Is Tolkien’s Rohan Similar to Germany?
ANSWER: It has been said many times that J.R.R. Tolkien modeled his northmen of Middle-earth on the ancient Germanic peoples, including Angles, Saxons, Goths, Danes, and even more recent and medieval peoples such as the Icelanders and Norwegians. But how much like ancient Germany was Rohan supposed to be?
In fact, Rohan is NOT very similar to Germany except in a rather broad, vague sense. Rohan is the kingdom of a single tribe, the Eotheod or Eorlingas, who settled within the former boundaries of the larger Kingdom of Gondor at Gondor’s invitation.
This is a very similar arrangement to the historical kingdoms of the Goths, especially the Visigoths, who settled within the Roman Empire as Federati (Foederati). Tolkien relied extensively on the Gothic language and culture in shaping his Eotheod and Rohirric traditions, but he substituted the Old English language for a more evolved form of the ancient Eotheod language that was represented by Gothic. Historically, Gothic and Old English are contemporary branches of the Germanic family of languages.
Ancient Germany was famed for its great rivers, dark forests, and mountains. The only place in Middle-earth that resembles this landscape is the northern region Tolkien named Wilderland or Rhovanion. Extending from the Misty Mountains eastward at least as far as the Carnen (Red River), which ran south from the Iron Hills to the Sea of Rhun, Rhovanion contained both the upper/northern Vales of Anduin and Greenwood the Great (later known as Mirkwood).
“Mirkwood” is an old name for dark, menacing forests in both Scandinavian and Germanic languages and legends. It is a generic name that would have been used of many forests, but probably owes much to the Black Forest that lies in the heart of Germany. Or, rather, the Black Forest is one of the last remnants of a very ancient forest that once extended across northern France, Germany, and Poland. This forest was the homeland for many tribes of Germans and Celts.
The Germanic tribes would have been comparable in many ways to Tolkien’s woodmen of Mirkwood and the Beornings of the Vales of Anduin. The Eotheod were a remnant of a more eastern group of Northmen who lived on the open grasslands much like the Goths, Gepids, and other eastern Germans. Just as the Goths were driven west by their enemies, so the Eotheod were driven west by Easterlings.
The Eotheod eventually settled in a land near the sources of the Anduin river. They lived there for several centuries before Eorl led them south to settle in Gondor’s former province of Calenardhon. The Visigoths, who had been granted extensive lands in France by the Roman empire, were eventually driven south into Iberia by the Franks. The Visigothic Kingdom in Iberia is credited by historians as being the foundation of the modern Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms.
Unlike the Spanish and Portguese peoples of the Visigothic kingdom, the Rohirrim were never conquered for any length of time. The Moors invaded the Visigothic Kingdom in 732 CE and it would not be until 1492 that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella would conquer the last Moorish kingdom, uniting most of Iberia under their rule as the first modern Spanish monarchs.
Nonetheless, there are some parts of Rohan that people might feel are similar to places in Germany. For example, the Firienwood in eastern Rohan (along the border with the Gondorian provide of Anorien) is a dark forest where few people dwell. Most of the Rohirrim also lived in villages and isolated farms throughout the foothills of the northern White Mountains (Ered Nimrais). However, these towns and farms were more characteristic of the Gothic peoples in eastern Europe than of any major Germanic tribes in western Europe.
All Germanic peoples shared certain traditions, such as building long houses (halls for their chieftains), living behind defensive hedges or walls, fortifying defensible hilltops, and owing devoted loyalty to their kings. The Rohirrim lived very much like ancient and early medieval peoples across all of Europe and Scandinavia.
See Also:
“Tolkien’s Middle-earth Doesn’t Look Like Medieval Europe”
“How Did Tolkien Actually Portray the Rohirrim?”
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