See also
- Easterlings for Men of the East in later Ages
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Easterlings of the First Age were Men who lived in the east of Middle-earth, and mostly fought under Morgoth. They are different from the Easterlings of later Ages.
Their first appearance was towards the end of the First Age, when in Y.S. 463 some tribes of the Swarthy Men entered Beleriand from Eriador, passing north about the Blue Mountains:
They were short and broad, long and strong in the arm, and grew much hair on face and breast; their locks were dark as were their eyes, and their skins were sallow or swart. But they were not all of one kind, in looks or in temper, or in tongue. Some were not uncomely and were fair to deal with; some were grim and ill-favoured and of little trust. Their houses were many, and there was little love among them. [1]
The prime reason for their migrating was the rumour of the wealth and peace of Beleriand as it was during the Siege of Angband, but many Easterlings have journeyed on behalf of Morgoth the Dark Lord, for he had secretly corrupted some tribes and chieftains to his service. The Dwarves of the Blue Mountains had reported to the Elven-lord Maedhros of the coming of Easterlings. Maedhros then decided to make alliance with them in hope of overthrowing Morgoth, and gave them wide lands in Lothlann and in East Beleriand to the south of the March of Maedhros. The most powerful of their chieftains with the greatest followings and authority were Bór and Ulfang; their men were marshalled and trained for war by the Sons of Fëanor, and more of their kinsfolk from Eriador were summoned.
The kinsfolk of the people of Bór that remained in Eriador are said to be the ancestors of the Forodwaith and Lossoth of the Second and Third Ages. [1] The sons of Bór were Borlach, Borlad and Borthand, and his people swore allegiance to Maedhros and his brother Maglor. They remained faithful, and "cheated the hope of Morgoth." During the Nírnaeth Arnoediad they fought on the side of the Eldar and Edain, and after the treachery of Ulfang, the sons of Bór slew Ulfast and Ulwarth, but were themselves wiped out together with all of their folk.
Ulfang, called also the Black or the Swart, was the father of Ulfast, Ulwarth, and Uldor the Accursed. Ulfang was also welcomed by the Sons of Fëanor, and his people swore allegiance to Caranthir. Ulfang and his sons were deeper in the secret allegiance with Morgoth, and betrayed the Eldar and Edain during the Nírnaeth Arnoediad in what was later known as the Treachery of Men.
Before the beginning of the battle Uldor, the leader in treason, deceived Maedhros with false warning of assault from Angband and hindered his setting forth. When the battle was at last joined, a part of the people of Ulfang fled in fear, but the majority, together with their kin that recently came in secret, suddenly went over to Morgoth. In the resulting confusion the host of Maedhros was broken and scattered, though Maglor slew Uldor and the sons of Bór slew Ulwarth and Ulfast. (Ulfang died two years before the battle - see Dates .)
However, Ulfang's Easterlings were also betrayed by their lord Morgoth, who had promised them vast lands in Beleriand, but now he commanded them to settle in the cold land of Hithlum and forbade them to leave it. There they plundered and harassed the remnant of the House of Hador, mostly old, women and children; those able to work they enslaved, others they drove out to starve. And many married women of the Folk of Hador by force, because there were few women in their following and "none to compare with the daughters of the Edain". [2] The Easterlings called the Folk of Hador Strawheads , and were met with such names as Incomers or Wolf-folk. [2]
Each of the chieftains of Easterlings in Hithlum claimed to be their overlord; the most powerful were:
The Easterlings usurped Hithlum for nearly a century, until the War of Wrath, when they and those newly come from the East fought for Morgoth against the Host of the Valar and were defeated. Those that survived fled back over the Ered Luin to Eriador and beyond.
The term Easterlings also appears in a passing form Eastrons in some of Tolkien's writings, [4] and is the translation of Quenya Rómenildi 'East-Men'. [5]
In early works Tolkien stated that the names of the prominent Easterlings were given to them by the Elves, and are thus from Sindarin language. The meanings proposed for the names as they were then are: Bór 'faithful vassal', Borthandos 'faithful intelligent (one)', Borlas 'faithful joy', Boromir 'faithful jewel'; Ulfang 'hideous beard', Uldor 'hideous ruler', Ulfast 'hideous shaggy hair' and Ulwarth 'hideous betrayer'. [6] Later, however, Tolkien changed both the names and conception, assuming that all the names of the Easterlings are uninterpretable in languages of Eldar or Edain (this was true of Brodda even in early texts). [7]
The sons of Bór and Ulfang, and Bór himself, were all slain in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad of Y.S. 472 of the First Age. Their birthdates are given in a single work of J. R. R. Tolkien [8] and form a part of an early stage of the legendarium, but can possibly be updated to fit the later versions of the history: Ulfang 400-470, Uldor b. 425, Ulfast 428, Ulwarth 430; Bór b. 420, Borlad 443, Borlach 445, Borthand 447.
