Middle-earth seen by the barbarians: The complete collection including a previously unpublished essay

by Codex Regius

  ‘The enemy vanguard … was composed not only of the war-chariots of the Wainriders but also of a force of cavalry far greater than any that had been expected.’ (CE) These were probably the allies from Khand. The Northern Army was utterly defeated on the Dagorlad. King Ondoher ‘and both his sons Faramir and Artamir fell in battle’. (HE) The Wainriders came down upon Ithilien from the north, determined to join the Haradrim whom they expected to approach from the Poros. Together they intended to home in on the major cities at the Anduin. But General Eärnil, ‘hastening north, … gathered to him all that he could of the retreating Northern Army and came up against the main camp of the Wainriders, while they were feasting and revelling. … Eärnil stormed the camp and set fire to the wains, and drove the enemy in a great rout out of Ithilien. A great part of those who fled before him perished in the Dead Marshes.’ (KR)

  Gondor was saved. But the war had been won at a terrible cost. The Northern Kingdom was no more, the House of Anárion almost extinct, gone was the grip on Mordor and Umbar would forever remain a Morgul-knife in the limbs of the Southern Kingdom.

  [1] A practise that the Romans wisely adopted, keeping and raising Germanic noblemen in their houses and killing them if their relatives did not keep quiet. One of them was Arminius, of Teutoburgian fame.

  [2] i. e. Northern Mannish, being ethnically related to the Atani/Edain of the First Age.

  [3] That should certainly read ‘west of the Sea’. This is a typo in LR that stayed undetected even in the 50th anniversary revisions.

  [4] Is this a specific reference to the Variags?

  The new millenium was overshadowed by a sinister turning point of history: the fall of Minas Ithil in 2002 TA. It was not attributed to the Wainriders who are no longer referred to in any Gondorian annals after 1944 TA, yet its conquerors were explicitly not troops of orcs but ‘fell men whom the Enemy in his first strength had dominated, and who wandered homeless and masterless after his fall.’ (TT) This expresses the popular view of common men in late Gondor, for ‘the Enemy in his first strength’ must refer to the Last Alliance. That the Rhúnedain were by now neither homeless nor masterless was still escaping royal propaganda.

  The description seems to suggest that Wainriders yet contributed to the fall of Minas Ithil. After all, it is hard to see why the Battle of Dagorlad, as decisive as it was for the fate of Gondor and Rhovanion, should have brought the downfall of their entire empire about, unless it be by internal revolt, of which there is no evidence. At least parts of their dominion were certainly still active when Gandalf investigated Dol Guldur in 2063 and Sauron retreated once more to his abode in Rhún, to return from there three hundred years later, with increased strength. The Wainrider empire may actually have survived Dagorlad for a long time.

  Unlike Umbar, Minas Ithil did not become a base of the Men of Darkness immediately. Obviously, the Wainriders and other Rhóvain were much less qualified for organised settlement than the Corsairs. Instead, the Witch-king took it as his domain because his northern realm of Angmar was no more, and he filled it with orcs.

  Neither waning Gondor nor the Northmen managed to regain control of eastern Rhovanion, and a kind of diadoch state born from the Wainrider empire developed there. As late as the 26th century, when the royal line of Gondor had faded and Cirion was Steward, ‘in the wide lands of Rhovanion, between Mirkwood and the River Running, a fierce people … dwelt, wholly under the shadow of Dol Guldur.’ (KR) Known as the Balchoth or ‘Horrible Horde’, they were independent from the Wainriders ‘to whom they were no doubt akin’ (CE) but whose main realm may have been divided up like the empire of Gengis Khan. ‘These Balchoth were constantly increased by others of like kind that came in from the east’, (KR) and ‘they were slaying or driving north up the River Running and into the Forest the remnant of the Northmen … that still dwelt east of Mirkwood.’ (CE) That seems to exclude Dorwinion whose Dúnedain inhabitants were still present, but as far as the Northmen were concerned, ‘the Balchoth were destroying the last of their kin in the South’. (CE) Protected by Dol Guldur, they ‘often they made raids through the forest [of Mirkwood], until the vale of Anduin south of the Gladden was largely deserted.’ (KR)

