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By This Sword, I Rule! - Page 3

© Michael Martinez

The real barbarians in Tolkien's stories are usually referred to summarily, or stand off-stage. These are the Easterlings, members of nameless tribes with unstipulated customs. Now, some people might be quick to point out that the Northmen are barbarians, too. Well, yes and no. What is a barbarian? In the classical sense, a barbarian was an outsider. Kull and Conan were both outsiders in the cultures they came to govern. The fact they wore funny clothes, spoke strangely, and could kill five times as many men as the next guy were only the trappings of their barbarism. At the core of their nature, they were both at odds with the way civilized people behaved. Tolkien's Northmen were not only comfortable with the Dunedain, they intermarried with them freely, and even helped set matters straight in Gondor (more than once). And they had their own cities, such as Lake-town, Dale, Edoras, and Aldburg. Some people even argue that Framsburg must have been a city, since it was large enough or memorable enough to warrant both a name and a mark on the map. But the Easterlings represent barbarism as the Biblical writers perceived it. They used the Greek word "barbarian" to denote people who did not speak Greek. The Easterlings do not speak Sindarin, the language of sophisticated culture, nor Westron, the language of Dunadan imperial prestige. There may be Easterlings who know enough Westron to communicate in it, but they are Easterlings and it is Westron, the language of the West. Easterlings are so foreign, that it seems only two of their words were preserved in the histories: variag and khand. In the ancient world, language was a powerful tool of the state. Citizens could be separated from foreigners quickly based on who spoke what language. And language was also used to establish sacred power, and to record the traditions of the local cultures. A people who did not write were unsophisticated. A people who spoke or even wrote a foreign language were outsiders, not as important as those who spoke the true mother tongue. When Rome imposed its rule across the Mediterranean world, Latin became an important language, although Greek ultimately prevailed in the east. Tolkien also uses language to separate the locals from the foreigners. The Noldor, who fall into savagry and decadence, become outlaws and foreigners in their exile. In order to live among the Sindar, they are forced to adopt the language of the Sindar. The loss of their mother tongue is a mark of their shame, and in fact a sign of the supremacy of the Sindar in Beleriand. The Noldor built most of the cities of stone, and all the great fortresses outside of Doriath, but they were still foreigners, and not all of the Sindar appreciated them.

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