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133-762: Rohan is a fictional kingdom of Men in J. R. R. Tolkien 's fantasy setting of Middle-earth . Known for its horsemen, the Rohirrim , Rohan provides its ally Gondor with cavalry . Its territory is mainly grassland . The Rohirrim call their land the Mark or the Riddermark, names recalling that of the historical kingdom of Mercia , the region of Western England where Tolkien lived. Tolkien grounded Rohan in elements inspired by Anglo-Saxon tradition, poetry, and linguistics, specifically in its Mercian dialect , in everything but its use of horses. Tolkien used Old English for

266-641: A "great fief". Prince Imrahil's castle is by the sea; Tolkien described him as "of high blood, and his folk also, tall men and proud with sea-grey eyes". Local tradition claimed that the line's forefather, Imrazôr the Númenórean had married an Elf, though the line remained mortal. The first people in the region were the Drúedain , a hunter-gatherer group of Men who arrive in the First Age . They were pushed aside by later settlers and came to live in

399-494: A branch of the lineage of Men. Hobbits were not known to the Ents, but on meeting Merry and Pippin , Treebeard at once worked that people into the list. The concept of the free peoples is shared by Elrond . The Tolkien scholar Paul H. Kocher writes that, in the style of the medieval Great Chain of Being , this list places Men and the other speaking peoples higher than the beasts, birds, and reptiles which he lists next. "Man

532-624: A clumsy conventional sign for chainmail of small rings. The armies of Rohan were largely horsemen. The basic tactical unit was the éored , Old English for "a unit of cavalry, a troop", which at the time of the War of the Ring had a nominal strength of 120 riders. In time of war, every able man was obliged to join the Muster of Rohan. Rohan was bound by the Oath of Éorl to help Gondor in times of peril, and

665-469: A culture based on horses. They use many Old English words related to horses; their name for themselves is Éotheod , horse-people, and the names of riders like Éomund, Éomer, and Éowyn begin with the word for "horse", eo[h] . In Shippey's view, a defining virtue of the Riders is panache , which he explains means both "the white horsetail on [Éomer's] helm floating in his speed" and "the virtue of sudden onset,

798-595: A futile attempt to reach the shore to search for her, and drowned in the bay. Mithrellas, a Silvan Elf and one of the companions of Nimrodel, is said to have become the foremother of the line of the Princes of Dol Amroth. According to an alternate account about the line of the Princes of Dol Amroth cited in Unfinished Tales , they were descendants of a family of the Faithful from Númenor who had ruled over

931-576: A large river-lake, Nen Hithoel. Its entrance was once the northern border of Gondor, and is marked by the Gates of Argonath, an enormous pair of kingly statues, as a warning to trespassers. At the southern end of the lake are the hills of Amon Hen (the Hill of Seeing) and Amon Lhaw (the Hill of Hearing) on the west and east shores; below Amon Hen is the lawn of Parth Galen, where the Fellowship disembarked and

1064-464: A line of foothills running back west from Minas Tirith towards Rohan. Dol Amroth (Sindarin: "the Hill of Amroth" ) was a fortress-city on a peninsula jutting westward into the Bay of Belfalas, on Gondor's southern shore. It is also the name of the port city, one of the five great cities of Gondor, and the seat of the principality of the same name, founded by prince Galador. The whimsical poem " The Man in

1197-524: A line that directly translates a line of Beowulf , "The light of it shines far over the land", representing líxte se léoma ofer landa fela . The hall is anachronistically described as having louvres to remove the smoke, derived from William Morris 's 1889 The House of the Wolfings . Upstream from Edoras, deeper into Harrowdale, are the hamlets of Upbourn and Underharrow. At the head of Dunharrow (from Old English Dûnhaerg , "the heathen fane on

1330-493: A major part in the defence of Minas Tirith ; the soldiers whom Imrahil led to Minas Tirith formed the largest contingent from the hinterland to the defence of the city. They marched under a banner "silver upon blue", bearing "a white ship like a swan upon blue water". Some like Finduilas are of Númenórean descent, and still speak the Elvish language. Tolkien wrote about the city's protective sea-walls and described Belfalas as

1463-477: A suffix frequent in names of lands [e.g. Beleriand , Ossiriand ]. ... Rohan is a famous name, from Brittany , borne by an ancient proud and powerful family . I was aware of this, and liked its shape; but I had also (long before) invented the Elvish horse-word, and saw how Rohan could be accommodated to the linguistic situation as a late Sindarin name of the Mark (previously called Calenarðon 'the (great) green region') after its occupation by horsemen. Nothing in

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1596-650: A synonym of the River Silverlode ), even further north, is added to Rohan after the War of the Ring . The Rohirrim are distantly related to the Dúnedain of Gondor , having descended from the same place. Unlike the inhabitants of Gondor, who are portrayed as enlightened and highly civilized, the Rohirrim are shown as being at a lower level of enlightenment. The names and many details of Rohirric culture are derived from Germanic cultures, particularly that of

1729-646: A war against the Númenórean kingdoms. He captured Minas Ithil, but Isildur escaped by ship to Arnor; meanwhile, Anárion was able to defend Osgiliath. Elendil and the Elven -king Gil-galad formed the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, and together with Isildur and Anárion, they besieged and defeated Mordor. Sauron was overthrown; but the One Ring that Isildur took from him was not destroyed, and thus Sauron continued to exist. Both Elendil and Anárion were killed in

1862-597: A world of Wizards and Elves, Dwarves, Rings of Power , Hobbits, Orcs, Trolls and Ringwraiths , and heroic Men with Elvish blood in their veins, and follow their history through long ages, provided that at the end he tore it all down again, leaving nothing, once again, but dim memories. By the end of The Lord of the Rings , the reader has learnt that the Elves have left for the Uttermost West, never to return, and that

1995-561: A year later. Soon after this Saruman took over Isengard, and was welcomed as an ally. Saruman used his influence through the traitor Grima Wormtongue to weaken Théoden . Saruman then launched an invasion of Rohan, with victory in early battles at the Fords of Isen, killing Théoden's son, Théodred. Saruman was defeated at the Battle of the Hornburg , where the tree-like Huorns came from

2128-512: Is "compulsively truculent", Faramir is courteous, urbane, civilised: the people of Gondor are self-assured, and their culture is higher than that of Rohan. The same is seen, Shippey argues, in the comparison between the mead hall of Meduseld in Rohan, and the great hall of Minas Tirith in Gondor. Meduseld is simple, but brought to life by tapestries, a colourful stone floor, and the vivid picture of

