They are widely known as one of the fiercest enemies of Gondor.
Many served the dark lords and one of their number even became the second greatest of the Nazgul.
But how did these men come to serve Sauron and Morgoth? And were they all truly evil at heart?
Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we cover the Easterlings of Middle-earth.
To cover the history of the Easterlings, we must go back to the very beginning of the race of Men.
Over 4,000 years after the awakening of the elves at Lake Cuivienen,
the First Age of the world begins with the first ever Sun rise. As the sun rises in the West,
the Men of Middle-earth awake in the far eastern land of Hildorien.
*Yes, you heard that right, the first sunrise was actually in the West. The original intent
was that the sun should pass back and forth across the sky and never set. However,
these plans were changed by the Valar and instead the sun descended into Valinor in the West,
passing beneath the earth, and rising again in the East - giving us
a more familiar sunrise/sunset - but that first sunrise occurred in the West itself.
Unfortunately, unlike the elves, the Men did not have the intervention and protection of the
Valar in their earliest days. Morgoth discovers that the second children of Iluvatar have come,
and personally travels to the East, where he works to corrupt them to his will.
Some of the men would instead flee to the west and would come to be known as the Edain - the
great allies of the elves in the First Age and ancestors of Numenor and the Dunedain.
Many men who had remained in the East for a time eventually make their way west as well. These men,
now known as Easterlings, split. While some remain in the eastern portions of Middle-earth,
others travel north above the Blue Mountains and arrive in the lands of
Lothlann in 463 FA. These men are motivated by the rumor of land and
riches that await them in Beleriand - and are secretly allied with Morgoth.
These Easterlings, led by their lords Bor and Ulfang, come to meet Maedhros, who lived in the
east of Beleriand. Maedhros gives the men lands to the north and south of his own to dwell in.
It is said that the people of Bor were worthy folk and tillers of the earth - likely meaning
they were early farmers of Middle-earth. The men of Bor and Ulfang join the Union of
Maedhros - a great alliance of men, elves, and dwarves to stand against Morgoth.
In 472, the alliance moves to open war with the dark lord in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
Many tragedies and triumphs occur in this battle, but the final stroke that would prove fatal for
the alliance would come from within. For in this moment, the house of Ulfang reveals its treachery.
They turn on the alliance, sealing its defeat. Meanwhile, the House of Bor would
stand by their elven friends. Staring death in the face, they reject any previous alliance
with Morgoth. And while it is believed Bor was already dead by the time of this battle,
his three sons battle the three sons of Ulfang - killing them before they are slain themselves.
Afterward, Bor would be known among the elves as Bor the Faithful - the
greatest of the Easterlings of old and leader of his great and loyal house.
As for the people of Ulfang, Morgoth had promised them rich reward for their treachery,
but he denies them the fertile lands of Beleriand.
Instead, he sends them to the lands of Hithlum. There, the Easterlings enslave
many among the people of Hador and some of its women are forced into marriage.
In this time of servitude under Morgoth, the Easterlings would at times work side-by-side
with the orcs. 16 years after the Nirnaeth, a group of orcs and Easterlings attack elven
refugees fleeing Hithlum. It is here that Lorgan, the chieftain of all the Easterlings of Hithlum,
captures the 16-year-old man Tuor and makes him a slave until Tuor would escape in 491.
In 495, Turin returns to his home of Dor-lomin and finds Brodda, an
Easterling chief ruling in his father’s realm. After exchanging words, Turin kills Brodda,
and many of the Easterlings in his hall before fleeing the realm in 496.
Turin’s actions, while they could be seen as a fulfilling act of revenge for the character,
would not make a great impact for the realm as a whole, which is still under Easterling control
under Lorgan. Years later, in 500 FA, after the death of his children, Hurin is released
by Morgoth and returns home to Dor-Lomin. There, he confronts Lorgan, who - along with many people
of Hithlum, believed that Hurin must have joined Morgoth. Hurin rejects the friendship of Lorgan,
revealing he is no friend of Morgoth. Being more cunning than his followers who draw their
swords at this news, Lorgan interprets Morgoth’s reason for letting Hurin go free - that Hurin’s
actions may indeed bring about even more evil - and allows him to leave Hithlum unharmed.