  Third Millenium: The Diadochs

  In 2509, ‘hosts of men were mustering all along the southern eaves of Mirkwood. … What they lacked in gear of war they made up in numbers, so far as could be guessed.’ (CE) Their plan, or Sauron’s plan, was to expand into the shattered relic of Gondor and to usurp its northern provinces, especially the grasslands of Calenardhon which Sauron may have faked to promise them as their domain. ‘Southern Mirkwood (below the great East Bight) … was now infested by the Balchoth.’ (CE) Quite remarkably, they had developed shipcraft, for till 2510 they had ‘built many great boats and rafts on the east shores of Anduin, [and now they] swarmed over the River and swept away the defenders.’ (KR) Assisted by orcs from Dol Guldur and the Misty Mountains, the Balchoth ‘overran the realm (now sparsely populated) north of the White Mountains, pouring into the wold and plain of Calenardon [sic].’ (HE)

  They swarmed over the River

  The northern part of Gondor would have been lost to Cirion, were it not for the famous ride of the Éothéod. Avenging the previous destruction of their southern kinsfolk, they took the chance to aid the Dúnedain and destroy their foe. ‘Eorl the Young came with his riders and swept away the enemy, and pursued the Balchoth to the death over the fields of Calenardhon.’ (KR) Cirion was so thankful that he granted the entire province to the Éothéod, realising that Gondor lacked the power to retain it, and more or less deliberately ignoring the interests of the Dunlendings who considered this transfer of power a grave insult (see chapter I.4.3). The descendants of the Éorlingas – the Rohirrim, as they were called later – established a sovereign lordship on Gondorian soil that would forever remain a loyal ally.

  The Southern Kingdom was soon able to return the favour. In the beginning, the Éorlingas managed on their own to guard their borders, ‘though during the reign of Eorl their eastern bounds along Emyn Muil and Anduin were still under attack’ by the Balchoth. (FI) Other concerns attracted the attention of the Stewards, for the Corsairs of Umbar continued to raid the coasts. In 2746, even the 15th Prince of Dol Amroth was slain during one such assault. But in fact, it was soon revealed that these skirmishes only detracted attention from Sauron’s true intentions. In the fatal year 2758, ‘in the days of Beren, the nineteenth Steward’, (KR) he had another time managed to organise a simultaneous assault against Gondor and its allies.

  From the south, ‘there was a great attack on Gondor … by three fleets of the pirates of Umbar. All the coasts were invaded.’ (HE) At the same time, ‘the Rohirrim were assailed from the east, and their land was overrun, and they were driven into the dales of the White Mountains.’ (KR) Presumably, though they are not named in any sources, these mysterious invaders were again the Balchoth who had been driven from Calenardhon but not from Rhovanion. This may have been the time when the mysterious Bladorthin gained his merits as ‘the great king’ (H; see chapter V).

  Boldly, Umbar even attacked Rohan from the sea-side: ‘Three great fleets, long prepared, came up from Umbar and the Harad, and assailed the coasts of Gondor in great force; and the enemy made many landings, even as far north as the mouth of the Isen.’ (KR) ‘The Dunlendings seeing their chance’ to shake off the despised yoke of the Northmen, took a rather unlikely counsel, and their landlord Wulf negotiated an alliance with the Corsairs. At last they ‘were in great force, for they were joined by enemies of Gondor’ (KR). Combined with the Easterling attack from the East, enough power had gathered to take even Edoras. ‘Gondor received no help from Rohan, and could send no help thither.’ (HE)

  The collapse of this masterfully contrived campaign was brought about by the coincident of the Long Winter that brought great starvation over the occupants. Then the Ruling Steward Beren ‘at once sent aid to Rohan’ (KR; note the propagandistic twist with regard to the assumed speed of
reply), and ‘before spring came Beregond son of Beren had overcome the invaders.’ (KR) The Riddermark was freed, its kingship restored. Routing the rest of the invaders was again helped by the weather. In late spring, ‘there were great floods after the snows, and the vale of Entwash became a vast fen. The Eastern invaders perished or withdrew.’ (KR)

  Neither Rohan nor Rhovanion heard again of Easterlings until the War of the Ring. Presumably, their habitations east of Anduin and west of the Sea of Rhún had been so severely affected by the Long Winter and the floods that they had not survived, and the history of the Easterling dominions in Rhovanion had come to an end. It was only during the lifetime of King Brand of Dale in the early 4th millenium that they were seen again, now fully under the spell of the Dark Lord.