2261-498: Is a mythology where even the gods can die, and it leaves the reader with a vivid sense of life's cycles, with an awareness that everything comes to an end, that, though [the evil] Sauron may go, the elves will fade as well." This fits with Tolkien's equation of Middle-earth with the real Earth at some distant epoch in the past, and with his apparent intention to create a mythology for England . He could combine medieval myths and legends, hints from poems and nearly-forgotten names to build

2394-500: Is at variance with the hopeful tone of the rest of the work, remaining cheerful even in the face of apparently insuperable odds. Kocher writes that the Rings of Power reflected the characteristics of the race that was to wear them. Those for Men "stimulated and implemented their ambition for power". Whereas the tough Dwarves resisted Sauron's domination, and the Elves hid their Rings from him, with Men his plan "works perfectly", turning

2527-600: Is based on the mead hall Heorot in Beowulf ; it is a large hall with a thatched roof that appears golden from far off. The walls are richly decorated with tapestries depicting the history and legends of the Rohirrim, and it serves as a house for the King and his kin, a meeting hall for the King and his advisors, and a gathering hall for ceremonies and festivities. It is at Meduseld that Aragorn , Gimli , Legolas , and Gandalf meet with King Théoden . Legolas describes Meduseld in

2660-758: Is bordered to the north by the Fangorn forest, home to the Ents (tree-giants) led by Treebeard , and by the great river Anduin, called Langflood by the Rohirrim. To the northeast are the walls of Emyn Muil. After the War of the Ring, the kingdom is extended northwards over the Limlight to the borders of Lothlórien . To the east are the mouths of the River Entwash, and the Mering Stream, which separated Rohan from

2793-590: Is built stands in the mouth of the valley of Harrowdale. The river Snowbourn flows past the town on its way east towards the Entwash. The town is protected by a high wall of timber. Meduseld , the Golden Hall of the Kings of Rohan, is in the centre of the town at the top of the hill. "Meduseld", Old English for " mead hall ", is meant to be a translation of an unknown Rohirric word with the same meaning. Meduseld

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2926-649: Is evil exactly because he seeks to dominate the wills of others; the Ringwraiths, the nine fallen kings of Men, are the clearest exemplars of the process. Kocher states that the leading Man in The Lord of the Rings is Aragorn, though critics often overlooked him in favour of Frodo as protagonist . Aragorn is one of two Men in the Fellowship of the Ring , the nine walkers from the Free Peoples opposed to

3059-953: Is hellish, while Harad in the extreme South "regresses into hot savagery". Peter Jackson , in his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , clothes the Haradrim in long red robes and turbans , and has them riding their elephants, giving them the look in Ibata's opinion of "North African or Middle Eastern tribesmen". Ibata notes that the film companion book, The Lord of the Rings: Creatures , describes them as "exotic outlanders" inspired by "12th century Saracen warriors". Jackson's Easterling soldiers are covered in armour, revealing only their "coal-black eyes" through their helmet's eye-slits. Ibata comments that they look Asian, their headgear recalling both Samurai helmets and conical "Coolie" hats. The Tolkien scholar Deborah C. Rogers compares

3192-491: Is part of Gondor, in others not. The hot and dry region of South Gondor, or Harondor was by the time of the War of the Ring "a debatable and desert land", contested by the men of Harad. The region of Lamedon and the uplands of the prosperous Morthond, with the desolate Hill of Erech, lay to the south of the White Mountains, while the populous valleys of Lossarnach were just south of Minas Tirith. The city's port

3325-585: Is probably not to be taken at face value. In a world with other intelligent and cultured races, Men in Middle-earth interact with each other and with the other races in a complex history, narrated mainly in The Silmarillion . Men are in general friendly with the other free peoples, especially Elves; they are implacable enemies of the enslaved peoples, especially Orcs . In the First Age, Men,

3458-552: Is restored only with Sauron's final defeat and the crowning of Aragorn as king. Based upon early conceptions, the history and geography of Gondor were developed in stages as Tolkien extended his legendarium while writing The Lord of the Rings . Critics have noted the contrast between the cultured but lifeless Stewards of Gondor, and the simple but vigorous leaders of the Kingdom of Rohan , modelled on Tolkien's favoured Anglo-Saxons . Scholars have noted parallels between Gondor and

3591-742: Is spread along the foothills of the White Mountains in both directions from the Folde. In the West-mark the Westfold extends along the mountains to Helm's Deep (the defensive centre of Westfold) and to the Gap of Rohan. Beyond the Gap of Rohan lies the West Marches, the kingdom's far west borderland. The Eastfold extends along the White Mountains in the opposite direction (and was thus a part of

3724-409: Is strong enough. Aragorn replies gracefully to the tactless suggestion. Kocher comments that by being both bold and tactful, Aragorn has won all that he wanted from Boromir: the sword is genuine, as is Aragorn's claim to own it, and he has been invited back to Gondor. The Fellowship set off, temporarily united; when they reach Parth Galen , Boromir tries to seize the Ring from Frodo, causing Frodo to use

3857-403: Is supported by the Drúedain terms for Gondorians and Minas Tirith —Stonehouse-folk and Stone-city. Tolkien denied that the name Gondor had been inspired by the ancient Ethiopian citadel of Gondar , stating that the root Ond went back to an account he had read as a child mentioning ond ("stone") as one of only two words known of the pre-Celtic languages of Britain. Gondor is also called

3990-472: Is the central theme of an appendix, " The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen ". Where the Hobbits stand for simple, earthbound, comfort-loving people, Men are far more varied, from petty villains and slow-witted publicans to the gentle warrior Faramir and the genuinely heroic Aragorn ; Tolkien had wanted to create a heroic romance suitable for the modern age. Scholars have identified real-world analogues for each of

4123-597: Is the opposite of hobbitish: tall, not provincial, untroubled by the discomforts of the wild. At the start, in Bree, he appears as a Ranger of the North, a weatherbeaten man named Strider. Gradually the reader discovers he is heir to the throne of Gondor , engaged to be married to Arwen , an Elf-woman. Equipped with a named magical sword , he emerges as an unqualified hero , in Frye's "High Mimetic" or "Romantic" literary mode, making

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4256-682: The Prose Edda . She notes that Boromir is given a boat-funeral in The Two Towers . Fimi further compares the helmet and crown of Gondor with the romanticised "headgear of the Valkyries ", despite Tolkien's denial of a connection with Wagner's Ring cycle , noting the "likeness of the wings of a sea-bird" in his description of Aragorn's coronation, and his drawing of the crown in an unused dust jacket design. The classical scholar Miryam Librán-Moreno writes that Tolkien drew heavily on

4389-565: The Anglo-Saxons and their Old English language, towards which Tolkien felt a strong affinity. Anglo-Saxon England was defeated by the cavalry of the Normans at the Battle of Hastings , and some Tolkien scholars have suggested that the Rohirrim are Tolkien's wishful version of an Anglo-Saxon society that retained a "rider culture", and would have been able to resist such an invasion. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that Tolkien derived