45 years later, the final climactic battle of the first age begins.
Like Ulfang before them, the Easterlings of Beleriand would ally with Morgoth
in this War of Wrath. After Morgoth is utterly defeated in 587, the surviving Easterlings
would flee back east over the Blue Mountains, bringing us to the Second Age of the world.
As we know, Sauron, Morgoth’s chief lieutenant, escapes the judgement of the Valar
and flees into hiding. Sauron turns to the East and South in an effort to bend men to his will
and servitude. While the East had been free of Morgoth’s direct influence for quite some time,
Sauron would never let his legend truly die. He preys upon his master’s old influence in
this region and many of the Easterlings come to fear Sauron as a king and a god.
Under his influence, the Easterlings become greater in number and might. We are told
they build many towns and walls of stone and by the time of the War of the Ring,
the Easterlings would outnumber the men of the West. Over the centuries of the Second Age,
Sauron would turn his attention to the elves of Eriador - seeking to manipulate them. It
is then that the Rings of Power are created and the War of the Elves and Sauron begins.
After taking control of the 16 rings of power - all except the three of the elves - Sauron is
defeated by a combined force of elves and Numenoreans, causing him to retreat back
to Mordor. In Mordor, however, he would not stay. He continues expanding his influence to the east,
gaining more servants and worshippers. Among these is an Easterling lord known as Khamul.
Sauron gives to Khamul a ring - a ring of power to make him a great sorcerer and ruler among
men. But over time, Khamul would begin to fade until he becomes a wraith - one of nine Nazgul.
It is also during the Second Age - roughly the year 1600,
that the Blue Wizards come to Middle-earth. They travel to the East,
where their exact deeds are unknown, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
At the end of the Second Age, Sauron is defeated in the War of the Last Alliance.
With Sauron’s greatest defeat to date, the men of the East are finally released from his tyranny.
However, the effects of thousands of years of Sauron’s influence
would not disappear in a mere instant. We are told that there are battles
pitting Easterling against Easterling in the time that followed Sauron’s first downfall.
Some Easterlings would journey to the West, and finally enter the records of Gondor
in 490 TA when they attack Gondorians between the Sea of Rhun and the Ash Mountains. In 500,
King Romendacil would drive the Easterlings back in defeat.
41 years later, the Easterlings would counter, killing Romendacil in battle before he is avenged
by his son Turambar. After this, the Easterlings would cease their attempts to battle Gondor,
though their attention would be turned elsewhere by an ancient, but familiar force.
By 1000 TA, a shadow has crept back into the world - Sauron had established his fortress of
Dol Guldur in Mirkwood and he causes Easterlings to move against the Northmen of the region,
which also leads the hobbits to make their move to the west. The Easterlings, and even
some of the Northmen won to their side, would resume their attacks against Gondor. In 1248,
in the days of King Narmacil I, an Easterling Army marches between Rhovanion
and the Sea of Rhun before being defeated by a group of Gondorians and Northmen.
At this point, the Easterlings disappear from Gondorian records for hundreds of
years - a period that coincides with Gondor facing hostilities with the Corsairs of Umbar
and the people of the south. But as usual, Sauron would not leave the Easterlings in peace for long.
Emissaries of the Dark Lord bring together tribes of Easterlings to form a group known as
the Wainriders to move against both Gondor and the Northmen. The Wainriders are better armed
than their predecessors, journeying in great wagons and using them to fortify their camps.
They also trained their women, children, and old men in fighting - allowing them to defend their
camps from attackers while their soldiers executed their offensive strategies. Gondor, which at this
time has been weakened by the Great Plague, is defeated in a battle with the Wainriders
in 1856 TA. This allows the wainriders to raid the lands of Rhovanion and enslave its people.
In 1899, King Calimehtar of Gondor, with the help of the Northmen, leads a successful and
decisive victory against the Wainriders. 45 years later, the Wainriders would return.
This time they would be allied with others under Sauron’s influence - the Haradrim and the Variags.
While the Haradrim invade South Ithilien, the Wainriders would attack Ithilien from the north.
