Middle-earth seen by the barbarians: The complete collection including a previously unpublished essay (4 page)

1. They went back over the mountains into Eriador, and are forgotten.
   

1. Settlements in the late First Age
   

At the end of the First Age, the situation that had developed looked like this:

The predominant culture of Rhovanion and south, towards the Sea of Rhún, were the Northmen, chiefly of pre-Marachrim origin, except perhaps for a lasting pre-Bëorrim enclave in Dorwinion (see
V.4
) and some Bórrim in southern Rhovanion.

The pre-Haladin meanwhile had spread from Umbar through the White Mountains to Isengard and Dunland, across Enedwaith and Minhiriath and as far North as Cardolan. Their northernmost kinsmen apparently dwelt along the line from Sarn Ford to the junction of Gwathló and Mitheithel. There, their expansion had been stopped by the settlements of the Middle Men. (The Númenórean ‘
term Middle Men was … originally applied to Men of Eriador
’,
(
DM
)
i.e. those pre-Marachrim who mainly inhabited later Arthedain, whose territory was accessible from the sea, along the rivers.) A thriving population of Swarthy Men was also present in Eriador, more or less mingling with the others.

The mysterious Forodwaith, ancestors of the Lossoth, centred in the very foothills of the Ered Engrin (see
II
).

The Drúedain dwelt in small parts of the White Mountains and along the coasts of Andrast and Minhiriath. Save for their secluded settlements, the ethnic and geographical boundaries were otherwise of course by no means fixed or defended. There was much traffic and mingling to and fro, and the War of Wrath helped to profoundly stir the kettle.

1. T
   HE
   S
   ECOND
   A
   GE
   
   1. Before the Númenórean colonisation
      

In the Second Age, ‘
the dark years for Men of Middle-earth
’
(
KR
)
when their culture and civilization ‘
went backward and light and wisdom faded
’,
(
AK
)
the indigenous Men of Eriador, Gondor and Rhovanion entered recorded history in the guise of many numerous and wide-spread populations. The Middle Men maintained contact with Gil-galad in Lindon and ‘
were friendly with the Elves, though they held them in awe and close friendships between them were rare. Also they feared the Sea and would not look upon it
’.
(
DM
)
Yet such ‘close friendships’ did exist, for there were Elves led by Galadriel and Celeborn as well who ‘
for a while … dwelt in the country about Lake Nenuial (Evendim, north of the Shire)
’,
(
GC
)
right among the Middle Men, and thus could hardly avoid to establish contact with them.

In the early Second Age, the Middle Men were frequently terrorised and subjected by scattered refugees from Angband who apparently took to the hills of Rhúdaur and the Mountains of Angmar in larger numbers. Still, ‘
Men in those parts remain
[ed]
more or less uncorrupted if ignorant
[and]
in a simple “Homeric” state of patriarchal and tribal life
’
(
L
131)
. The Númenóreans recorded that ‘
the native people were fairly numerous and warlike, but they were forest-dwellers, scattered communities without central leadership.
’
(
GC
)
Their condition evidently resembled what the Romans met in Gaul and Germania: many tribal territories, among which border skirmishes and raids were frequent but large-scale wars were rare.

1. Second Age: Settlements of the Middle Men (green), the Forodwaith (blue), the pre-Númenóreans (dark grey) and the Drúedain (reddish). The coastlines in the Bay of Belfalas approximate the description given in
   PM
   

The cultural influence of the Elves had slowly extended to touch the pre-Númenóreans in the White Mountains. This was the reason why ‘
between Pelargir
[that did not yet exist]
and the Gulf of Lune …, the settlers in this region had refused to join in the rebellion against the Valar
’,
(
DM
)
i. e. they had not submitted to the Dark Lord, Morgoth. These early inhabitants had retreated from the coasts: ‘
The shores of the Bay of Belfalas were still mainly desolate
[though not entirely, as the tale of Tar-Elmar suggests
(
EL
)
]
except for a haven and small settlement of Elves at the mouth of the confluence of Morthond and Rínglo
.’
(
DM
)
The inhabitants of this port, known as Edhellond, reported that at the time of its foundation ‘
there was already a primitive harbour there of fisherfolk, but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the
[White]
mountains
.’
(
GC
)
This event terminated the pre-Númenórean adventure into the Bay of Belfalas prematurely, therefore, because of the existence of Edhellond ‘
it was long before Númenórean settlers about the Mouths of Anduin … made contact with Men who dwelt in the valleys on either side of the White Mountains
’.
(
DM
)
Matter of fact, this happened after the foundation of Pelargir in 2350 SA.

