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Genealogy of Mankind

contents of this page
Introduction   
Legend   
Men in the FirstAge   
Men in the SecondAge   
Men in the ThirdAge   
Men in the FourthAge   
Sketch   


Introduction    

What follows is a lecture piece on the Genealogy of Mankind through the Ages. It does not intend to describe the events and wars of Men among each other or with the Elves. Its purpose is to show the evolution of the races of Men, to show the links among those various races and their relationships of blood.

Unfortunately, not much information is given for most of the mannish peoples (in contrast to the Elvish genealogy), and only a few scattered pieces can be found in the books. I used many quotes, trying to construct phrases using Tolkien’s own wording, since I cannot possibly tell them better. Whenever I don’t use quotes it is for two possible reasons: either I provide a summary of the passages found in the book or I give my own interpretation (only in a few instances). I warn you not to take those interpretations of mine as solid and unquestionable information. The essay is divided in chapters according the Age they are dealing with.


Legend    

Legend
1The Silmarillion: "Of Men"
2Unfinished Tales: "Drúedain"
3The Silmarillion: "Of Men"
4The Silmarillion: "Of the Ruin of Beleriand"
5The Silmarillion: "Of the Fifth Battle: NirnaethArnoediad"
6The Silmarillion: "Of the War of Wrath"
7The Silmarillion: "Akallabeth"
8The Silmarillion: "Of the Rings of Power"
9HoMeXII: "Of Dwarves and Men"
10LotR: "Appendix"
11Unfinished Tales: "Palantíri"
12Unfinished Tales: "GladdenFields"
13Unfinished Tales: "Cirion and Eorl"
14The Hobbit
15Unfinished Tales: "Battles at the Fords of Isen"
16LotR: "Return of the King"
17LotR: "The Two Towers"


Men in the FirstAge    

At the first rising of the Sun the Younger Children of Ilúvatar awoke in the land of Hildórien in the eastward regions of Middle-earth.[1]

East of BlueMountains

Only after the year 300 FiA, did the first Men enter Beleriand. Until then, they dwelt in the lands east of Beleriand, where no High Elves or Sindar Elves dwelt.


History of the ThreeHouses of the Edain

They had a knowledge of metals and some smith craft before they came to Beleriand, acquired according to their legends from the Dwarves. [2]

1. The House of Bëor

These Men had long had dealings with the Dark Elves east of the mountains, and from them had learned much of their speech. They had passed many lives of wandering out of the East.[3]

The reasons of their migration to the west was obvious:
A darkness lied behind them and they had turned their backs upon it. [3]
So, they decided under Bëor’s leadership to travel west of the mountains.

2. The House of Haleth

The Haladin, a people from whom the House of Bëor were sundered in speech, were still in the valleys on the eastern slopes, awaiting tidings before they venture further.[3]

3. The House of Marach

Their tongue was more like to Bëor’s Folk, with whom they had had dealings at times. They were before them on the westward march, but Bëor passed them; for they were a numerous people, and yet kept together and moved slowly, being all ruled by one chieftain whom they called Marach.[3]

Northmen

Mostly from the house of Marach descended the Northmen of the ThirdAge. They probably strayed off the road and never entered Beleriand, founding their realms east of the MistyMountains.

Drúedain

They probably lived with the House of Haleth before they entered together Beleriand.


Beleriand

The first Men appeared in Beleriand when three hundred years and more were gone since the Noldor came to Beleriand, in the days of the LongPeace?.[3]

The Arrival

1. The House of Bëor

After many lives of wandering out of the East Bëor the Old had led them at last over the BlueMountains, the first of the race of Men to enter Beleriand. [3]
There they met Finrod Felagund during one of his journeys to the east of Sirion. This was their first contact with the HighElves, from whom all the Edain obtained great knowledge and wisdom.

The reasons of their migration to the west was obvious:

A darkness lied behind them and they had turned their backs upon it. [3]
So, they decided under Bëor’s leadership to travel west of the mountains.

