and the Beorians were the second most numerous folk. The Folk of Haleth had become scattered after the last of their rightful chieftains, Manthor, died. "The Wanderings of Hurin" says that "lesser men ruled in Brethil in the time that was left", but we also learn there that many of the Folk of Haleth chose to go with Hurin and his outlaws. The "Narn i Chin Hurin" tells us that other members of the Folk of Brethil had gradually spread southward from the forest.
In time there must have been small communities of Edain living scattered throughout Beleriand. And their leaders would have become at least some of the chieftains who led the Edain to Numenor with Elros. Elros led from five to ten thousand Edain in the first wave of colonization, but many thousands of other Edain came later. Most of these were probably absorbed into the population of Arandor, but one can well imagine the Beorians and Folk of Haleth moving westward to seek out the highlands and forests which would have been most like their older homes in Beleriand.
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