# The legend and history of Dunharrow



## Thorin (Nov 27, 2003)

Another thing that one doesn't give too much thought to unless they delve into the history of ME. When Theoden and company ride to Dunharrow, it is explained like this:


> Such was the dark Dunharrow, the work of long-forgotten men. Their name was lost and no song or legend remembered it. For what purpose they had made this place, as a town or secret temple or a tomb of kings, none in Rohan could say. Here they laboured in the Dark Years, before ever a ship came to the western shores, or Gondor or of the Dunedain was built



I don't have a copy of Sil here with me. Possibly the third race of man who might have migrated during the First Age when Morgoth was ruling ME?

Any ideas?


----------



## Lantarion (Nov 28, 2003)

Well, when the Númenóreans came to Middle-earth in their ships, there were Men living there.. And I'd say they were the ancestors of the Haradrim or Khand-folk.
Also, the Men wouldn't have migrated anywhere, because they Awoke in Eriador, basically. Well not in Eriador, but certainly not in Beleriand.


----------



## jimmyboy (Nov 30, 2003)

I believe it was built by the men called Pukel-men, or more properly, the Druedain (no, not Dunedain). They look similar to those statues seen on the path up to Dunharrow. This is explained (IIRC) in "Unfinished Tales". I also believe that the wood men who helped the Rohirrim on their way to Gondor in LOTR (Ghand and his men) are related to them.


----------



## Ghan-buri-ghan (Dec 4, 2003)

. . .and we live in Druadan forest. . .

. . . thus the name. . .


----------



## Lantarion (Dec 5, 2003)

Uh, well, logically the forest would have been named after the inhabitants, wouldn't you say..?


----------



## Inderjit S (Dec 5, 2003)

> Well, when the Númenóreans came to Middle-earth in their ships, there were Men living there.. And I'd say they were the ancestors of the Haradrim or Khand-folk.





> Historians in Gondor believed that the first Men to cross the Anduin were indeed the Drúedain. They came (it was believed) from lands south of Mordor, but before they reached the coasts of Haradwaith they turned north into Ithilien, and eventually finding a way across the Anduin (probably near Cair Andros) settled in the vales of the White Mountains and the wooded lands at their northern feet. 'They were a secretive people, suspicious of other kinds of Men by whom they had been harried and persecuted as long as they could remember, and they wandered west seeking a land where they could be hidden and have peace


 _The Drúedain_ (U.T)



> from the East, they said, had come the tall Men who drove them from the White Mountains, and they were wicked at heart


 _The Drúedain_ (U.T)

These quotes from _The Drúedain_ are rather confusing as I thought the Men of the White Mountains were pre-Haladin (A large part of these pre-Haladin didn't enter Beleriand and remained in Eriador and were known as the Gwathuirim. The Bree-Men and Dunlendings were both descended from the Gwathuirim. 'The Appendix' and 'The Battle of the Fords of Isen' both state the Dead Men of Dunharrow were related to the Dunlendings and thus were Gwathuirim.) The pre-Haladin were friendly with the Drúedain otherwise why would the Drúedain accompany them on their journey to Beleriand? It seems the ideas that they were Easterlings was Tolkien's later idea on the subject, but it is stated in canonical works (Appendix; LoTR) that they were pre-Haladin and related to the Breemen and Dunlendings. But one can argue that the Appendix never specifies whether the Men of Dunharrow were descended from Easterlings or pre-Haladin, as such concepts were not at the time developed.

The Drúedain were the first Men to cross the Anduin, and it is probable that the pre-Haladin, choosing a different route from the Bëorians and Marachians who remained on opposite sides of the shores of the Sea of Rhûn for some time before migrating West due to conflicts with evil Men. 



> an emigrant branch of the Drúedain accompanied the Folk of Haleth at the end of the First Age ... but most had remained in the White Mountains, in spite of their persecution by later-arrived Men, who had relapsed into the service of the Dark


 _The Drúedain_ (U.T)



> The Men of Darkness built temples, some of great size, usually surrounded by dark trees, often in caverns (natural or delved) in secret valleys of mountain-regions; such as the dreadful halls and passages under the Haunted Mountain beyond the Dark Door (Gate of the Dead) in Dunharrow. The special horror of the closed door before which the skeleton of Baldor was found was probably due to the fact that the door was the entrance to an evil temple hall to which Baldor had come, probably without opposition up to that point. But the door was shut in his face, and enemies that had followed him silently came up and broke his legs and left him to die in the darkness, unable to find any way out


 _River and Beacon Hills of Gondor_ 

These _Men of Darkness_ are, most likely the evil Morgoth worshippers as described in the _Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth_ (HoME 10).

One can draw parallels between this and _Tal-Elmar_ (HoME 12). Although Tolkien never specifies where that story took place, the River Isen is listed as a possibility, and the driving of the former folk into the caves and forests by the Men of Agar seems to match the statement from _The Drúedain_.



> I also believe that the wood men who helped the Rohirrim on their way to Gondor in LOTR (Ghand and his men) are related to them.



Yes, they are ancestors of the Drúedain. Some Drúedain accompanied the pre-Haladin in their march to Beleriand and were enmeshed in the War of The Jewels. Most dwelt in the Forest of Brethil with the Haladin. (A remnant may have remained in Estolad, where some Edain remained and those of the Haladin who didn’t want to follow Haleth into new lands. It is doubtful as to whether any remained in Thargelion. Some were also in Húrin’s house in Dor-Lómin. Túrin’s friend, Sador, would latter be altered into a Drúedain.) A remnant of the Drúedain managed to survive the War and were permitted to go to Númenór and they resided there for some time.

They began to leave at about the time of Tar-Aldarion Anardil's voyages, claiming that evil would come out of them and they went with any ships that were heading to Middle-Earth. In Middle-Earth there were several Drúedain communities. By the time of the end of the Third Age some resided in marshlands in between the Rivers Greyflood and Isen. 



> In the marshlands of the mouths of the Greyflood and Isen lived a few tribes of 'Wild Men', fishers and fowlers, but akin in race and speech to the Drúedain of the woods of Anórien


 _Battle of the Fords of Isen_ (U.T)

Some also dwelt in Andrast and the Drúwaith Iaur (Some of these were said to have attacked Saruman's forces who were retreating from the Battle of Hornburg.


----------



## Lantarion (Dec 5, 2003)

Outstanding post there Inder, great research.


----------