2. The House of Haleth

Soon after the departure of Felagund the other Men came also into Beleriand. First came the Haladin. But meeting the unfriendship of the GreenElves they turned north and dwelt in Thargelion, in the country of Caranthir son of Fëanor; there for a time they had peace.[3]

3. The House of Marach

In the next year after Bëor’s coming, Marach led his people over the mountains they were a tall and warlike folk, marching in ordered companies, and the Elves of Ossiriand hid themselves and did not waylay them. But Marach, hearing that the people of Bëor were dwelling in a green and fertile land, came down the Dwarf-road, and settled in the country south and east of the dwellings of Baran son of Bëor and there was great friendship between those peoples.[3]

4. Drúedain

Among the Folk of Haleth there was a presence of people of a wholly different kind. They were not many, a few hundreds maybe, living apart in families or small tribes.[2]


The Migration

The migration of the Edain began: at first little by little, but later in families and kindreds, they arose and left Estolad, until after some fifty years many thousands had entered the lands of the Kings.[3]

1. The House of Bëor

''The people of Bëor came to Dorthonion and dwelt in lands ruled by the house of Finarfin. [3] Also a thousand of them went away southwards, and they passed out of the songs of those days.''[3]

2. The House of Haleth

While they remained at Thrangelion, attacks of Orcs made them leave the place and "they took Haleth for their chief and she led them at last to Estolad, and there dwelt for a time. But they remained a people apart."

Soon, they desired to move westward again and "journeyed in the perilous land between the Mountains of Terror and the Girdle of Melian. Finally, they obtained the grace of Melian and they could dwell free in Brethil."[3]

3. The House of Marach

They for the most part went on westward. Some came to Hithlum and many passed down Sirion into Beleriand and dwelt a while in the vales of the southern slopes of EredWethrin.[3]

4. Swarthy Men

Two years after the Dagor Bragollach, the Swarthy Men came first into Beleriand.[4]

They were in secret alliance with Morgoth. Their two chieftains were Bór and Ulfang. The first followed Maedhros at Himring, while the second followed the other Fëanorians at AmonEreb.


Appearance

1. The House of Bëor

The Men of that house were dark or brown of hair, with grey eyes and of all Men they were most like to the Noldor and most loved by them; for they were eager of mind, cunning-handed, swift in understanding, long in memory, and they were moved sooner to pity than to laughter.[3]

2. The House of Haleth

They were of lesser stature, and less eager for lore. They used few words, and did not love great concourse of men and many among them delighted in solitude, wandering free in the greenwoods while the wonder of the lands of the Eldar was new upon them.[3]

They were strangers to the other Atani, and though united with them in alliance with the Eldar, they remained a people apart. They increased in numbers far more slowly than the other Atani, hardly more than was sufficient to replace the wastage of war.[2]

3. The House of Marach

They were of great strength and stature, ready in mind, bold and steadfast, quick to anger and to laughter, mighty among the Children of Ilúvatar in the youth of Mankind. Yellow haired they were for the most part, and blue-eyed.[3]

4. Drúedain

They were stumpy (some four foot high) but very broad, with heavy buttocks and short thick legs their wide faces had deep-set eyes with heavy brows, and flat noses, and grew no hair below their eyebrows, except in a few men (who were proud of the distinction) a small tail of black hair in the midst of the chin.

In peace they often laughed at work or play when other Men might sing. But they could be relentless enemies, and when once aroused their red wrath was slow to cool.[2]

5. Swarthy Men

These Men were short and broad, long and strong in the arm; their skins were swart or sallow, and their hair was dark as were their eyes.
Their houses were many, and some had greater liking for the Dwarves of the mountains than for the Elves. There was small love between the Edain and the Easterlings, and they met seldom. [4]


Wars of Beleriand

All these were caught in the net of the Doom of the Noldor; and they did great deeds which the Eldar remember still among the histories of the Kings of old. And in those days the strength of Men was added to the power of the Noldor, and their hope was high.[3]

But not all of them allied with the Eldar. The followers of Ulfang the cursed, betrayed them at NirnaethArnoediad.

1. The House of Bëor

After the DagorBragollach, they suffered many loses and although some of them returned to Dorthonion, the most part "fled from their homes and took refuge in the fastness of Hithlum." [4]

When Morgoth continued his attacks at Dorthonion, they had to flee and some were there received among the Haladin, but "some passed on over the mountains to Dor lómin." [4]

2. The House of Haleth

They suffered heavy loses from the Battles, but kept bravely the woods protected. After the defeat in 496, they started dwindling and gradually disappeared from the events and passed out of history.

3. The House of Marach

At NirnaethArnoediad, most of the men that went to fight were killed and no tidings of the battle and the fate of their lords. [5]

So, at Hithlum were left only the women and the old men that couldn’t fight. But a few managed to escape and went to the Mouths of Sirion and joined the remnant of Gondolin, after its fall.

