Middle-earth seen by the barbarians: The complete collection including a previously unpublished essay (13 page)

1. The Balchoth
   

1. They had many large wains, as had the Wainriders
   

1. The slaves of Nurn
   

Under the impression that Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee had had of the plain of Gorgoroth, some commentators have claimed that all of Mordor was desolate and barren, inhabited only by orcs and other fell creatures. But there is evidence in the sources that it was not so. Matter of fact, the southern part of Mordor featured comparatively rich pastures, sufficient and required to feed Sauron’s huge armies.

Until the end of TA, the region of Nurn in south Mordor maintained a considerable Mannish population that laboured on ‘
the great slave-worked fields far away south in this wide realm
[of Mordor] …
by the sad waters of Lake Nurnen
’.
(
RK
)
Their life was grievous, losses must have been high. Hence, throughout Mordor were running ‘
great roads that ran away east and south to tributary lands, from which the soldiers of the
[Dark]
Tower brought long waggon-trains of goods and booty and fresh slaves
.’
(
RK
)

Surprisingly when ‘
the slaves of Mordor
[were]
released
’ after the fall of Barad-dûr, many of them did not leave to return to their ancient homesteads, but they received ‘
all the lands about Lake Nurnen to be their own
’,
(
RK
)
apparently because they were considering them their home. This may indicate that at least some of those slaves were not imports from Rhún or Harad but native to Nurn. An early Mannish culture may have survived there that predated Sauron’s return to Mordor. Perhaps they were late descendants of the Black Númenóreans or even of Gondor’s previous occupation forces.

There is no evidence why Gondorian mapmakers would refer to Khand as the only land South of Mordor - except for Umbar - by its proper name, for it seems to have not assumed a position that made it outstanding among its neighbours. On the contrary, its strategic location made it sometimes victim, sometimes ally of the neighbouring powers in Rhún or Harad to neither of which it properly belonged. And its proximity to Mordor made it particularly vulnerable to its dreadful neighbour.

Hence, Khand certainly accounted for many of the ‘fresh slaves’ imported to Nurn. Otherwise, nothing is known of this land save for the fact that some of its inhabitants called themselves
Variags
. This odd name is said to be of alien, Haradric origin
(
AL
),
Why they would be called like that, and with no further explanation, is a mystery.

Variag/varyag
is a Slavic rendering of
Varingar
, Varangian, an Old Norse word that refers to Viking traders and mercenaries who dwelt from Novgorod to Byzantium. This notion has caused many to think that the Variags of Khand were something like the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors: a kind of elite mercenaries in service of Mordor, perhaps scattered Northmen or Black Númenóreans. But the real answer may be much easier:

In modern Russian and Ukrainian, варяг ‘variag’ is an ‘outsider’ or ‘newcomer’, i. e. a non-native appointed administrator of a province or a state, deriving from the perception of the Varangian Northmen as an alien ruling class. Hence, the Variags of Khand may be no more than that: high-rank officers and governors set by Sauron over the natives of Harad.

1. The Variags
   

1. Miscellaneous Men of Darkness
   

These nations or tribes, if tribes they are, were first observed during the War of the Ring, and only their descriptions are known as they were provided by Gondorian soldiers:

‘
The new host that we had tidings of has come first, from over the River by way of Andros, it is said. They are strong:
…
countless companies of Men of a new sort we have not met before. Not tall, but broad and grim, bearded like dwarves, wielding great axes. Out of some savage land in the wide East they come, we deem.
’
(
RT
)

In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, these Axe-Men were among the most effective forces of the Morgul army. Nothing more than that is known about them.

