# Variags?



## Dáin Ironfoot I (Jan 15, 2003)

*Variags*

I don't have the book with me now, but in the chapter of the Pelennor Fields, Tolkien says something about Variags. What are they? Wolves maybe?


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## Seraph (Jan 15, 2003)

Apparently they're a fierce folk allied to the Easterlings and Haradrim. After Sauron's defeat they remained in their own lands for many years of the fourth age.


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## Confusticated (Jan 15, 2003)

As far as I know Variag is just a name for a person of Khand, nothing more and nothing less.

Correct this if it is wrong.


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## Cian (Jan 15, 2003)

Variag n. cap ~ Russ _Varyag_ of Scand origin; akin to ON _Vaeringjar_ ~ Varangians: Varangian.

The Varangians were the Vikings of the east, and note the Byzantine Emperor's 'Varangian Guard'. Maybe when Tolkien used the word 'Variag' he meant little more than 'barbarian mercenary'.

¤


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## aragil (Jan 15, 2003)

Cian- please check the resurrected _Uruks vs. Uruk-hai__ thread. I have a language question (or two) in there for you._


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## quickbeam (Jan 16, 2003)

My understanding is that the Variags are men from Khand, the Easterlings are men from Rhun and the Southrons/Haradrim are men from Harad. All of these men fought for Sauron in the War of the Ring. Those who weren't destroyed in the war were pardoned by Aragorn and allowed to return to their lands.


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## Lantarion (Jan 16, 2003)

Wow, thanks Cian I had no idea!


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## Niniel (Jan 16, 2003)

Wow, that's cool! I thought Variag was a strange name, but I could have known JRRT didn't just make it up...


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## Cian (Jan 16, 2003)

Thanks to David Salo actually, and not surprisingly  but I did the 'legwork' long ago to get it here.


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## EL GALLO (Apr 18, 2003)

Does somebody know what kind of thing are the Variags? Many people think that they are the men of Khand however in the Pelennor Fields they were runing from the sun and no men would never be affected by sunlight.


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## BlackCaptain (Apr 18, 2003)

I believe they were wild Man-Beasts from Harad or Khand, though I'm not too certain...


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## Melko Belcha (Apr 18, 2003)

The Encyclopedia of Arda says:
A little-known people dwelling in the land of Khand, east of Mordor, at the time of the War of the Ring. They were allied to Sauron, and their warriors were seen at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. 

The Complete Guide to Middle-earth says:
A race, probably of Men, dwelling in Khand. In WR they were allied with Sauron.

There is no info in the LotR Appendies and I'm not sure if there is any in the HoME series, I don't have the books around to check.


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## BlackCaptain (Apr 18, 2003)

So then it's safe to say that they were just wild men from Khand.


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## Lantarion (Apr 18, 2003)

Haha, I used to think that Variags were some sort of wild beast used as transport and in war in Khand.. 
I remember a thread about this.. It gave pretty good evidence that Tolkien based the Variags on another known 'clan' or people or central EUrope or something.. Sorry I can't remember.


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## EL GALLO (Apr 18, 2003)

> _Originally posted by BlackCaptain _
> *So then it's safe to say that they were just wild men from Khand. *


If they were wild men from Khand they wouldn't hate the Sun.


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## Anamatar IV (Apr 18, 2003)

> _Originally posted by EL GALLO _
> *If they were wild men from Khand they wouldn't hate the Sun. *



On the contrary, if they were wild men they would not appreciate the sun for its light and would hate it for its brightness. The same thing goes for Gollum. Gollum is [almost] a Hobbit and hobbits don't hate the sun...yet Gollum does.


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## Inderjit S (Apr 19, 2003)

> On the contrary, if they were wild men they would not appreciate the sun for its light and would hate it for its brightness. The same thing goes for Gollum. Gollum is [almost] a Hobbit and hobbits don't hate the sun...yet Gollum does



It is doubtful as to whether or not any men hated the sun. The Sun was considered as a sign for the awakening of men, even in BoLT, or the idea that the sun was a herald for the awakening of men, or even the latter conceptions on Arda, in Myths Transformed it is seen as allowing men to finally escape from their 'besieged' land as it dries up the floods caused by Manwe's winds. Therefore one can assume that men would have soem 'reverence' for the sun. Remeber, the Variags weren't evil/corrupted in the sense that Orcs or Gollum with the ring were, they would've needed the sun in order to survive, like all other men. Just because they were 'wild' doesn't mean they were evil. Notice the village of possible Sauron worshippers in Tal-Elmar, they weren't evil, and Sam's thoughts about the dead Southron.


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## EL GALLO (Apr 19, 2003)

But the Variags aren't men. When Tolkien talked about the men of Khand who allied with the Haradrim and the Wainraiders, he referred to them as Men. The only place where he talks about Variags is in the ROTK, so for me it is clear that the men of Khand and the Variags from Khand are different people.


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## Inderjit S (Apr 19, 2003)

> Varaigs; the people of Khand



HoME 12;index of names

So the Variags were the PEOPLE of Khand. People usually implies human.....


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## Beleg (Apr 20, 2003)

> This name is of alien, Haradric origin, and its similarity to that of the Varyags, the Slavic name of the Varangians or Vikings, seems to be accidental.