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In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the First Age, or First Age of the Children of Ilúvatar is the heroic period in which most of Tolkien's early legends are set. Versions of these stories were later published in The Silmarillion, and tales from this period lend a deep sense of time and history to the later period in which the action of The Lord of the Rings takes place.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work The Silmarillion, which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-earth in a style similar to the epic hero tales of Nordic literature. Beleriand also appears in the works The Book of Lost Tales, The Children of Húrin, and in the epic poems of The Lays of Beleriand.
Elu Thingol is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in The Silmarillion, The Lays of Beleriand and Children of Húrin as well as in numerous stories in the many volumes of The History of Middle-earth. He is notably a major character in many of the stories about the First Age of Tolkien's Middle-earth and he is an essential part of the ancestral backgrounding of the romance between Aragorn and Arwen in The Lord of the Rings.
The Dagor Bragollach was the fourth battle of the Wars of Beleriand in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth. It was the great turning point in the War of the Jewels.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium of Middle-earth, the (Dagor) Nírnaeth Arnoediad or (Battle of) Unnumbered Tears was the climactic Fifth Battle in the Wars of Beleriand.
Maedhros is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. First introduced in The Silmarillion and later mentioned in Unfinished Tales and The Children of Húrin, he is one of the most enduring characters in The Silmarillion, and has been the subject of paintings by artists such as Jenny Dolfen and Alan Lee.
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, "Easterling" and "Easterlings" were generic terms for Men who lived in Rhûn, the vast eastern region of Middle-earth. Many fought under Morgoth and his successor Sauron, the Dark Lords of Middle-earth.
Túrin Turambar is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. "Turambar and the Foalókë", begun in 1917, is the first appearance of Túrin in the legendarium. J.R.R. Tolkien consciously based the story on the medieval tale of Kullervo in the Finnish mythological poem Kalevala, saying that it was "an attempt to reorganize...the tale of Kullervo the hapless, into a form of my own". Also called "The Tale of Grief", "Narn i Chîn Húrin", commonly called "The Narn", it tells of the tragic fates of the children of Húrin, namely his son Túrin (Turambar) and his daughter Nienor. Excerpts of the story were published before, in The Silmarillion (prose), Unfinished Tales (prose), The Book of Lost Tales Part II (prose), The Lays of Beleriand and most recently in 1994 in The War of the Jewels (prose), the latter three part of The History of Middle-earth series.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Maglor is a fictional character, the second son of Fëanor and Nerdanel. Born in the Years of the Trees, his final fate is unknown. He was one of the greatest poets and bards of the Elves and was said to have inherited more of his mother's gentler temperament.
Tuor is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is the grandfather of Elrond Half-elven and one of the most renowned ancestors of the Men of Númenor and of the King of the Reunited Kingdom Aragorn Elessar. Along with Beren Erchamion and Aragorn, Tuor was one of only three Men ever to marry one of the Eldarin Elves.
Húrin is a fictional character in the Middle-earth legendarium of J. R. R. Tolkien. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as a hero of Men during the First Age, said to be the greatest warrior of both the Edain and all the other Men in Middle-earth. Húrin Thalion was the elder son of Galdor the Tall of the House of Hador and Hareth of the Haladin, and he had a younger brother named Huor.
Huor is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was introduced in The Silmarillion as a hero of Men during the First Age. Huor was a grandson of Hador of the Third House of Edain, and lived in the Hadorian fief of Dor-lómin in Hithlum. His father was Galdor the Tall and his mother Hareth of the Haladin, and he had an older brother Húrin. Both brothers were fair of face and golden-haired, but while Húrin was shorter than his kin, Huor was "the tallest of all the Edain save his son Tuor only, and a swift runner. ... There was great love between the brothers, and they were seldom apart in their youth."
Niënor, also known as Níniel, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, appearing in the Narn i Chîn Húrin told in full in The Children of Húrin and briefly in The Silmarillion. Early versions of the story are Turambar and the Foalókë and The Lay of the Children of Húrin.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Rían was a woman of the First House of the Edain in the First Age. She was the daughter of Belegund of the House of Bëor and cousin of Morwen Edhelwen. Her son was Tuor Eladar and her great-grandson Elrond Half-elven.
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the House of Haleth or the Haladin were the family of Men that ruled over the second of the Three Houses of the Edain. They were the descendants of Haldad, but the house and the people were named after Haldad's daughter Haleth, who led them from East Beleriand to Brethil.
Morwen is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. She is featured in The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin and The Wanderings of Húrin.
Aerin is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. She was a woman of the Folk of Hador and related to Húrin Thalion. Her father was one Indor, not otherwise mentioned.
J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium contains many locations. Some of the minor places in the region of Beleriand during the First Age are described below. It is to be supposed that all of them were destroyed in the Drowning of Beleriand during the War of Wrath unless otherwise noted.
Sador is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He was the serving-man of Húrin of Dor-lómin and a friend of his son Túrin Turambar.