The King Ondoher of Gondor sends one of his captains, Earnil, south,
while the king and his sons go north. The Wainriders crush the Gondorian defence,
killing the king and both his heirs in the battle. Rather than proceeding deeper into Gondor,
the Wainriders make camp and begin celebrating their perceived conquest.
Meanwhile, Earnil had led Gondor’s inferior Southern Army in destroying the attacking
Haradrim, and immediately turned north. Reinforced with retreating northern troops,
Earnil’s army descends upon the wainriders,
driving many into the Dead Marshes and handing them a crushing defeat. Earnil
is crowned king of Gondor and the Easterlings would not trouble Gondor for hundreds of years.
Not long after this, in 2063, the Necromancer would retreat from Dol Guldur
when Gandalf enters the fortress. While this would be a positive development
and result in the Watchful Peace for the westlands, Sauron would hide in the east,
working to build a stronger and mightier alliance among the various groups of Easterlings.
Nearly 500 years later, a new group of Easterlings under Sauron’s rule would bring war to the west.
The Balchoth, descendants of the wainriders would join with orcs of the Misty Mountains
and overrun the plains of Calenardhon in northern Gondor. With the line of Kings now ended, Cirion,
the Steward of Gondor, leads his army against the Balchoth, and are very nearly destroyed.
However, Cirion had sent word to their old allies, once known as the Northmen, who rode
their great horses to their aid. Thus the army of the Balchoth are defeated, and the Eotheod are
rewarded by Cirion with the lands of Calenardhon - becoming the Rohirrim of new kingdom of Rohan.
As for the Easterlings, aside from smaller attacks on Rohan in 2545,
they would retreat to the East until the Dark Lord would make his last great war - the War of
the Ring. In this war, the Easterlings in the service of Sauron would fight on two fronts.
They would fight alongside the Haradrim and Variags in the Battle of Pelennor Fields,
and would feature heavily in a northern host marching against Dale and Erebor. In this
northern campaign, they would win the Battle of Dale, resulting in the death of King Brand,
King Dain, and a siege upon the mountain. With the destruction of the One Ring on March 25, 3019,
the morale of Sauron’s northern force is broken, and the dwarves and men are able to
break the siege on March 27, finally defeating Sauron’s last forces in the War of the Ring.
In the Fourth Age, King Aragorn Elessar is said to have pardoned the Easterlings
who had given themselves up and sent them away free. He frees the slaves of Mordor
and gave them the lands around Lake Nurnen to be their own. We are also told that Elessar makes
peace with the peoples of Harad. And while his pardoning of many Easterlings is a sign
that the relationship would improve between the realms, we are also told that Aragorn and Eomer
would battle with the Easterlings who were most dedicated to Sauron in the years to come.
This should not come as a surprise, as the East had been a place of concentration
and a safe haven for the dark lord for hundreds if not thousands of years at
various points in the Second and Third Ages. No doubt his hold over his servants in this land
was stronger even than his hold over the Haradrim in the south.
As we look at the history of the Easterlings, we arrive at a very common question - were all
the people in the East evil? This topic could make an entire video of its own, but in short,
no - not all the Easterlings were evil. Aside from the Easterlings who were pardoned,
we can also circle back to the blue wizards for further evidence.
In Tolkien’s later writings, he says that were it not for the Blue Wizards,
the forces of the East would have outnumbered and overwhelmed those of the West.
What does this mean? How did the Blue Wizards accomplish this? I firmly believe the most
logical explanation is that the blue wizards led those among the Easterlings who refused to serve
Sauron - much like Gandalf leads and guides the free peoples in the West.
In the history of the Easterlings, we see the greatest skill of Sauron - not to create powerful
weapons - but to create division - corrupting men to his service, and manipulating men against one
another. As we look at lands affected by Sauron, it’s amazing to think how quickly a darkening
Numenor fell into Morgoth worship and destruction - a mere 57 years after Sauron’s capture.
And while Sauron certainly had great success in the East, it’s incredible to think there
were still good men after thousands of years of Sauron’s influence. While the majority of
Easterlings may have fallen under his sway, I believe we must realize there were likely many
in the very mold of Bor the Faithful. as always i want to say a huge thank you to my
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