Rohan
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- For other uses, see Rohan (disambiguation).
Rohan (from Sindarin Rochand), is a fictional realm in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy era of Middle-earth. It is of significant importance in the author's most famous book, The Lord of the Rings.
Rohan is a grassland which lies north of its ally Gondor and north-west of Mordor, the realm of Sauron, their enemy. It is inhabited by the Rohirrim, a people of herdsmen and farmers who are well-known for their horses and cavalry.
Conceptualized as the "Horse kings of Rohan" allied with Gondor in early drafts of 1939, the Rohirrim took their final form in 1942 when about one third of The Lord of the Rings was completed.
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[edit] Geography
The countryside of Rohan is described as a land of pastures and lush tall grassland which is frequently windswept. It is similar to the Central Asian steppe or North American Great Plains. Its climate is of the warm-continental type, and its weather can come from all four directions. The lands of Rohan are frequently described as appearing like "seas of grass".
At the time of the War of the Ring, Rohan was roughly a third the size of Gondor, whose borders had slowly been shrinking for decades. It was also much more sparsely populated. Judging from the size of the cavalry forces and militia King Théoden was able to muster, Rohan's population probably numbered only about 50,000.[citation needed]
[edit] Borders
The borders of Rohan are: The rivers Isen and Adorn in the west, where Rohan borders Isengard and the land of the Dunlendings; the White Mountains and the Mering Stream, which separate it from Gondor, in the south; the mouths of Entwash in the east; and the river Limlight in the north.
[edit] Cities
The capital of Rohan is the hill fort of Edoras which lies close to the slopes of the White Mountains. Another large city is Aldburg, capital city of the Eastfold and original city of Eorl the Young. A third notable city is Snowbourne, named after the river which runs nearby it. It is similar in appearance to the hill-fort of Edoras. Dunharrow is a refuge in the White Mountains. Helm's Deep is a valley in the White Mountains in which the Hornburg, a major fortress of Rohan, is located.
[edit] Culture
The Dúnedain of Gondor believed that the Rohirrim were distantly related to them (having descended from the Atanatári or Edain of the First Age) and described them as Middle Men, that being inferior to the Númenóreans in both culture and descent, but superior to the Men of Darkness who had worshipped and served Sauron — and this is stated as fact in The Lord of the Rings. However J. R. R. Tolkien later called this a piece of Númenórean fiction meant to satisfy the national pride of the people of Gondor for the surrender of the territory of Calenardhon — in reality there had been no common ancestry between the people of Rohan and of Gondor.[citation needed]
In any case, they did not go to Beleriand like the Edain who were later rewarded with the island of Númenor by the Valar. The ancestors of the Rohirrim were known as the Éothéod and were given the province of Calenardhon by Gondor after the Battle of the Field of Celebrant.
The people of Rohan were tall, pale, and mostly had blue eyes and blond hair which they wore long and braided. They were by nature stern, fierce and grave yet generous.
- They are proud and willful, but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songs, after the manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years. — The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers
The Rohirrim had had contacts with Elves in their ancient history, and knew of Eru, but like the Dúnedain they did not worship him in any temples. They seem to have venerated the Vala Oromë the Hunter, whom they called Bema.
[edit] Horses and warfare
The Rohirrim were famous as skilled horsemen and breeders.
The armies of Rohan were almost exclusively cavalry, divided into irregular units termed éoreds. Rohan's armies were more of a very well-trained militia called upon in times of war, with the actual standing army relatively small. They are described as having round shields, long spears, long swords, a light helm, and hauberks of chain mail that extended down to their knees.
In time of war, every able man was obliged to join the Muster of Rohan. They were also bound by the Oath of Eorl to help Gondor in times of peril, and the latter asked for their aid through the giving of the Red Arrow. Also, the Rohirrim could be notified to aid Gondor by the lighting of the warning beacons of Gondor, a line of beacon fires on the White Mountains that were constantly manned. In times of war, the starting beacon at Amon Din would be lit, until the last one one could be noticed in Edoras.
Among the horses of the Rohirrim were the famed mearas, the noblest and fastest horses who have ever roamed Arda; Felaróf was the greatest of all mearas.
It was because of the close affiliation with horses, both in war and peace, that they received their now famous name. Rohirrim (or more properly Rochirrim) is Sindarin for "Horse-lords," and Rohan (or Rochand) means "Land of the Horse-lords." These names were devised by Hallas, son of Cirion the Steward.
[edit] Language
The Rohirrim's language is Rohirric. It is, like the languages of all Men, akin to Adûnaic, the language of the Edain.
The Rohirrim call their homeland the Ridenna-mearc, the Riddermark or Éo-marc, the Horse-mark, also simply the Mark and call themselves the Eorlingas, the Sons of Eorl. In the original Rohirric the name for their land is Lôgrad, with the element "lô-"/"loh-" corresponding to Anglo-Saxon "éo", horse.
Rohirric bears a similar relationship to Westron, the Common Speech of Middle-earth, as that of Old English to modern English, and so Tolkien rendered Rohirric names and phrases into Old English (Anglo-Saxon), just as the Common Speech is translated into English. Examples include words such as mearas (another Old English word for "horses", which survives into Modern English as "mares") and éored. Tolkien was a philologist, with a special interest in Germanic languages.