4522-644: The Atani , the "Second People". Like Elves, Men first awoke in the East of Middle-earth , spreading all over the continent and developing a variety of cultures and ethnicities. Unlike Tolkien's Elves, Men are mortal; when they die, they depart to a world unknown even to the godlike Valar . Men are one of the four "free peoples" in the list-poem spoken by the Ent Treebeard ; the others being Elves, Dwarves , and Ents. Hobbits , not included on that list, were

4655-661: The Black Gate of Mordor and took part in the Battle of the Morannon against the forces of Sauron . At this time, the destruction of the Ruling Ring in Mount Doom ended the battle and the war. Éowyn married Faramir , Prince of Ithilien . The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance writes that Théoden is transformed by Gandalf into a good bold "Germanic king"; she contrasts this with the failure of "the proud Beorhtnoth " in

4788-569: The Dúnedain ) from the First Age . In the 21st century, a remnant tribe of such Northmen, the Éothéod , moved from the valleys of Anduin to the northwest of Mirkwood , disputing with the Dwarves over the treasure-hoard of Scatha the dragon . In 2509, Cirion the Steward of Gondor summoned the Éothéod to help repel an invasion of Men from Rhûn and Orcs from Mordor . Eorl the Young, lord of

4921-617: The Edain , lived in Beleriand on the extreme West of Middle-earth. They form an alliance with the Elves and join a disastrous war against the first Dark Lord, Morgoth , which destroys Beleriand. As a reward for fighting in the war, the creator, Eru Iluvatar , gives the Edain the new island of Númenor as their home. The key difference between Men and Elves now becomes central to the story: Elves are immortal , and return to Valinor , home of

5054-644: The First Age by seafaring Sindar from the west havens of Beleriand who fled in three small ships when the power of Morgoth overwhelmed the Eldar ; the Sindar were joined later by Silvan Elves who came down Anduin seeking the sea. Another account states that the haven was established in the Second Age by Sindarin Elves from Lindon, who learned the craft of shipbuilding at the Grey Havens and then settled at

5187-973: The Malvern Hills with C. S. Lewis , and recorded excerpts from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in Malvern in 1952, at George Sayer's home. Sayer wrote that Tolkien relived the book as they walked, comparing the Malvern Hills to the White Mountains of Gondor. Gondor, as it appeared in Peter Jackson 's film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings , has been compared to the Byzantine Empire. The production team noted this in DVD commentary, explaining their decision to include Byzantine domes into Minas Tirith's architecture and to have civilians wear Byzantine-styled clothing. However,

5320-713: The Men of the West . After an early period of growth, Gondor gradually declined as the Third Age progressed, being continually weakened by internal strife and conflict with the allies of the Dark Lord Sauron . By the time of the War of the Ring, the throne of Gondor is empty, though its principalities and fiefdoms still pay deference to the absent king by showing their loyalty to the Stewards of Gondor. The kingdom's ascendancy

5453-447: The Normans , Ancient Rome , the Vikings , the Goths , the Langobards , and the Byzantine Empire . Tolkien intended the name Gondor to be Sindarin for "Stone-land". This is echoed in the text of The Lord of the Rings by the name for Gondor among the Rohirrim , Stoningland. Tolkien's early writings suggest that this was a reference to the highly developed masonry of Gondorians in contrast to their rustic neighbours. This view

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5586-402: The Númenóreans from the middle of the Second Age , especially by Elf-friends loyal to Elendil . His sons Isildur and Anárion landed in Gondor after the drowning of Númenor, and co-founded the Kingdom of Gondor. Isildur brought with him a seedling of Nimloth (Sindarin: nim , "white" and loth , "blossom" ) the Fair, the white tree from Númenor. This tree and its descendants came to be called

5719-433: The Ostrogoths in Italy from 536 to 540. Tolkien saw this as a parallel with the real-world relationship between Old English and Gothic . In response to a query about clothing styles in Middle-earth , Tolkien wrote: The Rohirrim were not "medieval", in our sense. The styles of the Bayeux Tapestry (made in England) fit them well enough, if one remembers that the kind of tennis-nets [the] soldiers seem to have on are only

5852-417: The Wainriders . The critic Tom Shippey compares Tolkien's characterisation of Gondor with that of Rohan. He notes that men from the two countries meet or behave in contrasting ways several times in The Lord of the Rings : when Éomer and his Riders of Rohan twice meet Aragorn's party in the Mark, and when Faramir and his men imprison Frodo and Sam at Henneth Annun in Ithilien. Shippey notes that while Éomer

5985-403: The battering ram named Grond attacked the Great Gate; it burst asunder as if "stricken by some blasting spell", with "a flash of searing lightning, and the doors tumbled in riven fragments to the ground". The Witch-king rode through the Gate where Gandalf awaited him, but left shortly afterwards to meet the Riders of Rohan in battle. Gondor, with the support of Rohirrim as cavalry, repelled

6118-508: The emblem of the House of Éorl , a "white horse upon green", from the Uffington White Horse carved into the grass of the chalk downs in England. While Tolkien represents the Rohirrim with Anglo-Saxon culture and language, their ancestors are given Gothic attributes. The names of Rhovanion's royal family, (the ancestors of the Rohirrim), include such names as Vidugavia, Vidumavi and Vinitharya, which are of Gothic origin. Vidugavia specifically has been seen as an synonym for Vitiges , king of

6251-450: The peoples of Middle-earth are dwindling and fading : the Elves are leaving, and the Ents are childless. By the Fourth Age, Middle-earth is peopled with Men, and indeed Tolkien intended it to represent the real world in the distant past. Commentators have questioned Tolkien's attitude to race, given that good peoples are white and live in the West, while enemies may be dark and live in the East and South. However, others note that Tolkien

6384-436: The "petty villain", Bill Ferny ; the "loathsome" Grima Wormtongue ; the "slow-thinking" publican Barliman Butterbur of Bree ; "that portrait of damnation", Denethor , Steward of Gondor ; and at the upper end of the scale, the kingly Théoden , brought back to life from Wormtongue's corruption; the "gentle warrior" Faramir and his brother the hero-villain Boromir; and finally the ranger Aragorn, who becomes king. Aragorn

6517-423: The Black Númenóreans, good men gone wrong; and the Corsairs of Umbar , rebels of Gondor. Sandra Ballif Straubhaar notes in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia that Faramir , son of the Steward of Gondor , makes an "arrogant" speech, of which he later "has cause to repent", classifying the types of Men as seen by the Men of Númenórean origin at the end of the Third Age ; she notes, too, that his taxonomy