  Also the Haradrim seem to have stayed clear of Gondorian territory for the next few centuries while the evil power of Minas Ithil - now Minas Morgul - grew and Gondor met increasing perils from this side that are beyond the scope of this discussion. Border skirmishes and raids by the Corsairs remained no doubt frequent. Evidence is a short note on the 16th Prince of Dol Amroth having been slain in 2799 under circumstances that are nowhere recorded in detail. (HE) As late as 2885, ‘stirred up by emissaries of Sauron the Haradrim cross[ed] the Poros and attack[ed] Gondor.’ (TY) They effectively ‘occupied South Gondor, and there was much fighting along the Poros.[1]’ (KR) Steward Turin II ‘defeated them with aid from Rohan; but the sons of King Folcwine of Rohan, Folcred and Fastred, fell in this battle.’ (HE)

  ‘Turgon followed Turin, but of his time it is chiefly remembered that two years ere his death, Sauron arose again, and declared himself openly.’ (KR)

  [1] Note that this seems to conflict with the previous notion that Harondor had been contested between Osgiliath and Umbar since 1448. When had Gondor managed to reclaim her southernmost province so that the Haradrim could ‘occupy’ it?

  Mumak attack

  At last, Sauron felt almost strong enough to wage what he considered the final assault on the free North-west of Middle-earth. Even though Boromir, son of Denethor, boldly claimed that ‘by our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay’, other, more rationally minded Dúnedain were aware that they were outnumbered: ‘now of late we have learned that the Enemy has been among [the Corsairs of Umbar], and they are gone over to Him, or back to Him - they were ever ready to His will - as have so many also in the East.’[1] (TT) The forces were moving: ‘This is a great war long-planned, and we are but one piece in it, whatever pride may say. Things move in the far East beyond the Inland Sea, it is reported; … and south in Harad.’ (RK)

  The Easterlings still maintained the traditions of the Wainriders, approaching with wains and chariots. Like back in 1944, they were supported by cavalry units: ‘Here and there [was] the gleam of spears and helmets; and over the levels beside the roads horsemen could be seen riding in many companies. … These were Men of other race, out of the wide Eastlands.’ (TT) The axe-men were first seen at Cair Andros. (RK) ‘From the havens of Harad ships of war put out to sea,’ (FR) the Variags of Khand were on the move, as were the Southrons from Harad with their dreadful oliphaunts[2], and even the black troll-men of Far Harad were seen among the united forces. ‘At the same time … a host of the allies of Sauron that had long threatened the borders of King Brand crossed the river Carnen. … In the end both King Brand and King Dain Ironfoot were slain, and the Easterlings had the victory.’ (TY) Once again, Rhovanion was in peril of getting subdued.

  [1] This is quite a chauvinistic statement. Despite all dissension, it is hard to imagine that the Castamirioni and the Gondorian dissidents of Umbar should have been ‘ever ready to His will‘

  [2] On PBD, their rôle is compared to the 20 African war elephants that king Pyrrhus sent against the Romans in the Battle of Heraclea.

  The War of the Ring

  At Pelennor, the Men of Darkness almost won over as well. When Aragorn and the Dead Men of Dunharrow had taken the main fleet of the Corsairs, the Dúnedain launched a successful counter-attack, ‘driving the enemy before them: troll-men and Variags and orcs that hated the sunlight.’ Though ‘the Southrons were bold men and grim, and fierce in despair; and the Easterlings were strong and war-hardened and asked for no quarter[,] … all were slain save those who fled to die, or to drown in the red foam of the River. … To the land of the Haradrim came only a tale from far off: a rumour of the wrath and terror of Gondor.’ (RK)

  When Sauron’s ban on their minds was lifted, ‘the Men of Rhún and of Harad, Easterling and Southron, saw the ruin of their war and the great majesty and glory of the Captains of the West. And those that were deepest and longest in evil servitude, hating the West, and yet were men proud and bold, in their turn now gathered themselves for a last stand of desperate battle. But the most part fled eastward as they could; and some cast their weapons down and sued for mercy.’ (RK)