Many archaic Hobbit names bear similarities to Rohirric, since the ancestors of the Shire hobbits lived on the upper reaches of the Anduin, close to the ancestors of the Rohirrim, and there was apparently a good deal of linguistic cross-fertilization. The name Hobbit itself is believed to be derived from the Rohirric Holbytlan (hole builders). These names are also translations of the original Westron Kuduk (Hobbit) and Rohirric kûd-dûkan (hole dweller).
[edit] History
In the thirteenth century of the Third Age (T.A.), the Kings of Gondor made close alliances with the Northmen of Rhovanion, a people said in The Lord of the Rings to be akin to the Three Houses of Men (later the Dúnedain) from the First Age.
In the twenty-first century, a remnant tribe of such Northmen calling itself the Éothéod moved from the valleys of Anduin to the north west of Mirkwood, clearing out what remained of the recently defeated witch kingdom of Angmar, east of the Misty Mountains. While there, some dispute arose between them and the Dwarves over the treasure-hoard of Scatha the dragon.
Later, in 2509, Cirion the Steward of Gondor sent summons to the Éothéod for aid in throwing off a combined invasion of Men from the north east of Middle-earth, and Orcs from Mordor.
Eorl the Young, king of the Éothéod, answered the summons, and arrived unexpected at a decisive battle at the Field of Celebrant, routing the orc army, and then decimating it as it fled.
As a reward, Eorl was given the plains of Calenardhon, and he moved his kingdom there. This land had earlier been part of Gondor proper, but had been devastated by the plague of 1636, and the survivors to a large extent slain in the invasion mentioned above.
The first line of kings lasted for 249 years, until the ninth king Helm Hammerhand died. His sons had been killed earlier, and his nephew Fréaláf Hildeson began the second line of kings, which lasted until the end of the Third Age.
In 2758, Rohan was invaded by Dunlendings under Wulf, son of Freca, of mixed Dunland and Rohan blood. The King, Helm Hammerhand, took refuge in the Hornburg until aid from Gondor and Dunharrow (a refuge of the Rohirrim) arrived a year later and defeated the invaders.
It was soon after this that Saruman arrived and took over Isengard, and was welcomed as a strong ally, since it would take Rohan close to 200 years to recover its strength after the invasion.
In 3014, Saruman began using his influence to weaken the King, Théoden, as part of a campaign to invade or take over the kingdom. In 3019, he launched a big invasion on Rohan, with victory in the two first battles (at the Fords of Isen; Théoden's son, Théodred was killed during these attacks) and defeat at the Battle of the Hornburg, where the Huorns came to the aid of the Rohirrim.
On the heels of this victory, Théoden rode with an army to Minas Tirith and helped break its siege in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, where he was slain. Éomer, the nephew of King Théoden, then took up the reign, beginning the third line. Éomer rode with the armies of Gondor to the Black Gate of Mordor and took part in the Battle of the Morannon against the forces of Sauron, who were defeated when the Ruling Ring was destroyed.
The rule of the stewards of Gondor was then over. King Éomer and the new king of Gondor, Elessar (Aragorn), renewed their oath of alliance, and reaffirmed Cirion's grant of Calenardhon to the Rohirrim.
[edit] See also
[edit] Politics
Rohan was an absolute monarchy. The King lead the army during wartime, and is referred to in The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare as having possessed absolute rule over his subjects. There was no parliament. Advisers, such as Gríma Wormtongue, could often gain influence over the king, however.
[edit] Alliance with Gondor
The alliance between Rohan and Gondor came into existence in the year 2510 of the Third Age. In that year the Easterlings launched a massive invasion of Gondor. The army of Gondor was defeated and trapped between the Limlight and the Celebrant. Gondor, which had always been on friendly terms with the different tribes of the Northmen, sent messengers to the closest tribe, the Éothéod. Although it was unlikely that the message calling for aid would come through, it did. Then Eorl the Young and his fierce Éothéod Riders unexpectedly took the field during the Battle of Celebrant and turned the tide in the favour of Gondor. As a reward Cirion, the Steward of Gondor, gave Eorl the depopulated province of Calenardhon for his people to settle, while fulfilling Gondor's need for a strong ally. The Oath of Eorl was sworn by both Cirion and Eorl. Neither nation has ever broken the alliance ever since. Rohan has gone through great lengths to fulfil their part of the treaty including sacrificing two of its heirs when Gondor was under threat from the Haradrim in 2885, when Fastred and Folcred, the twin sons of King Folcwine, were killed during the Battle of Crossings of Poros. King Théoden once again honoured the alliance in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
[edit] War with the Dunlendings
To the west of Rohan lived the Dunlendings, a native people who had been hostile against the Free Peoples for a long time. The Dunlending Wulf briefly usurped of the throne of Rohan during the long winter. Wulf was also the commander of the Dunlendings and led them on constant raids upon the towns and cities of Rohan.