6650-450: The Byzantines by the Persians and the Muslim armies of the Arabs and the Turks , as well as the Langobards and Goths; Gondor by the Easterlings, the Haradrim, and the hordes of Sauron. Both realms were in decline at the time of a final, all-out siege from the East; however, Minas Tirith survived the siege whereas Constantinople did not . In a 1951 letter, Tolkien himself wrote about "the Byzantine City of Minas Tirith." Tolkien visited

6783-437: The Dry Tree had been dry since the crucifixion of Christ , but that it would flower afresh when "a prince of the west side of the world should sing a mass beneath it". Tolkien's map-notes for the illustrator Pauline Baynes indicate that the city had the latitude of Ravenna , an Italian city on the Adriatic Sea , though it lay "900 miles east of Hobbiton more near Belgrade ". The Warning beacons of Gondor were atop

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6916-421: The East-mark). It is bound by the Entwash to the north. Its eastern borderland is called the Fenmarch; beyond this lies the Kingdom of Gondor. The centre of Rohan is a large plain, divided by the Entwash into the East Emnet and the West Emnet. These regions fell respectively into the East-mark and the West-mark. The northernmost region of Rohan, and the least populous, is the Wold. The Field of Celebrant (named for

7049-428: The Gondorian province of Anórien, known to the Rohirrim as Sunlending. To the south lie the White Mountains ( Ered Nimrais ) . To the west are the rivers Adorn and Isen, where Rohan borders the land of the Dunlendings . To the northwest, just under the southern end of the Misty Mountains , lies the walled circle of Isengard around the ancient tower of Orthanc; at the time of the War of the Ring, it had been taken over by

7182-438: The Index to The Lord of the Rings , "the border country of the knights"; also Éo-marc , the Horse-mark , or simply the Mark . They call themselves the Éorlingas , the Sons of Éorl. Tolkien rendered the language of the Riders of Rohan, Rohirric , as the Mercian dialect of Old English. Even words and phrases that were printed in modern English showed a strong Old English influence. This solution occurred to Tolkien when he

7315-411: The King , is largely concerned with the events in Gondor during the War of the Ring and with the restoration of the realm afterward. The history of the kingdom is outlined in the appendices of the book. Gondor was founded by the brothers Isildur and Anárion, exiles from the downfallen island kingdom of Númenor . Along with Arnor in the north, Gondor, the South-kingdom, served as a last stronghold of

7448-407: The Men of The Lord of the Rings with the Hobbits . She notes that the Hobbits are to an extent the low, simple, earthbound "clods" of the story who like beer and comfort and do not wish to go on adventures; they fit the antihero of modern literature and Northrop Frye 's lower literary modes including various forms of humour. In contrast, Tolkien's Men are not all of a piece: Rogers mentions

7581-423: The Moon Came Down Too Soon " in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil tells how the Man in the Moon fell one night into "the windy Bay of Bel"; his fall is marked by the tolling of a bell in the Seaward Tower ( Tirith Aear ) of Dol Amroth, and he recovers at an inn in the city. Its ruler, the Prince of Dol Amroth, is subject to the sovereignty of Gondor. The principality's boundaries are not explicitly defined, though

7714-421: The Old English poem The Battle of Maldon . In her view, in the account of the battle of Helm's Deep, the fortress of the Riddermark, Tolkien is emphasising the Rohirrim's physical prowess. The philologist and Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that the Riders of Rohan are, despite Tolkien's protestations, much like the ancient English (the Anglo-Saxons), but that they differed from the ancient English in having

7847-419: The Old English poem The Wanderer . "Thus spoke a forgotten poet long ago in Rohan, recalling how tall and fair was Eorl the Young, who rode down out of the North," Aragorn explains, after singing the Lament . In the 13th century of the Third Age , the Kings of Gondor made close alliances with the Northmen of Rhovanion , a people said in The Lord of the Rings to be akin to the Three Houses of Men (later

7980-429: The Old English saying Éorl sceal on éos boge, éored sceal getrume rídan ("The leader shall on horse's back, warband shall ride in a body"). The Riders are a Germanic warrior-society, exemplifying the "northern heroic spirit", like the Anglo-Saxons. But the "crucial" fact is the language; Honegger notes that Tolkien had represented Westron speech as modern English; since Rohan spoke a related but older language, Old English

8113-443: The Prince ruled Belfalas as a fief, as well as an area to the east on the map labelled Dor-en-Ernil ("The Land of the Prince"). Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth in The Return of the King , was linked by marriage both to the Stewards of Gondor and to the Kings of Rohan. He was the brother of Lady Finduilas and uncle to her sons Boromir and Faramir ; a kinsman of Théoden ; and the father of Éomer 's wife Lothíriel. Imrahil played

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8246-427: The Rangers including Aragorn , and the men of Gondor are descended; and their allies the Rohirrim . The main human adversaries in The Lord of the Rings are the Haradrim and the Easterlings. The Haradrim or Southrons were hostile to Gondor, and used elephants in war. Tolkien describes them as "swart", meaning "dark-skinned". The Easterlings lived in Rhûn, the vast eastern region of Middle-earth; they fought in

8379-446: The Ring to escape; the Fellowship is scattered. Orcs attack, seeking the Ring; Boromir repents, and dies trying to save the Hobbits, an act which redeems him. Aragorn gives Boromir an honourable boat-funeral . The quest eventually succeeds, and Aragorn, growing in strength through many perils and wise decisions is crowned King. Boromir gave in to the temptation of power, and fell; Aragorn responded rightfully, and rose. The status of

8512-414: The Ring, the forces of Gondor, led by Aragorn under the alias Thorongil, attacked Umbar and destroyed the Corsair fleet, allowing Denethor II to devote his attention to Mordor. Denethor sent his son Boromir to Rivendell for advice as war loomed. There, Boromir attended the Council of Elrond , saw the One Ring , and suggested it be used as a weapon to save Gondor. Elrond rebuked him, explaining

8645-461: The Rings was death and the human desire to escape it. The theme, which recurs throughout the work, is sharply visible in an appendix, " The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen ", in which the immortal Elf Arwen chooses mortality so that she can marry the mortal Man Aragorn . The result, as with the earlier intermarriage of their ancestors Lúthien and Beren in the First Age in Beleriand, was to make Aragorn's line exceptionally long-lived among Men, and as

8778-442: The Rohan border: Amon Dîn , Eilenach , Nardol , Erelas , Min-Rimmon , Calenhad and Halifirien . At the start of the War of the Ring a Full Muster would have been over 12,000 riders. Among the horses of the Rohirrim were the famed mearas , the noblest and fastest horses that ever roamed Arda . It was because of the close affiliation with horses, both in war and peace, that they received their name. Tolkien generally called