4. Drúedain

They were not long-lived, and were ever few in number, their losses were heavy in their feud with the Orcs. [2]

After the victory of Morgoth, they had dwindled to a few families, mostly of women and children, some of whom came to the last refuges at the Mouth Sirion. [2]

5. Swarthy Men

Ulfang's folk:

Morgoth sent to Hithlum the Easterlings that had served him, denying them the rich lands of Beleriand which they coveted. [5]

Bór's folk:

Most of them were slain at the NirnaethArnoediad, because they didn’t betray the Eldar they followed.

War of Wrath

Such few as were left of the three houses of the Elf-friends, Fathers of Men, fought upon the part of the Valar. But a great part of the sons of Men, whether of the people of Uldor or others new-come out of the east, marched with the Enemy. [6]

So ended the First Age.


Men in the SecondAge    

Not much is told about the peoples of the Second Age, since the tales deal mostly with the Númenóreans.

Númenor

ThreeHouses of the Edain

To the Fathers of Men of the three faithful houses rich reward also was given. Eönwë came among them and taught them; and they were given wisdom and power and life more enduring than any others of mortal race have possessed. A land was made for the Edain to dwell in, neither part of Middle-earth nor of Valinor, for it was sundered from either by a wide sea; yet it was nearer to Valinor. [7]

Drúedain

The remnant of the Mouths of Sirion was "permitted to sail over sea with the Atani, and in the peace of the new land throve and increased again." [2] ]

But after Aldarion's first voyage, their strange foresight warned them of the future and they "became restless, and despite their fear of the sea one by one, or in twos and threes, they would beg for passages in the great ships that sailed to the North-western shores of Middle-earth."

"Thus their numbers dwindled again slowly through the long years, and none were left when Elendil escaped from the Downfall." [2]

Voyages to Middle-earth

And the Dúnedain came at times to the shores of the Great Lands, and they took pity on the forsaken world of Middle-earth." [7]

Middle-earth

After the victory of the Lords of the West those of the evil Men who were not destroyed fled back into the east, where many of their race were still wandering in the unharvested lands, wild and lawless, refusing alike the summons of the Valar and of Morgoth. And the evil Men came among them, and cast over them a shadow of fear, and they took them for kings." [7]

And in the south and in the further east Men multiplied; and most of them turned to evil, for Sauron was at work." [8]

Voyages of the Númenóreans to Middle-earth

Coming among them the Númenóreans taught them many things. Then 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.[7]

Eriador

There were many men in Eriador, mainly, it would seem, in origin kin of the Folk of Bëor, though some were kin of the Folk of Hador. They dwelt about LakeEvendim, in the North Downs and the Weather Hills, and in the lands between as far as the Brandywine. [9]

Inhabitants of the WhiteMountains and the shores.

Many of the forest-dwellers of the shorelands south of the EredLuin, especially in Minhiriath, were as later historians recognized the kin of the Folk of Haleth.
In the ThirdAge their survivors were the people known in Rohan as the Dunlendings. [9]


Men in the ThirdAge    

After the Downfall of Númenor, Elendil led the survivors of the Elf-friends back to the North-western shores of Middle-earth. There many already dwelt who were in whole or part of Númenorean blood. [10]

The exiled Númenóreans formed the two realms in exile Arnor and Gondor.

Realms in Exile

Arnor

It was populated mostly by the exiled Dúnedain and extended south to Greyflood and east up to the Misty Mountains. Some former inhabitants were the Men of Bree and the Hillmen of Rhudaur.

Hillmen of Rhudaur

They were adopted by the kingdom but there the Dúnedain were few and soon the power was seized by a lord of the Hillmen. [10]

Decay

From the appearance of the Witch kingdom of Angmar, the decay of Arnor started which was completed with the fall of Arvedui.

After Arvedui the North-kingdom ended, for the Dúnedain were now few and all the peoples of Eriador diminished. [10]

Gondor

The second realm of exile was populated with the exiled Númenóreans and they managed to hold better than the North Kingdom. At first their area of ruling was not very extended. But after some conquers against their foes, especially in the days of Ciryaher,

Gondor reached the summit of its power. The realm then extended north to Celebrant and the southern eaves of Mirkwood, west to the Greyflood, east to the inland Sea of Rhún, south to the River Harnen, and thence along the coast to the peninsula and haven of Umbar. [10]

Decay

The decay was a result of the catastrophic Kin-Strife? and the continuous wars with the numerous enemies east and south. Escpecially,

after the return of Eldacar the blood of the kingly house and other houses of the Dúnedain became more mingled with that of lesser Men. For many of the great had been slain in the Kin-strife. [10]

Stewards of Gondor

With the coming into power of the stewards, the Númenórean blood had already disappeared from the majority of the population, mingled with the other “lesser” men.

