In the first age, as the Atatanatari passed through the Middle Lands, travelling West
across the blue mountains into Beleriand, some chose to stay establish settlements along
the way.
Those that would continue on their journey west, would become known as the Edain, and
would ally themselves with the Elves in the wars against Morgoth, resulting in the Valar
gifting them long life and granting them the island of Numenor after the destruction of
Beleriand in the War of Wrath.
For many years the Numenoreans would thrive, until falling to the influence of the Dark
Lord Sauron and sailing west to wage war against the Valar of Aman.
This resulted in the destruction of the Islands and loss of most of their people, save for
a few who had remained faithful to Eru Iluvatar, and had not participated in the campaign against
the Valar.
These survivors would become known as the Dunedain, establishing the Kingdoms of Gondor
and Arnor in the Third Age.
Meanwhile their kin who stayed East of the Blue Mountains during the first Age, had not
participated in the wars of the west and so had shorter lifespans, and came to be known
as Middle Men or Men of Twilight by the Numenoreans of the 2nd age.
Recognizing a kinship between them, the Numenoreans and most Middle Men established friendly relations
and trade.
However such was not the case with the hostile and warlike men of Enedwaith and Minhiraith
in Southern Eriador.
For while most Middlemen descended from the Houses of Beor and Marach, these people were
related to the House of Haleth, and spoke a language not recognized by the men of Numenor.
And so despite their ancestry, they were not considered to be among the kin of the Edain,
leading to hostile relations between them for thousands of years.
Early on in the Third Age, the Middlemen who resided in Northern Rhovanion, coming to be
known as Northmen, or Free Men of the North, established a number of settlements including
the Kingdom of Rhovanion, who rose to become the most prominent and important nation of
the Northmen.
They also continued the tradition of friendship and alliance with Gondor, even fighting alongside
them in the wars against the Easterlings of Rhun, who were a constant threat to Rhovanion
and the West.
In the years 1248 of the 3rd Age, after a great victory against the Easterlings, pushing
them back beyond even the Sea of Rhun, Gondor and Rhovanion agreed to draw the border at
the Anduin River, granting all eastern lands to the Kingdom.
Yet centuries later, after a great plague devastated the north, the Easterlings tribes
returned, united as a confederation known as Wainriders waging a terrible war of conquest
against the Kingdom of Rhovanion, destroying their nation and enslaving their people.
Eventually, with the help of Gondor the Northmen rebelled and pushed the Easterlings back,
but the Kingdom was gone and their population had been drastically reduced.
Some of the Northmen who survived the wars would come to inhabit the lands of Dale and
Laketown, while others followed their leader Marhwini south to the Vales of Anduin between
the Gladden Fields and Mirkwood, this faction would come to be known as the Eotheod, meaning
horse-people, famed for their mounted warriors.
Years later, after the fall of Angmar and the defeat of the Witch King, Chieftain Frumgar
of the Eotheod moved his people North, to inhabit the lands near to the Grey Mountains.
Where they came to establish the settlement of Framsburg as their capital, named for Frumgar’s
legendary son Fram who would earn renown for slaying the dragon Scatha who plagued the
Grey Mountains.
And while the spoils of victory were plentiful, with Fram claiming the treasure Scatha had
guarded, this action also earned the hatred of the Dwarves, whose possessions had been
stolen by the Dragon and therefore wanted them returned.
But Fram instead only sent a necklace, made up of the teeth of Scatha and a letter they
took as an insult.
This would lead to centuries of hatred between the Dwarves and Eotheod.
Generations later, the Lordship of the Eotheod fell to Eorl, son of Leod.
During his reign they were visited by a messenger of Gondor, representing Cirion, Steward of
Gondor, and bearing the Red Arrow as a call for aid against Eastern invaders.
Eorl, recognizes that if Gondor fell, all of West would be threatened, and so led his
armies south to defend the plains of Calenardhon, a large, sparsely populated territory within
the realm.
These lands south of the Misty Mountains were being invaded by a group of Easterlings known
as the Balchoth who had nearly succeeded in defeating the armies of Gondor, until Eorl
the Young and his Eotheod warriors arrived, beating back the Eastern invaders and scattering
their forces at the Battle on the field of Celebrant.
As a reward for their assistance in defeating the Balchoth, Cirion granted the Eotheod the
territory of Calenardhon, allowing them to migrate their people south and settle in these
prosperous lands.
Eorl was so grateful to Gondor for the generosity, he pledged eternal friendship and alliance
with Gondor, vowing to fight at their side should they ever need assistance, and Cirion
did the same, establishing an important alliance between them that would use the Red Arrow
as a means of summoning the Rohirrim to the defense of Gondor.
Gondor would then come to call these lands Rohan and its people the Rohirrim, while the
descendants of Eorl and the Eotheod referred to themselves as Eorlingas of the Riddermark.
The people of Rohan were known to speak Rohirric, a language similar to Aduniac, the language
of the Edain.
The Hobbits of the Shire also shared some language similarities with Rohirric since
they once lived near the Anduin, close to the ancestors of the Rohirrim and influence
each other’s cultures and language with even the term Hobbit, derived from the Rohirric
Holbytla meaning hole builder.
Important areas within their borders would come to include
Their capital of Edoras and the city of Aldburg.
The Gap of Rohan, separating the Misty mountains from the White Mountains, The refuge of Dunharrow,
the fortress of the Hornburg and the larger area of Helm’s Deep in the White Mountains.