8911-456: The Rohirrim resonated with 1960s feminists , contributing to the success of Lord of the Rings at that time. For Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , the Poolburn Reservoir in Central Otago , New Zealand was used for Rohan scenes. The theme for Rohan is played on a Hardanger fiddle . A fully realised set for Edoras was built on Mount Sunday in the upper reaches of the Rangitata Valley , near Erewhon in New Zealand. Some of

9044-440: The Rohirrim to victory against the forces of Mordor ; he is killed when his horse falls, but his niece Éowyn kills the leader of the Ringwraiths . Tolkien's own account, in an unsent letter, gives both the fictional and the actual etymologies of Rohan: Rohan is stated (III 391, 394) to be a later softened form of Rochand . It is derived from Elvish *rokkō ‘swift horse for riding’ ( Q[uenya] rocco , S[indarin] roch ) +

9177-441: The South-kingdom or Southern Realm, and together with Arnor as the Númenórean Realms in Exile. Researchers Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull have proposed a Quenya translation of Gondor : Ondonórë . The Men of Gondor are nicknamed "Tarks" (from Quenya tarkil "High Man", Númenórean) by the orcs of Mordor. Gondor's geography is illustrated in the maps for The Lord of the Rings made by Christopher Tolkien on

9310-424: The West". Arnor becomes fragmented, and declines until its kings become Rangers in the wilds, but they retain their memory of Númenor or "Westernesse", through many generations down to Aragorn , a protagonist in The Lord of the Rings . The line of kings in Gondor eventually dies out, and the country is ruled by Stewards , the throne empty, until Aragorn returns. Tolkien stated that the core theme of The Lord of

9443-461: The White Tree of Gondor, and appears on the kingdom's coat of arms . Elendil, who founded the Kingdom of Arnor to the north, was held to be the High King of all the lands of the Dúnedain . Isildur established the city of Minas Ithil (Sindarin: "Tower of the Moon") while Anárion established the city of Minas Anor (Sindarin: "Tower of the Sun"). Sauron survived the destruction of Númenor and secretly returned to his realm of Mordor, soon launching

9576-585: The allegiance of a hobbit, but very differently: Denethor, Steward of Gondor, undervalues Pippin because he is small, and binds him with a formal oath, whereas Théoden, King of Rohan, treats Merry with love, which the hobbit responds to. In his analysis of the historical lore of Númenor, Michael N. Stanton said close affinities are demonstrated between Elves and the descendants of Men of the West, not only in terms of blood heritage but also in "moral probity and nobility of demeanor", which gradually weakened over time due to "time, forgetfulness, and, in no small part,

9709-596: The ambitious kings into Ringwraiths , the nine Black Riders. With the One Ring to rule them, Sauron gains complete control over them, and they become his most powerful servants. Kocher comments that for Tolkien, the exercise of personal free will , the most precious gift, is "the distinguishing mark of his individuality". The wise, like the Wizard Gandalf and the Elf-queen Galadriel , therefore avoid putting pressure on anybody. In contrast, Sauron

9842-479: The appearance and structure of the city was based upon the inhabited tidal island and abbey of Mont Saint-Michel , France. In the films, the towers of the city, designed by the artist Alan Lee , are equipped with trebuchets . The film critic Roger Ebert called the films' interpretation of Minas Tirith a "spectacular achievement", and compared it to the Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz . He praised

9975-565: The armies of Morgoth and Sauron . Tolkien describes them as "slant-eyed"; they ride horses or wagons, leading to the name "wain-riders". The Variags of Khand formed a third but smaller group, who appear as vassals of Mordor in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields . Their name is from Russian : Варяги ( Variag ), meaning the Varangians , Viking or other Germanic warriors who served as mercenaries . Other human adversaries include

10108-528: The basis of his father's sketches, and geographical accounts in The Rivers and Beacon-Hills of Gondor , Cirion and Eorl , and The Lord of the Rings . Gondor lies in the west of Middle-earth , on the northern shores of Anfalas and the Bay of Belfalas with the great port of Pelargir near the river Anduin's delta in the fertile and populous region of Lebennin, stretching up to the White Mountains (Sindarin: Ered Nimrais , "Mountains of White Horns"). Near

10241-458: The beginning of the Third Age, left his realm behind in search of his beloved Nimrodel, a Nandorin who had fled from the horror unleashed by the Dwarves in Moria . He waited for her at Edhellond, for their final voyage together into the West. But Nimrodel, who loved Middle-earth as much as she did Amroth, failed to join him. When the ship was blown prematurely out to sea, he jumped overboard in

10374-517: The cunningly-built tower of Isengard, Orthanc, and for the Ents, the tree-giants of Fangorn forest, are similarly Old English, both being found in the phrase orþanc enta geweorc , "cunning work of giants" in the poem The Ruin , though Shippey suggests that Tolkien may have chosen to read the phrase also as "Orthanc, the Ent's fortress". In The Two Towers , chapter 6, the Riders of Rohan are introduced before they are seen, by Aragorn , who chants in

10507-647: The danger of such use, and instead, the hobbit Frodo was made ring-bearer, and a Fellowship , including Boromir, was sent on a quest to destroy the Ring. Growing in strength, Sauron attacked Osgiliath, forcing the defenders to leave, destroying the last bridge across the Anduin behind them. Minas Tirith then faced direct land attack from Mordor , combined with naval attack by the Corsairs of Umbar. The hobbits Frodo and Sam travelled through Ithilien, and were captured by Faramir , Boromir's brother, who held them at

10640-526: The dash that sweeps away resistance." Shippey notes that this allows Tolkien to display Rohan both as English, based on their Old English names and words like éored ("troop of cavalry"), and as "alien, to offer a glimpse of the way land shapes people". Shippey states further that "the Mark" (or the Riddermark), the land of the Riders of Rohan – all of whom have names in the Mercian dialect of Old English,

10773-699: The destruction of their home countries; the brothers Romulus and Remus found Rome, while the brothers Isildur and Anárion found the Númenórean kingdoms in Middle-earth; and both Gondor and Rome experienced centuries of " decadence and decline ". Dimitra Fimi , a scholar of fantasy and children's literature, draws a parallel between the seafaring Númenóreans and the Vikings of the Norse world, noting that in The Lost Road and Other Writings , Tolkien describes their ship-burials , matching those in Beowulf and

10906-474: The door-frame. The site was known among the cast and crew for being extremely windy, as can be seen during the film and DVD interviews. After filming, Mount Sunday was returned to its original state. Men (Middle-earth) Tolkien uses the Men of Middle-earth, interacting with immortal Elves, to explore a variety of themes in The Lord of the Rings , especially death and immortality. This appears throughout, but

