Dunland

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In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Dunland was a place in north-west Middle-earth, the land of the Men called Dunlendings. These Men were tall, somewhat swarthy and dark-haired, and were descended from the same ancient stock as the House of Haleth, making them distantly related to the Dúnedain.

Dunland means "Hill Land" in the language of neighbouring Rohan, whose people named it after arriving in nearby Calenardhon in the later Third Age.

[edit] Origins

The immediate ancestors of the Dunlendings lived upon either side of the Gwathló, "The River of Shadow", in the early Second Age: on first contact with the more advanced Númenóreans, they were described as fairly numerous and warlike, but they were forest dwellers, scattered communities without central leadership.("History of Galadriel & Celeborn", Unfinished Tales).

The Númenóreans found the speech of these Gwathuirim very different to their own language Adûnaic, but in fact the Númenóreans failed to recognize the Forest-folk of Minhiriath as their distant cousins and confused them with what they termed 'Men of the Shadow', meaning those descended from Morgoth's allies; for as has been noted the native language of the folk of Haleth was not related to the language of the Folks of Hador and Beor. ("Of Dwarves and Men", PoMe XII).

Together with the Númenóreans' great hunger for timber (UT), this estrangement ultimately meant that the Númenóreans treated the forest dwellers as foes.. (UT), and after much war and bloodshed, during which Sauron..used these haters of Númenor as spies and guides for his raiders (UT), the surviving Forest-folk from south of the Gwathló took refuge in the eastern mountains where afterwards was Dunland.(UT), becoming a folk of herd and hill.

[edit] Early History

At the end of the Second Age, these people (and their land) had become known to both Dúnedain and Eldar as "Enedwaith", meaning both 'Middle-folk' and 'Middle-land', as they lay between the newly founded Númenórean successor states of Gondor and Arnor. They were largely ignored despite the fact that a busy Númenórean city — Tharbad — arose nearby, and these Hillfolk kept their hatred of the descendants of Númenor and remained an isolated people, and as a result never learnt Westron, which developed from Adûnaic as the 'lingua franca' of Middle-earth in the Third Age. Despite this, these hill-folk were able to slowly colonize Calenardhon, the nearby and now sparsely populated province of Gondor, as the Dúnedain slowly dwindled in numbers and power, and they had already reclaimed all the land between the Adorn and Isen when Gondor decided to give Calenardhon to the numerous people of Éothéod in TA 2510.

[edit] Dunland

The newcomers, who renamed themselves Rohirrim, named the foot-hills of their western neighbours 'Dunland', the Hill Country, and its inhabitants 'Dunlendings'. For their part, the Dunlendings felt threatened by these Forgoil "Strawheads" (a demeaning reference to blond hair), although open war was not waged until the reign of Helm Hammerhand (TA 2741–2759). Freca, a lord of mixed Rohirric/Dunlending blood, tried to obtain the throne of Rohan for himself by petitioning for the marriage of his son Wulf to the daughter of Helm. Freca was consequently killed by Helm after insulting him upon being refused, and Freca's son Wulf led the Dunlendings into open war with Rohan. They unsuccessfully besieged the Hornburg during the Long Winter of TA 2758–2759, although Wulf captured Edoras, killing Helms son and heir. Helm's nephew Fréalaf recaptured Edoras at the end of the Long Winter and killed Wulf personally, and the Dunlendings were then driven out of Rohan.

Guarding the Gap of Rohan was the fortress of Isengard, where a hereditary guard watched for Gondor. However, by the time of the Steward of Gondor Beren, these guards had mixed with Dunlendings, and it had become hostile to Gondor. To remedy this situation, Beren gave Saruman the keys to Orthanc to guard Isengard for Gondor.

Saruman used the historical hostility against outlanders to tempt the Dunlendings into supporting him during the War of the Ring.

After the battle at Helm's Deep, the Rohirrim allowed the surviving Dunlendings to return to their homes. The Rohirrim required that all hostilities cease and that the Dunlendings again retreat behind the Isen.

Realms from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium during the Third Age
Realms of Men:	Arnor | Arthedain | Breeland | Cardolan | Corsairs of Umbar | Dale | Dol Amroth | Dunland | Éothéod | Esgaroth | Gondor | Harad | Khand | Rhovanion | Rhudaur | Rhûn | Rohan | Umbar
Realms of the Elves:	Lindon | Lothlórien | Northern Mirkwood | Rivendell
Realms of the Dwarves:	Belegost | Erebor | Grey Mountains | Iron Hills | Khazad-dûm
Realms of the Hobbits:	Breeland | Gladden Fields | The Shire
Realms of the Ents:	Fangorn forest
Uncertain population:	Dorwinion
Realms of the enemy:	Angmar | Barad-dûr | Dol Guldur | Isengard | Mordor