When the Númenórean ships arrived at the shores of Middle-earth in 600 SA, the first Mannish people whom they made contact with were the Middle Men. The fleet landed in Lindon and its crews met with Gil-Galad (and, implicitly, with Celeborn and Galadriel). ‘
The news spread swiftly and Men in Eriador were filled with wonder.
’ Soon after, a meeting between the sailors from Westernesse and twelve messengers of Edainic descent came to pass on the Tower Hills, of which a detailed account is given in
AE
. For a limited time, ‘
they mingled in friendship
’.
(
AE
)

The Númenóreans began to civilise their newly won friends, ‘
and none yet dared to withstand them. For most of the Men of that age that sat under the Shadow were now grown weak and fearful. And coming among them the Númenóreans taught them many things
’
(
TA
)
, such as advanced agriculture, stonecraft and smithying.

For some time, all seemed to work well. Even the Faithful among the Númenóreans recorded that ‘
the Men of Middle-earth were comforted, and here and there upon the western shores the houseless woods drew back, and Men shook off the yoke of the offspring of Morgoth, and unlearned their terror of the dark. And they revered the memory of the tall Sea-kings, and when they had departed they called them gods, hoping for their return; for at that time the Númenóreans dwelt never long in Middle-earth, nor made there as yet any habitation of their own.
’
(
AK
)
A look behind this eruption of euphemism, however, will show that the tale of houseless woods drawing back from the coasts may hardly serve to conceal the irrecoverable damage which the Númenórean exploitation would inflict when king Tar-Aldarion came.

1. At that time the Númenóreans dwelt never long in Middle-earth
   

1. Prince Aldarion, the Enedwaith and the exploitation of Middle-earth
   

‘
In Aldarion’s day the Númenóreans did not yet desire more room, and his Venturers remained a small people.
’
(
FI
)
. But ‘
Aldarion had a great hunger for timber, desiring to make Númenor into a great naval power
’
(
CE
)
.

In about 810, Aldarion founded the haven of Vinyalondë at the mouth of the river Gwathló as ‘
a timber-port and ship-building harbour
’.
(
CE
)
Vinyalondë became the starting point of a transfer that was no longer limited to ‘civilised’ technology but now included cultural domination.

The Númenóreans, used to the euphonous languages of Elves and Edain, noticed with contempt that ‘
the tongues of the Men of Middle-earth’
had, at least to their ears,
‘fallen into brutishness, and they cried like harsh birds, or snarled like savage beasts.
’
(
HA
)
This view was of course biased and derogative. It would still have been even if we did not consider that ‘
many of the forest-dwellers of the shorelands south of the Ered Luin, especially in Minhiriath, were … the kin of the Folk of Haleth’
(
DM
)
who spoke derivatives of the Halethian language family. If that was not Edainic, what was it?

But the judgement had been passed. Middle-earth had been superficially cut in three, Forodwaith, Enedwaith and Haradwaith - Northern, Middle and Southern Folk -; and all of it was considered darkness and shadow. The languaga barrier ‘
may have been one of the reasons why the Númenóreans failed to recognize the Forest-folk of Minhiriath as “kinsmen”, and confused them with Men of the Shadow; for as has been noticed the native language of the Folk of Haleth was not related
’
(
DM
)
to the Atani (now mostly Hadorian) language. This oversight had tragic consequences.

1. The news spread swiftly and Men in Eriador were filled with wonder.
   

Aldarion proved to be quite incapable of environmental protection, and his policy against ethnic minority was as dubious. He was responsible that ‘
the power of Númenor became more and more occupied with great navies, for which their own land could not supply sufficient timber without ruin,
[and]
their felling of trees and transportation of wood to their shipyards in Númenor or on the coast of Middle-earth … became reckless.
’
(
DM
)
Aldarion’s policy caused a loss of reputation among the eEnedwaith from which Westernesse would never recover. Not as if the Middle Men had not been patient: Long they suffered in silence and ‘
did not become hostile until the tree-felling became devastating.
’
(
GC
)
But slowly, ‘
hostility was growing and dark men out of the mountains
[i. e. Dunland]
were thrusting into Enedwaith
’ in support of their troubled kinsmen.
(
AE
)
And setting up Vinyalondë right before their eyes was the final straw.
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