Another ethnic group seen only in the War of the Ring is a proto-African phenotype from Far Harad. The Númenóreans may have met them during their voyages to the far south of Middle-earth, but any such records had been lost. These black-skinned individuals, obviously unlike the Swarthy Men, appeared to the baffled Dúnedain ‘
like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues
’.
(
RK
)
They were accordingly - though erroneously - called ‘
troll-men
’.
(
RK
)

The Edain of the First Age claimed that Man had been subject to a general fall under the Shadow, and only they – or their ancestors - had repented and become faithful to Eru again. But this was a very self-centred view. Matter of fact, there were many other Men as well who did not submit to Angband but stayed ‘
wild and lawless, refusing alike the summons of the Valar and of Morgoth.
’
(
AK
)

The peoples of Rhún and Harad descended from these savages. They were nomadic wanderers on a primitive level, occasionally getting into contact with random Avari or with Dwarves. ‘
In ancient days the Naugrim dwelt in many mountains of Middle-earth, and there they met mortal Men (they say) long ere the Eldar knew them
.’
(
NE
)
This seems to have given rise to ‘
the theory (a probable one) that in the unrecorded past some of the languages of Men - including the language of the dominant element in the Atani from which Adûnaic was derived
[Hadorian] -
had been influenced by Khuzdul.
’
(
DM
)

Possibly, these contacts contributed to bringing some Easterlings under the devastating power, and fear, of Angband. ‘
Alas, it seems probable that (as Men did later) the Dwarves of the far eastern mansions … came under the Shadow of Morgoth and turned to evil.
’
(
DM
)
And those were the first to appear in recorded history.

1. H
   ISTORY
   
   1. The First Age
      

They followed the Haladin on their westward migration. The Drúedain noticed them, and suffered from them, because some had ‘
remained in the White Mountains, in spite of their persecution by later-arrived Men, who had relapsed into the service of the Dark.
’
(
TD
)
. And the wandering Edain themselves ‘
were ever at war … with Men who had made him
[Melkor]
their God and believed that they could render him no more pleasing service than to destroy the “renegades” with every kind of cruelty.
’
(
DM
)

This persistent pressure eventually forced the pre-Bëorrim to leave their temporary refuges in Dorwinion (see chapter
I
) and continue their migration westward: Only later did the pre-Marachrim, who dwelt at the opposite coast of the Sea of Rhún, discover that ‘
the Lesser Folk had fled from the threat of the Servants of the Dark.
’
(
DM
)
Their contact with other Easterlings was more friendly, though. This is seen from the fact that all the Atani, but especially the pre-Bëorrim, ‘
showed mingling in the past with Men of other kinds. … The language of Bëor contained many elements that were alien in character
.’ (
DM
. For more details on the migrations of the Atani, see chapter
I
).

The Swarthy Men arrived in Beleriand in 463. And ‘
some were already secretly under Morgoth’s will, and came at his call; but not all.
’ 
(
S
)
Even those who did not had a specific preference for their hosts of old: ‘
Their houses were many, and some had greater liking for the Dwarves of the mountains than for the Elves. But Maedhros … made alliance with these new-come Men.
’
(
S
)
He also persuaded his brothers Maglor and Caranthir to join this alliance (which proved fatal, for the allies of the latter were those who turned against the Noldor in the end).

‘
The newcomers abode long in East Beleriand
’. 12 long years, to be precise. For in 472, when the armed men of the Edain of Hithlum were all but destroyed, the house of Bór ended as well while ‘
Morgoth sent thither the Easterlings that had served him … and forbade them to leave it
.’
(
S
)
This was not what they had hoped for. But they made the best out of it, and they ruled and oppressed the remnants of the House of Hador.

Despite their ‘
many
’ houses and their original division among numerous ‘
chieftains of the Easterlings
’
(
S
)
, the Swarthy Men seem to have acknowledged a common overlord since. From 488 at least until 500 FA
(
WH
)
, the ‘
chief of the Easterlings of Hithlum
’
(
S
)
was a certain Lorgan, a man who ‘
claimed to rule all Dor-Lómin as a fief under Morgoth
’.
(
TC
)
It is not known when he died. The sway of the Swarthy Men prevailed until the War of Wrath when they, as well as ‘
others new-come out of the East
’,
(
S
)
fought on Morgoth’s side and were for the major part vanquished.

1. Lorgan, chief of the Easterlings of Hithlum