[edit] Rumours of tributes paid to Sauron
During the early days of the War of the Ring, rumours were spread that the Rohirrim supplied Sauron's armies with horses. These rumours were obviously false: the Rohirrim valued their horses more than anything, and would never send them away, even as tribute. Still these rumours had some effect, in that they obscured the fact it was Saruman who had fallen, rather than Rohan. The basis of the rumour was that Sauron's Orcs on raids into Rohan stole almost all of their black horses (Making them rare) for use in Mordor's army, but this was outright theft that angered the Rohirrim against Sauron.
[edit] Wormtongue
When King Théoden began to grow old, he took as an advisor Gríma, later called Wormtongue. Gríma quickly became Théoden's chief advisor, but unknown to all he was secretly working for Saruman. Gríma played on Théoden's fears to further weaken the strength of the king and all of Rohan, always advising retreat where an attack was needed. He may have also begun poisoning the king at this time. This nearly proved disastrous for Rohan, and also for Gondor, by robbing them of their strongest ally in the north. Gríma Wormtongue's plans were not revealed until Gandalf arrived in Edoras during the War of the Ring.
[edit] Inspiration
Several aspects of Rohan's culture and history seem to be inspired by the Goths, Scandinavians and the medieval Anglo-Saxons.
Just like the Germanic Ostrogoths, Rohirric culture was a mounted culture. It had separated from the Northmen, moved south, and had settled in close proximity with a civilization. In the Goths' case it was the Byzantine Empire and in the case of the Rohirrim, it was Gondor.
The Hervarar saga in particular, with its Mirkwood, Gothic horsemen and shieldmaidens, appears to have inspired Tolkien when creating the Rohirrim, although he exchanged the Gothic tongue with Anglo-Saxon.
The antipathy between the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings somehow resembles the historical tension between the Anglo-Saxon settlers of Britain and the native Celts (incidentally, on whose language Tolkien based Sindarin.)
[edit] Language
Tolkien rendered Rohirric as Old English, but also included Scandinavian names, such as Westfold. Even words and phrases that were printed in Modern English showed a strong Anglo-Saxon influence. Old English was supposed to render an archaic form of Westron, which was supposedly rendered by Modern English. This solution occurred to Tolkien in 1942, when he was searching for an explanation of the Eddaic name of the dwarves already published in The Hobbit.
Rohirric nouns were pluralized with the suffix "-as", as were Old English nouns of the strong-masculine declension.
The Rohirrim used the Germanic patronymic "-ing". They called themselves the Eorlingas just as Scyld's people were the Scyldingas in Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology.
Théoden was referred to as "Théoden King", rather than "King Théoden", just as Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon kings had the word konungr/cyning ("king") added after their names, e.g. Hervarðar konungr, rather than before. Compare with Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxons whose name appeared as Ælfred cyning.
Many Rohirric names appear to be derived from Old English words. These include:
- Éothéod: from eoh ("war-horse") and þeod ("folk", "people", "nation")
- Gríma: possibly from gríma ("mask", "helmet", "ghost") or grim (ugly)
- Eorl: from eorl ("nobleman")
- Théodred: from þeod ("folk", "people", "nation") and ræd ("counsel")
[edit] Important Rohirrim
- Eorl the Young
- Helm Hammerhand
- Théoden
- Théodred
- Éomer
- Éowyn
- Gríma Wormtongue
- Various captains in the War of the Ring, such as Grimbold, Gamling the Old, Háma and Elfhelm
[edit] Portrayal in adaptations
The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, a book based on the New Line films, purports to record weaponry and military organization in Middle-earth. However the text should not be taken as a canonical record of Tolkien's Middle-earth, but rather of Jackson's version of it since it interweaves Tolkien's details with movie-based embellishments. For example, the book goes into greater detail into the King's guards than does the original:
These men, numbering thirty and fifty in king's time, were the elite warriors in Rohan, handpicked for their skill and particular loyalty. They were well-trained with a full range of weapons. The Royal Guard possessed the only unified armour among the Rohan warriors, consisting of a sleeveless, full-length scale hauberk that was effective on foot and on horse, and a helmet featuring a visor with cutouts for their eyes, cheek-plates and a tall metal crest of a horse head from which flowed a mane of horsehair; a mail aventail was riveted inside the back of the helmet's skull. The guards additionally wore steel vambraces and pauldrons overworked with leather, which were strapped to the arms, and a steel collar; both the helmet and collar were extensively worked in bronze. A fine wool cloak dyed green and edged with a red and gold pattern was attached to the leather helms of the hauberk with circular bronze brooches featuring the sun device. The leather of the scabbard and the handgrip was dyed the same green as the cloak.
| Realms from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium during the Second Age | |
|---|---|
| Realms of Men: | Arnor | Gondor | Lond Daer | Númenor | Rohan | Umbar |
| Realms of the Elves: | Dorwinion | Edhellond | Eregion | Lindon | Lórinand | Greenwood the Great | Rivendell |
| Realms of the Dwarves: | Belegost | Khazad-dûm |
| Realms of the Ents: | Fangorn forest |
| Realms of the enemy: | Cirith Ungol | Mordor |
| 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 |