  Their defeat was total and irrevocable. In the north, the attack on Rhovanion collapsed like a house of cards: ‘When news came of the great victories in the South, then Sauron’s northern army was filled with dismay; and the besieged came forth and routed them, and the remnant fled into the East and troubled Dale no more.’ (TY)

  As if they were released from a spell, many inhabitants of Rhún and Harad suddenly realised whom they had served till then. Their distant homelands apparently were shattered by political earthquakes of unprecedented size. ‘And embassies came from many lands and peoples, from the East and the South, and from the borders of Mirkwood … And the King pardoned the Easterlings that had given themselves up, and sent them away free, and he made peace with the peoples of Harad; and the slaves of Mordor he released and gave to them all the lands about Lake Nurnen to be their own.’ (RK)

  The euphoria of the time when those words were written is unmistakable. But later historians provided more plausible records, and these are the last of the Fourth Age that concern the vastnesses of Rhún and Harad:

  ‘Though Sauron had passed, the hatred and evils that he bred had not died, and the King of the West had many enemies to subdue before the White Tree could grow in peace. And wherever King Elessar went with war King Éomer went with him; and beyond the Sea of Rhún and on the far fields of the South the thunder of the cavalry of the Mark was heard.’ (KR)

  The Fourth Age

  Castamir the Usurper, lord of Umbar

  THE THIRD REALM IN EXILE

  from a harbour and colony of Númenor to the lair of corsairs

  The port and harbour of Umbar has been notoriously dismissed as a stronghold of evil powers whose only pastime was to annoy the authorities of Gondor. A more neutral point of view should disclose, however, that Umbar was special in many respects. Besides the fledgling realms of Arnor and Gondor, it was another centre of Dúnedainic power that had somehow managed to outlive the Downfall of Númenor. And for some time it grew into a veritable third Realm in Exile that rivalled with her northern neighbours and even sent a queen to Gondor. The following chapters will discuss her history as far as it can be deduced from many scattered sources.

  The Bay of Belfalas as it was described in the Second Age. (The coastline is an approximation. The dotted line marks the way that Ar-Pharazôn’s army took after its landing at Umbar.)

  2280 - 3320 SA:NÚMENÓREAN PERIOD

  During the days of glory of the Kings of Westernesse, they ‘had explored the coasts of Middle-earth far southward’ (TI), establishing landing and trading posts that developed into dominions and vice-kingdoms. But ‘though the kingdoms and strongholds they made have left many rumours in the legends of Men, the Eldar know naught of them’[1] (HA) - save for Umbar that acquired a special position in history.

  South of the mouth of the river Anduin, as it was then, the mariners of Númenor had discovered a useful natural haven ‘that no hand had wrought’ (AK) though it was not unsettled when they arrived, and the colonisers adopted a local name, referring to the harbour since as ‘t
he great cape and land-locked firth of Umbar [that] had been Númenórean land since days of old.’[2] (KR, IV).

  The borders of the dominion that grew around the firth have not been recorded by map or textbook. The coastline of the firth is almost at the southern edge of the original LR map. Alas, it was excluded from the UT map that has replaced it in many LR editions.

  For the convenience of readers who are only familiar with this latter map edition, the tentative shoreline of the Bay of Belfalas as it may have appeared in the Second Age is reproduced in Fig. 41, before the inundations caused by the Downfall of Númenor and the World Made Round when the shorelines of Middle-earth ‘were much changed in the tumult of the winds and seas, the Bay of Belfalas was much filled at the east and south, so that Pelargir which had been only a few miles from the sea was left far inland, and Anduin carved a new path by many mouths to the Bay. But the Isle of Tolfalas was almost destroyed, and was left at last like a barren and lonely mountain in the water not far from the issue of the River.’ (TS)

  The Kings of Númenor acknowledged the usefulness as well as the vulnerability of this site, being closer to the land of Mordor than any other port, except Pelargir. That is why in 2280 SA, it was ‘made into a great fortress of Númenor’ (TY) that was since known as the Haven of Umbar (*Umbarlondë).