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## Lantarion (Apr 20, 2003)

Oh, accidental.. Well anyway.


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## EL GALLO (Apr 20, 2003)

What do you mean by alien and where did you take that quote from?


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## Inderjit S (Apr 20, 2003)

By 'alien' I think it means a language that was unknown to Tolkien.


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## Beleg (Apr 21, 2003)

The quote is taken from an artical in Liliath's sceience pages where she describes in detail the origin of Enemies of Gondor in Third Age.


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## Halasían (Dec 4, 2003)

*Variags*

I always thought the Variags were a fierce warrior class of the people of Khand. Its my perception only.


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## Lantarion (Dec 4, 2003)

Well it sounds about right.


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## Bucky (Dec 15, 2003)

_If they were wild men from Khand they wouldn't hate the Sun._

Where's it say they hated the sun in TLOR?

If it's in The Battle Of The Pelannor Fields & all it says is they ran when the sun came out, it may have had more to do with the 5000 Riders Of Rohan charging at them than the sun itself.


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## Inderjit S (Dec 16, 2003)

The Variags were part of a regiment stationed in Osgiliath (Which had been taken from Faramir) and were originally intended to take part in the sack of Minas Tirith. But of course, the original plan (thankfully!) failed and they were called in by Gothmog to aid the Haradrim. Some of these went to aid the Haradrim (Who outnumbered the Rohhirm about 3-1) against the Rohirrim and positioned themselves behind the Rohirrim and some attempted to intercept the force under Imrahil that was attempting to aid the Rohirrim in their plight. When the Morgul host saw the Ships of the Corsairs in the control of their enemies they began to loose hope and the regiment (Which contained some Variags) that was sent to intercept Imrahil's army was routed. The passage doesn’t say that they fled from the sunlight, but that the Orks hated and fled from the sunlight. The Variags were simply being driven away by Imrahil’s force from Minas Tirith. 

The sun had been shining for some hours before, so that wouldn't have had a detrimental effect upon the Variags. 

Also, do you think the slaves of Mordor who lived on the Lake Nurnen were mainly from Khand? (Hence it being marked on the map.) They seem to be the closest country to South-East Mordor. Aragorn, of course gives the land about Lake Nurnen land to the former slaves of Sauron. (Although from the passage in 'The Land of Shadow' it seems that Sauron recruited his slaves from a lot of different countries, not just Khand, but Khand seems to me, due to it's close proximity to Mordor, to be the most likely place whereby slaves are brought in from.) We also know that Khand had allied herself with the Wainriders when they attacked Gondor and when Ondoher, Artamir and Faramir were slain and a new line of Kings, under Earnil II, who was based at Pelargir and who defeated the Southern Army at the River Poros and routed the feasting Easterlings.


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## Halasían (Aug 24, 2010)

That is about all that is written by the Professor about Khand and the Variags. However, Tolkiens map puts Khand south of the eastern leg of the Mountains of Shadow. The Sea of Nurnen is to the north and slightly west of this mountain spur. I could see Khand being a major route for Harad to Mordor but for maybe the lack of water along the way. It may be why the road through Ithilien was considered safe enough to be used even though threats of attack from the Rangers of Ithilien were always a possibility.


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## r.j.c. (Oct 17, 2010)

I don't recall were the Bearded Men guarding the road from ROHAN to GONDOR were they Variags ?


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## Alcuin (Nov 9, 2010)

Varangians were Vikings: they were Norsemen who travelled across what is now modern-day Russia. Up rivers from the Baltic, they portaged their longboats to riverheads that flowed south to the Black Sea. The most famous of all was Rurik, founder of Kiev and of the House of Rurik that ruled Russia until the death of Ivan the Terrible. 


Cian said:


> Variag n. cap ~ Russ Varyag of Scand origin; akin to ON Vaeringjar ~ Varangians: Varangian.
> 
> The Varangians were the Vikings of the east, and note the Byzantine Emperor's 'Varangian Guard'. Maybe when Tolkien used the word 'Variag' he meant little more than 'barbarian mercenary'.


This is an excellent point. The Variags were from Khand in Middle-earth, a country located in the central region of Middle-earth, completely landlocked, far from the “civilized West”, though certainly it had an ancient civilization of its own. (One wonders, based upon its location, if it were ever free of Sauronian influence before the end of the Third Age.) In the real world, there are a great number of similarly-named places: for instance Samar_kand_, from Old Persian _asmara_, “stone”, “rock”, and Sogdian _kand_, “fort”, “town”; and while Samarkand is quite far from Kiev, to English-speakers they are typically studied together as part of Russian history; certainly in the days of the Variags of the Byzantine Imperial court, Samarkand – and other cities with similar-sounding names – were places of increasing importance and population.



Halasían said:


> I always thought the Variags were a fierce warrior class of the people of Khand. Its my perception only.


It could fit a confluence of historical “kand” and “Variag”


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## Halasían (Jan 4, 2011)

*Re: Variags*



Halasían said:


> I always thought the Variags were a fierce warrior class of the people of Khand. Its my perception only.





Alcuin said:


> It could fit a confluence of historical “kand” and “Variag”



I have to admit my thinking on Khand and the Varaigs has been greatly affected by both a role-play story I was involved in, and a 4th Age fan story I've written. Tolkien himself gives very little on the people and history of Khand.


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