The Stewards belonged to a race and family that still normally had longer lives than other men. [11]

Eriador

Men of Bree

Origins

They came from the Dunlendings who had left their ancient dwellings in the WhiteMountains and had moved north as far north as the Barrow-downs.

Hillmen of Rhudaur

They were in origin kin of the Folk of Bëor. [9]

During the decaying of Arnor, they allied with the Witch-King? of Angmar. But after the victorious battle of the Southern Kingdom, the few that survived diminished and were never again heard.


Gondorian Territory[b]

[b]Rohirrim

Origins

They had in their far-off ancestry mingled with men of broader and heavier build. [12]

They were the remnant of the Northmen that once dwelt in Rhovanion.

History:

After the destructive wars with the Easterlings, they moved northwards, establishing their realm between the MistyMountains and the borders of north Mirkwood.

After the battle at the fields of Celebrant, they were granted by Gondor new lands, between the WhiteMountains and FangornForest. They became a powerful ally for the Southern Kingdom and surviving devastating wars and the Plague, they entered the FourthAge, with a renewal of the authority on their lands.

Dol Amroth

Origins

The ancestors were kin to Elendil. They were a family of the Faithful who had sailed from Númenor before the Downfall and had settled in the land of Belfalas. [13]

Peoples at the Vales Of Anduin

''They were descended from the Edain of the First Age, or from their close kin. [10] Therefore they were more related to the Dúnedain than others. The Men of the Vales of Anduin acknowledged Gondor’s authority.'' [10]

Northmen

Origins

The Northmen were descendants of the same race of Men as the three Edain Houses of the First Age. They were therefore from afar off kinsmen of the Dúnedain or Númenóreans. They appear to have been most nearly akin to the third and greatest of the peoples of the Elf-friends, ruled by the House of Hador. [13]

Rise

They had increased greatly in the peace brought by the power of Gondor. The kings showed them favour, since they were the nearest in kin of lesser Men to the Dúnedain and they gave them wide lands beyond Anduin south of Greenwood the Great, to be a defence against men of the East. [10]

Great Plague – Decay

The waning of the Northmen of Rhovanion began with the Great Plague, which appeared there in the winter of the year 1635 and soon spread to Gondor. They were slow to recover. After the lost war with the Wainriders, most of the Northmen were reduced to servitude, and all their former lands were occupied by the Wainriders. [13]

DaleLongLake

History

In the great days of old, Dale in the North was rich and prosperous. [14]

But the coming of the dragon Smaug destroyed their realm, and their land laid desolate. After the death of the dragon, Dale began to thrive again. The LakeTown? was subject to Dale, but mostly independent electing their own mayors.

Beornings Woodmen of Mirkwood.


EasterlingsSouthrons

Wainriders

Origins

The Wainriders were a people, or a confederacy of many peoples, that came from the East. [10]

About the relations with other peoples of the areas, nothing is known, but it may be assumed that they had been victorious in wars of the area, and wanting to spread their powers, they turned to the west:
beyond the reach of the arms of Gondor in lands east of the Seat of Rhűn from which no tidings came to its Kings, their kinsfolk spread and multiplied, and they were eager for conquests and booty and filled with hatred of Gondor which stood in their way. [13]

Description

They were stronger and better armed than any that had appeared before. History:

Many of the Wainriders now passed south of Mordor and made alliance with men of Khand and of Near Harad. [10]

This alliance had only one purpose, to defeat their common enemy, Gondor and spread their realms to the west. The Wainriders, after a period of 100 years of battles with Gondor and their allies, were finally defeated, and returned to their lands, while they were never mentioned again in the events of the ThirdAge.

Possibly, they dwindled and were diminished in a less protagonistic nation, being ruled by others.

Blachoth

They were an Easterling nation.

They were only rudely armed, and had no great number of horses for riding, using horses mainly for draught, since they had many large wains, as had the Wainriders (to whom they were no doubt akin).[13]

No more is known of their origins, or their relations with other Easterlings. But it is possible that being the remnant of the Wainriders, they finally dwindled and disappeared from the following events.

Harad

Origins

In that area dwelt many Southron races, which were ancestors of the original men of darkness that had never passed into the West. They had been also driven to evil by the Evil Men (Swarthy Men) that had come fled from Beleriand after the War of Wrath.