11039-580: The early years of the Third Age , Gondor was victorious and wealthy, and kept a careful watch on Mordor, but the peace ended with Easterling invasions. Gondor established a powerful navy and captured the southern port of Umbar from the Black Númenóreans , becoming rich. As time went by, Gondor neglected the watch on Mordor . A civil war gave Umbar the opportunity to declare independence. The kings of Harad grew stronger, leading to fighting in

11172-582: The eastern end of the White Mountains, built around a shoulder of Mount Mindolluin. The city had seven walls: each held a gate, and each gate faced a different direction from the next. The city was surrounded by the Pelennor , an area of farmlands ringed by a wall. Inside the seventh wall was the Citadel, topped by the White Tower. Behind the tower, reached from the sixth level, was a saddle leading to

11305-489: The evil wizard Saruman . The area of the western border where the Misty Mountains and the White Mountains drew near to each other is known as the Gap of Rohan. The capital of Rohan is the fortified town of Edoras , on a hill in a valley of the White Mountains . "Edoras" is Old English for "enclosures". The town of Edoras was built by Rohan's second King, Brego son of Eorl the Young. The hill on which Edoras

11438-567: The forest of Fangorn to help the Rohirrim. Théoden then rode with his army to Minas Tirith , helping to break its siege in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and killing the leader of the Haradrim , but was killed when his horse fell. He was succeeded by his nephew Éomer . His niece Éowyn and the hobbit Merry Brandybuck killed the Lord of the Nazgûl . Éomer rode with the armies of Gondor to

11571-489: The friendly races has been debated by critics. David Ibata, writing in The Chicago Tribune , asserts that the protagonists in The Lord of the Rings all have fair skin, and they are mainly blond-haired and blue-eyed as well. Ibata suggests that having the "good guys" white and their opponents of other races, in both book and film, is uncomfortably close to racism. The theologian Fleming Rutledge states that

11704-968: The general history of the Goths , Langobards and the Byzantine Empire , and their mutual struggle. Historical names from these peoples were used in drafts or the final concept of the internal history of Gondor, such as Vidumavi, wife of king Valacar (in Gothic ). The Byzantine Empire and Gondor were both, in Librán-Moreno's view, only echoes of older states (the Roman Empire and the unified kingdom of Elendil), yet each proved to be stronger than their sister-kingdoms (the Western Roman Empire and Arnor, respectively). Both realms were threatened by powerful eastern and southern enemies:

11837-402: The godlike Valar , when they become weary of Middle-earth, or are killed in battle. Men, however, are mortal. Morgoth's servant, Sauron , tempts the Men of Númenor to attack Valinor, in their search for immortality: Sauron has falsely insinuated that Men can become immortal just by being in that place. The Men and Númenor are destroyed: the island is drowned, Atlantis -like, beneath the waves;

11970-585: The hidden cave of Henneth Annûn, but aided them to continue their quest. Aragorn summoned the Dead of Dunharrow to destroy the forces from Umbar , freeing men from the southern provinces of Gondor such as Dol Amroth to come to the aid of Minas Tirith. During the Battle of the Pelennor Fields , the Great Gate was breached by Sauron 's forces led by the Witch-king of Angmar . He spoke "words of power" as

12103-572: The hillside") is a refuge, Firienfeld, in the White Mountains. Aldburg, capital of the Eastfold, is the original settlement of Eorl the Young. The Hornburg, a major fortress guarding the western region, is in Helm's Deep , a valley in the White Mountains. The kingdom of Rohan, also called the Mark, is primarily divided into two regions, the East-mark and the West-mark. They are each led by a marshal of

12236-508: The history of Brittany will throw any light on the Éorlingas. ... In Tolkien's Middle-earth, Rohan is an inland realm. Its countryside is described as a land of pastures and lush tall grassland which is frequently windswept. The meadows contain "many hidden pools, and broad acres of sedge waving above wet and treacherous bogs" that water the grasses. The cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad calculated Rohan to be 52,763 square miles (136,656 km) in area (slightly larger than England ). Rohan

12369-432: The invasion by Mordor. Following the death of Denethor and the incapacity of Faramir, Prince Imrahil became the effective lord of Gondor. When Imrahil declined to send the entirety of Gondor's army against Mordor, Aragorn led a smaller army to the Black Gate of Mordor to distract Sauron from Frodo's quest. Sauron encircled the army at the Battle of the Morannon , but the hobbits succeeded, defeating Sauron and bringing

12502-418: The kingdom's language and names, pretending that this was in translation of Rohirric. Meduseld, the hall of King Théoden , is modelled on Heorot , the great hall in Beowulf . Within the plot of The Lord of the Rings , Rohan plays a critical role in the action—first against the wizard Saruman in the Battle of the Hornburg , then in the climactic Battle of the Pelennor Fields . There, Théoden leads

12635-481: The kingdom. Rohan's capital, Edoras, lies in a small but populous region in the centre south of the kingdom, the Folde. In an earlier concept, Rohan's capital region was called the King's Lands, of which the Folde was a sub-region to the south-east of Edoras. North of the Folde, the boundary between the East-mark and West-mark runs along the Snowbourn River and the Entwash. Most of the rest of Rohan's population

12768-576: The land of Belfalas since the Second Age , before Númenor was destroyed . This family of Númenóreans were akin to the Lords of Andúnië , and thus related to Elendil and descended from the House of Elros. After the Downfall of Númenor , they were created the "Prince of Belfalas" by Elendil . Unfinished Tales provides an account of "Adrahil of Dol Amroth" who fought under King Ondoher of Gondor against

12901-637: The language of the Rohirrim words "in a slow tongue unknown to the Elf and the Dwarf ", a lai that Legolas senses "is laden with the sadness of Mortal Men ". The song is called the Lament of the Rohirrim . To achieve a resonant sense of the lost past, the now-legendary time of a peaceful alliance of the Horse-lords with the realm of Gondor , Tolkien adapted the short Ubi sunt ("Where are they?") passage of

13034-525: The language simply "the language of Rohan" or "of the Rohirrim". The adjectival form "Rohirric" is common; Tolkien once also used "Rohanese". Like many languages of Men , it is akin to Adûnaic , the language of Númenóreans , and therefore to the Westron or Common Speech. The Rohirrim called their homeland the Riddermark, a modernization by Tolkien of Old English Riddena-mearc , meaning, according to

13167-663: The last years of Tolkien's life, when he invented justifications for the place-names and wrote full narratives for the stories of Isildur's death and of the battles with the Wainriders and the Balchoth (published in Unfinished Tales ). Tolkien describes an early population of elves in the Dol Amroth region, writing many accounts of its early history. In one version, a haven and a small settlement were founded in

