Northmen

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

A mighty brigade of Northmen, ready and eager to take the War of the Ring to the Easterlings.

The Northmen, also known as the Free Men of the North, were Men that lived in the north of Rhovanion in Middle-earth, and were friendly to Gondor.

[edit] History

The Northmen who dwellt in Greenwood the Great and other parts of Rhovanion were friendly to the Dúnedain and were after the Dúnedain the most noble Men on Arda, counted as Middle Men by the Dúnedain, and believed to have been descended from the same group of Men as the Edain, the Atanatári. The only difference was that they didn't cross the Ered Luin into Beleriand and therefore didn't go to Númenor. The result of them not participating in the War against Morgoth was their considerably shorter lifespan if compared to the lifespan of the Dúnedain, whose lifespan was enhanced by the Valar after the War of Wrath. They were important allies of Gondor and served as a buffer against the Easterlings, and in the Army of Gondor. For a time many of them even became subjects of Gondor, as the realm extended beyond the river Anduin.

East of Greenwood the Great was the kingdom of Rhovanion, and this became the most important nation of the Northmen. In the fourteenth century of the Third Age, King Rómendacil II of Gondor sent his son Valacar as an ambassador to Vidugavia, the so-called "King of Rhovanion". Valacar loved Rhovanion and the daughter of the King, Vidumavi. He married her and she bore him a son whom she called Vinitharya in her mother tongue. In Gondor Vinitharya became known as King Eldacar and caused a civil war, the Kin-strife because of his mixed Dúnadan/Northmen blood.

Shortly after the death of Vidugavia a small group of Northmen moved to the vales of the Anduin between the Gladden Fields and the Mirkwood, probably to flee from the Wainriders, who had enslaved Rhovanion. After the evil Kingdom of Angmar was defeated by Gondor and the remains of Arnor in TA 1977, these Northmen moved north and began to call themselves the Éothéod. They were skilled horse breeders and horsemen. In TA 2510 they responded to a plea of help from the trapped Gondorian army at the Field of Celebrant. After they helped Gondor win this important victory they were rewarded the province of Calenardhon and became known as the Rohirrim. The Men of Rohan who fought on foot were called 'Yeomen'.

The Men of Dale and Esgaroth were also counted under the Northmen, as were the woodsmen of Mirkwood. Most of Rhovanion had been depopulated after the wars of the Easterlings and the Great Plague. Their range was extremely wide; the Men of the North ranged to the western eaves of Mirkwood to the southern slopes of the Grey Mountains and from the Long Lake to Dorwinion on the Sea of Rhun.

In the Hobbit, these men carved out a potentially precarious living in the eaves of Mirkwood, living as hunters, loggers, trappers, and fishermen on the Anduin and its tributaries. They also lived in constant fear of attack from Dol Guldur.

[edit] Military

The larger, more established kingdoms of the North (such as Dale and Esgaroth) would have at least some semblance of a regular standing army. These would have mostly consisted of a force of dismounted men-at-arms, armed with a sword and a wooden shield. The Men of the North might've received some Gondorian help in metalworking, along with their Dwarvish allies nearby. A militia or town guard would've also been used extensively, for the majority of the humans in the north were farmers and thus needed full attention on the all-important harvest.

Further up the military hierarchy would be a force of axemen, for many of the woodcutters and loggers in Mirkwood would've learned to use the axe from adolescence. These men were deadly with their weapons and hewed off quite a few Easterling heads whenever they invaded.

A force of mounted knights and light cavalry would've been available for scouting and other duties, for the terrain from Dale to Dorwinion is mostly flat and featureless (like the Great Plains).

Archers and crossbowmen might've been present as well to defend the cities of Dale and Esgaroth.