Q: Does Saruman Rule Dunland and the Dunlendings?
ANSWER: J.R.R. Tolkien never states in any published text that Saruman rules over Dunland in any formal sense of the word “rule”. However it is very apparent from passages in both The Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth that Saruman wields considerable influence over the Dunlendings, especially in that he appeals to their hatred of the Rohirrim in recruiting them for his war against Rohan.
The Dunlendings who fought against Rohan on Saruman’s behalf appear to have received their orders from Saruman’s field commanders. Hence, some readers wonder if this means that the Dunlendings had taken Saruman for their lord.
While it could mean that Saruman had assumed control over Dunland, it could also be that he merely recruited Dunlending men into his army, and that he made no claims of lordship over Dunland.
The relationship of Dunland to Gondor and Rohan was very complicated. According to texts published in Unfinished Tales the Dunlendings were descended from the same tribe of Men from whom the Folk of Haleth had come in the First Age. The Dunlendings and related peoples (including the ancestors of the Men of Bree, the ancestors of the Dead Men of Dunharrow, and the ancestors of other unnamed groups referred to in various passages) lived throughout Eriador, Enedwaith, Calenardhon, and the foot-hills of the Ered Nimrais (the White Mountains of Gondor).
Some of these groups of men became citizens of Gondor, but many of them fought against Gondor. Isildur cursed the Dead Men of Dunharrow for refusing to honor their oath to serve Gondor. Isildur’s brother Anarion had actually built Minas Anor (later named Minas Tirith) to defend the young kingdom against the “wild men of the hills”, presumably either the Dunlendings or the Druedain (although it seems unlikely the Druedain would have been hostile to Numenoreans).
Calenardhon was part of the original Kingdom of Gondor. Isildur and Anarion built two fortresses on either side of the Gap of Calenardhon (Orthanc and Aglarond). These fortresses would have served no strategic purposes against enemies living across the Anduin river. However, Orthanc would have been positioned to block raids from Dunland into Calenardhon and Aglarond would have been positioned to dominate the valleys of the northern Ered Nimrais.
It may be that many of the people of Calenardhon were related to the Dunlendings, and that they accepted the rule of the Numenoreans of Gondor. However, after Gondor’s many wars throughout the Third Age, as well as the Great Plague of 1636, Calenardhon’s population declined to the point where Gondor could no longer defend the province. In the year 2510 the Steward Cirion ceded most of Calenardhon to the Eotheod to take as their own land.
Cirion retained control over Orthanc. However the people of Orthanc were closely related to the Dunlendings and they eventually joined the Dunlendings in attacking Rohran. After Rohan defeated the Dunlendings in the war of 2757-9, Orthanc was besieged and taken from the Dunlendings. The last remnants of the Orthanc clan were driven into exile or destroyed.
Saruman soon took over control of Orthanc and the Stewards accepted a nominal homage from him in return for his safe-keeping of the fortress. Although Tolkien does not say when Saruman began keeping servants there it seems unlikely he lived alone for very long. Saruman should have been able to recruit men from both Rohan and Dunland to tend the fortress. There were families in western Rohan that claimed kinship among both peoples through intermarriage.
Saruman finally seized Orthanc for himself in the late 30th century of the Third Age. It is most likely that he only began to extend his influence over the Dunlendings around that time.
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