13300-655: The latter asked for their aid through the giving of the Red Arrow . This has a historical antecedent in the Old English poem Elene , in which Constantine the Great summoned an army of mounted Visigoths to his aid against the Huns by sending an arrow as a "token of war". Gondor could also call the Rohirrim in need by lighting the warning beacons of Gondor, seven signal fires along the White Mountains from Minas Tirith to

13433-709: The leader of the Drúedain, Ghân-buri-Ghân, is treated as a noble savage . Michael N. Stanton writes in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia that Hobbits were "a distinctive form of human beings", and notes that their speech contains "vestigial elements" which hint that they originated in the North of Middle-earth. The scholar Margaret Sinex states that Tolkiens' construction of the Easterlings and Southrons draws on centuries of Christian tradition of creating an "imaginary Saracen". Zakarya Anwar judges that while Tolkien himself

13566-497: The legend of Númenor ; these already contain a semblance of Gondor. The appendices to The Lord of the Rings were brought to a finished state in 1953–54, but a decade later, during preparations for the release of the Second Edition, Tolkien elaborated the events that had led to Gondor's civil war, introducing the regency of Rómendacil II. The final development of the history and geography of Gondor took place around 1970, in

13699-569: The machinations of Sauron". The cultural ties between the Men of Gondor and Elves are reflected in the names of certain characters: for instance, Finduilas of Dol Amroth (the wife of Denethor and the sister of Prince Imrahil) shares her name with an Elf princess of the First Age . Leslie A. Donovan, in A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien , compares the siege of Gondor with the alliance of Elves and Men in their fight against Morgoth and other co-operative ventures in The Silmarillion , making

13832-547: The mortal, master of horses" is listed last among the free peoples, who were created separately. Although all Men in Tolkien's legendarium are related to one another, there are many different groups with different cultures. Those on the side of the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings are the Dúnedain , the men who fought on the side of the Elves in the First Age against Morgoth in Beleriand , from whom other friendly groups,

13965-667: The mouth of the Morthond . Other accounts say that Silvan Elves accompanied Galadriel from Lothlórien to this region after the defeat of Sauron at Eriador in the middle of the Second Age, or that Amroth ruled among the Nandorin Elves here in the Second Age. Elves continued to live there well into the Third Age, until the last ship departed from Edhellond for the Undying Lands . Amroth, King of Lothlórien from

14098-493: The mouths of Anduin was the island of Tolfalas. To the north-west of Gondor lies Arnor; to the north, Gondor is bordered by Wilderland and Rohan ; to the north-east, by Rhûn; to the east, across the great river Anduin and the province of Ithilien, by Mordor ; to the south, by the deserts of northern Harad . To the west lies the Great Sea. The wide land to the west of Rohan was Enedwaith; in some of Tolkien's writings it

14231-748: The necropolis of the Kings and Stewards, with a street of tombs, Rath Dínen. Within the Court of the Fountain stood the White Tree , the symbol of Gondor. It was dry throughout the centuries that Gondor was ruled by the Stewards; Aragorn brought a sapling of the White Tree into the city on his return as King. John Garth writes that the White Tree has been likened to the Dry Tree of the 14th century Travels of Sir John Mandeville . The tale runs that

14364-650: The nine Black Riders. The other is Boromir , elder son of the Steward of Gondor, and the two Men are sharply opposed. Both are ambitious, and both intend one day to rule Gondor. Boromir means to fight valiantly, to save Gondor, with any help he can get, and to inherit the Stewardship. Aragorn knows he is in the line of kings by his ancestry, but he is unknown in Gondor. When they meet at the Council of Elrond , they dispute who has been holding back Sauron. Aragorn presents

14497-555: The other peoples, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents and all the rest, are dwindling and fading, leaving only a world of Men. Kocher writes that the furthest look into Man's future in The Lord of the Rings is the conversation between the Elf Legolas and the Dwarf Gimli , close friends, at the moment when they first visit Minas Tirith , the capital city of the Men of Gondor, "and see the marks of decay around them". Gimli says that

14630-780: The pine-woods of the Druadan Forest by the north-eastern White Mountains . The next people settled in the White Mountains , and became known as the Men of the Mountains. They built a subterranean complex at Dunharrow, later known as the Paths of the Dead, which extended through the mountain-range from north to south. They became subject to Sauron in the Dark Years. Fragments of pre-Númenórean languages survive in later ages in place-names such as Erech , Arnach , and Umbar . The shorelands of Gondor were widely colonized by

14763-529: The point that none of these would have succeeded without collaboration; further that one such success comes from another shared effort, as when the Rohirrim were only able to come to the aid of Gondor because of the joint efforts of Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn; and that they in turn collaborated with the oathbreakers from the Paths of the Dead. Sandra Ballif Straubhaar , a scholar of Germanic studies, notes in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia that readers have debated

14896-679: The real-world prototypes of Gondor. She writes that like the Normans , their founders the Númenóreans arrived "from across the sea", and that Prince Imrahil's armour with a "burnished vambrace " recalls late-medieval plate armour . Against this theory, she notes Tolkien's direction of readers to Egypt and Byzantium. Recalling that Tolkien located Minas Tirith at the latitude of Florence, she states that "the most striking similarities" are with ancient Rome . She identifies several parallels: Aeneas , from Troy , and Elendil, from Númenor, both survive

15029-491: The rider, his bright hair streaming in the wind, blowing his horn. The Steward Denethor's hall is large and solemn, but dead, colourless, in cold stone. Rohan is, Shippey suggests, the "bit that Tolkien knew best", Anglo-Saxon, full of vigour; Gondor is "a kind of Rome", over-subtle, selfish, calculating. The critic Jane Chance Nitzsche contrasts the "good and bad Germanic lords Théoden and Denethor", noting that their names are almost anagrams. She writes that both men receive

15162-468: The royal family intermarried with other people of Gondor, to maintain or extend the lifespan of the entire race. The overall feeling in The Lord of the Rings , however, despite the victories and Aragorn's long-awaited kingship and marriage, is of decline and fall , echoing the view of Norse mythology that everything will inevitably be destroyed. As the Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns put it, "Here

15295-612: The second line of kings, which lasted until the end of the Third Age. The two lines of kings are buried in two lines of grave mounds below the royal hall at Edoras, like those at Gamla Uppsala in Sweden, or Sutton Hoo in England. In 2758, Rohan was invaded by Dunlendings under Wulf, son of Freca, of mixed Dunland and Rohan blood. The King, Helm Hammerhand, took refuge in the Hornburg until help from Gondor and Dunharrow arrived