So, in the south and in the further east Men multiplied and most of them turned to evil, for Sauron was at work. [8]

History They battled with Gondor for all the Third Age.
After their defeat by Telumehtar they engaged in wars and feuds of their own. [13]

A place of continuous strife between them and the Dúnedain was Umbar.
The men of the Harad, led by the lords that had been driven from Umbar, came up with great power against that stronghold.
But when Ciryaher utterly defeated the Men of the Harad, their kings were compelled to acknowledge the overlordship of Gondor. The kings of the Harad did homage to Gondor, and their sons lived as hostages in the court of its King. [10]

With the decline of Gondor, they quickly gained strength and finally in the War of the Ring, they were one of the most powerful servants of Sauron.

Khand

As the other southern and eastern lands, they originated from the Men of Darkness. In the tales of the Western Parts of ME, they entered only as allies of other powerful races (e.g. Wainriders).

The Variags were a race from Khand, that participated in the War of the Ring. Their fate was unknown after Sauron’s defeat.

Other Peoples

Dunlendings

Origins:

They were a sullen folk, akin to the ancient inhabitants of the White Mountain valleys whom Isildur cursed. [15]
These were a remnant of the peoples that had dwelt in the vales of the White Mountains in ages past. The Dead Men of Dunharrow were of their kin. But in the Dark Years others had removed to the southern dales of the Misty Mountains; and thence some had passed into the empty lands as far north as the Barrow-downs. From them came the Men of Bree; but long before these had become subjects of the North Kingdom of Arnor and had taken up the Westron tongue. [10]

History

When the Rohirrim established their realms near their lands, they engaged in conflicts with them. But the Rohirrim were much better equipped and had the allowance of Gondor, thus the Dunledings were reduced to withdraw. They never forgot their hatred against the Mark and they allied with Saruman in the War of the Ring.

Great Plague

The Dunlendings suffered, like all the peoples of Arnor and Gondor, in the Great Plague, but less than most, since they dwelt apart and had few dealings with other men. [15]

Drúedain

The Drúedain in the Druadan forest of Anórien were possibly the descendants of the Drúedain that had not passed into Beleriand at the First Age. This is implied by the fact that they were always closely accompanied by the folk of Haleth, and the inhabitants of the White Mountains were the remnant of the Halethians that didn’t go further west. So, the Drúedain of Anórien were linked with them, as the Drúedain of the First Age were linked with the folk of Haleth. But when these inhabitants moved north, the Drúedain didn’t follow them, but stayed in the woods.

A small part did follow them andcame to came to the marshlands of the mouths of Greyflood and Isen where lived a few tribes of "Wild Men," fishers and fowlers, but akin in race and speech to the Drúedain of the woods of Anórien. [15]

The Drúedain that had escaped from Númenor long before its downfall, had probably come to the mouths of Greyflood and entered those wild tribes.


Men in the FourthAge    

And embassies came from many lands and peoples, from the East and the South, and from the borders of Mirkwood, and from Dunland in the west. And the King pardoned the Easterlings that had given themselves up, and sent them away free, and he made peace with the peoples of Harad; and the slaves of Mordor he released and gave to them all the lands about Lake Núrnen to be their own. [16]

So, a new period of peace began in the western lands of Middle Earth.

Yet, though Sauron had passed, the hatreds and evils that he bred had not died, and the King of the West had many enemies to subdue before the White Tree could grow in peace. [10]

But here ends the account of the Old days. What was the future of the Reunited Kingdom and the nearby realms, it is not known to us.


Sketch    

Here is a sketch of the genealogy of men through the ages.

It is divided vertically in three categories: High Men, Middle Men and Men Of Darkness. This division comes from the words of Faramir to Frodo and Sam:

For so we reckon Men in our lore, calling them the High, or Men of the West, which were Númenoreans; and the Middle Peoples, Men of the Twilight, such as are the Rohirrim and their kin that dwell still far in the North; and the Wild, the Men of Darkness. [17]
The Men of Darkness was a general term applied to all those who were hostile to the Kingdoms, and who were (or appeared in Gondor to be) moved by something more than human greed for conquest and plunder, a fanatical hatred of the High Men and their allies as enemies of their gods. The term took no account of differences of race or culture or language. The term Middle Men, however, was of ancient origin. It was devised in the Second Age by the Númenóreans when they began to establish havens and settlements on the western shores of Middle-earth.
This distinction was modelled on the classification by the Atani of the Elves: the High Elves were the Noldor who returned in exile out of the Far West; the Middle Elves were the Sindar and the Dark Elves. [9]


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