15428-422: The set was built digitally, but the main buildings atop the city were built on location; the mountain ranges in the background were part of the actual location shot. The interiors of buildings such as the Golden Hall, however, were located on soundstages in other parts of New Zealand; when the camera is inside of the Golden Hall, looking out the open gates, the image of the on-set Edoras set is digitally inserted into

15561-525: The shards of the broken sword of his ancestor, Elendil, and asks Boromir if he wants the House of Elendil (the line of kings) to return. Boromir evasively replies that he would welcome the sword. The One Ring is then shown to the Council. Boromir at once thinks of using it himself. Elrond explains how dangerous the Ring is; Boromir reluctantly sets the idea of using it aside for the moment, and suggests again that Elendil's sword might help save Gondor, if Aragorn

15694-505: The south. With a Great Plague the population began a steep decline. The capital was moved from Osgiliath to the less affected Minas Anor, and evil creatures returned to the mountains bordering Mordor. There was war with the Wainriders, a confederation of Easterling tribes, and Gondor lost its line of kings. The Ringwraiths captured and occupied Minas Ithil which became Minas Morgul , "the Tower of Black Sorcery". At this time Minas Anor

15827-450: The varied races of Men, whether from medieval times or classical antiquity . The weakness of Men, The Lord of the Rings asserts, is the desire for power; the One Ring promises enormous power, but is both evil and addictive . Tolkien uses the two Men in the Fellowship created to destroy the Ring , Aragorn and the warrior Boromir , to show the effects of opposite reactions to that temptation. It becomes clear that, except for Men, all

15960-524: The war and the Third Age to an end. The Great Gate was rebuilt with mithril and steel by Gimli and Dwarves from the Lonely Mountain . Aragorn's coronation was held on the Gateway, where he was pronounced King Elessar of both Gondor and Arnor, the sister kingdom in the north. Tolkien's original thoughts about the later ages of Middle-earth are outlined in his first, mid-1930s, sketches for

16093-548: The war, so Isildur conferred rule of Gondor upon Anárion's son Meneldil, retaining suzerainty over Gondor as High King of the Dúnedain. Isildur and his three elder sons were ambushed and killed by Orcs in the Gladden Fields. Isildur's remaining son Valandil did not attempt to claim his father's place as Gondor's monarch; the kingdom was ruled solely by Meneldil and his descendants until their line died out. During

16226-401: The whole novel indeed a heroic romance : he regains his throne, marries Arwen, and has a long, peaceful, and happy reign. White Mountains (Middle-earth) Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien 's writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age . The third volume of The Lord of the Rings , The Return of

16359-445: The works of Men always "fail of their promise"; Legolas replies that even if that's so, "seldom do they fail of their seed", in marked contrast to the scarcity of children among Elves and Dwarves, implying that Men will outlast the other races. Gimli suggests again that Men's projects "come to naught in the end but might-have-beens". Legolas just replies "To that the Elves know not the answer". Kocher comments that this "sad little fugue"

16492-464: The world is made round; and Valinor is removed from the world, so that only the Elves can reach it. Sauron's body is destroyed, but his spirit escapes to become the new Dark Lord of Middle-earth. A remnant of the Men of Númenor who remained faithful, under Elendil , sail to Middle-earth, where they found the kingdoms of Arnor in the North and Gondor in the South, remaining known as the Dúnedain, "Men of

16625-607: The Éothéod, answered the summons, arriving unexpected at a decisive battle on the Field of Celebrant, routing the orc army. As a reward, Éorl was given the Gondorian province of Calenardhon (except for Isengard). Eorl the Young founded the Kingdom of Rohan in the former Calenardhon; the royal family was known as the House of Eorl. The first line of kings lasted for 249 years, until the ninth king Helm Hammerhand died. His sons had been killed earlier, and his nephew Fréaláf Hildeson began

16758-522: Was also a few miles south at Harlond, where the great river Anduin made its closest approach to Minas Tirith. Ringló Vale lay between Lamedon and Lebennin. The region of Calenardhon lay to the north of the White Mountains; it was granted independence as the kingdom of Rohan . To the northeast, the river Anduin enters the hills of the Emyn Muil and passes the Sarn Gebir, dangerous straits, above

16891-402: Was anti-racist, his fantasy writings can certainly be taken the wrong way. With his different races of Men arranged from good in the West to evil in the East, simple in the North and sophisticated in the South, Tolkien had, in the view of John Magoun, constructed a "fully expressed moral geography ": Gondor is both virtuous, being West, and has problems, being South; Mordor in the Southeast

17024-469: Was once the usual term for central England, and it would have been pronounced and written "marc" rather than the West Saxon "mearc" or the Latinized "Mercia". The Tolkien scholar Thomas Honegger , agreeing with Shippey's description of the Rohirrim as "Anglo-Saxons on Horseback", calls the sources for them "quite obvious to anyone familiar with Anglo-Saxon literature and culture". The resemblances, according to Honegger, include masterly horsemanship, embodying

17157-400: Was renamed to Minas Tirith, in constant watch of its now defiled twin city. Without kings, Gondor was ruled by stewards for many generations, father to son; despite their exercise of power and hereditary status, they were never accepted as kings, nor did they sit on the high throne. After attacks by evil forces, the province of Ithilien and the city of Osgiliath were abandoned. In the War of

17290-441: Was searching for an explanation of the Eddaic names of the dwarves already published in The Hobbit . Tolkien, a philologist , with a special interest in Germanic languages , pretended that the names and phrases of Old English were translated from Rohirric, just as the English used in The Shire was supposedly translated from Middle-earth's Westron or Common Speech . Examples include éored and mearas . The Riders' names for

17423-427: Was strongly anti-racist in real life. The race of Men in J. R. R. Tolkien 's fictional world, in his books The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion , is the second race of beings, the "younger children", created by the One God , Ilúvatar . Because they awoke in the First Age at the start of the Years of the Sun , long after the Elves , the Elves called them the "afterborn", or in Quenya

17556-503: Was the natural choice in the same style; Tolkien's 1942 table of correspondences also showed that the language of the people of Dale was represented by Norse . Honegger notes that this does not equate the Rohirrim with the Anglo-Saxons (on horseback or not), but it does show a strong connection, making them "the people most dear to Tolkien and all medievalists." Jane Ciabattari writes on BBC Culture that Lady Éowyn's fear of being caged rather than "doing great deeds" by riding to battle with

17689-429: Was then broken, with the capture of Merry and Pippin, and the death of Boromir. Between the two hills is a rocky islet, Tol Brandir, which partly dams the river; just below it is an enormous waterfall, the Falls of Rauros, over which Boromir's funeral-boat is sent. Further down the river are the hills of Emyn Arnen. The capital of Gondor at the end of the Third Age, Minas Tirith (Sindarin: "Tower of Guard" ), lay at

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