Who Were the Bearded Easterlings with Large Axes?

Q: Who Were the Bearded Easterlings with Large Axes?

ANSWER: I only discard reader questions by accident or if they are so short and the answers so obvious that the askers may find the answers somewhere on the Web before I have time to do proper research and write up an article. Hence, given that I have a growing archive of unanswered questions about Middle-earth, I have been hanging on to some of them for a long time.

Early last year a reader sent in this inquiry:

I would like to read your thoughts about the bearded Easterlings coming with axes, who were first seen in the Siege of Cair Andros. Who were they? Did the professor created them based on existing people? Could they be Dwarves from the Far East? Could they have close contact with dwarves from the East? Why didn’t they appear earlier?

This is one of those questions that cannot be answered simply or directly, other than to say, “I don’t know.” J.R.R. Tolkien provided no more details about these Easterlings than what Ingold reportedly said when he and his men abandoned the outer wall surrounding Minas Tirith: “…countless companies of Men of a new sort that we have not met before. Not tall, but broad and grim, bearded like dwarves, wielding great axes. Out of some savage land in the wide East they come, we deem.” It is generally assumed that the later brief mention of “Easterlings with axes” who entered the Battle of the Pelennor Fields after the Lord of the Nazgul was defeated were the same group.

These Easterlings are sometimes referred to as “half-dwarves” (perhaps more often than not), although J.R.R. Tolkien did not describe them so. The idea of the half-dwarf has been embraced by role-playing games and so it has crept into the popular imagination. I don’t think Tolkien meant to imply that this was a special race of men. I think he just meant they wore long, braided beards in a style similar to that of the Dwarves. These men are “broad and grim”, but that doesn’t mean they have to be a fantasy race.

The “wielding great axes” phrase is a bit confusing. The reference does not appear to be to traditional western or northern European battle axes. In fact, the Dwarvish axes seem to be more like fantasy weapons than based on real weapons. There were certainly long-hafted pole-arms like Halberds, which resembled axes or had axe-like heads, but most experts distinguish between those weapons and battle axes.

A typical western European battle axe from the medieval and renaissance period had a small head. These were common weapons, used by both infantry and cavalry (knights), that it would be unusual for any of them to be described as “large” compared to the others. Although weaponsmiths introduced some interesting innovations to axe warfare across the centuries, it’s my understanding that the basic axe head remained well within certain shapes and sizes.

To find an overlarge axe you really have to look farther back in history. I thought at first, when researching this question, that Tolkien might have had some Middle Eastern or Asian steppe warriors in mind, but I could not find any references to such warriors bearing large axes. There were all sorts of axe-wielding soldiers in those regions, to be sure, but they seem to have used axes of a similar size and weight to the European axes, even if their designs were radically different.

But we do have some large “battle axe” things that have been preserved from the Minoan civilization. The name for these (possibly ornamental) weapons is Labrys and they were made of bronze. They could be quite large, larger than a man, and they (often) had two heads. The double-headed battle axe you find in fantasy games appears to be inspired by the Minoan Labrys, so far as I can tell. There is also an image of a (smallish) double-headed axe on the Etruscan Larth Ninie monument. I don’t think this representation would have inspired any fantasy weapons and almost certainly has no connection to Tolkien’s fiction (unless you want to associate it with the Argonath, but I don’t think that would be appropriate).

In the book Gimli wielded a “broad-bladed axe”, not some funky two-headed thing like they gave him in the movies. In the book Gimli carried the axe in his belt and he wielded it with one hand. He even used it to cut wood. The only significant deed involving Gimli’s axe was his easy cleaving of two orc heads from their bodies, but the “broad blade” should have been sufficient for that task (and Gimli’s strength and skill). Hence, I think Tolkien pictured Gimli (and probably most if not all dwarves) wielding a normal sized battle axe. This would allow our mysterious Easterlings to wield larger axes that don’t have to be ridiculously large.

In which case, could they be modeled on a historical people? Well, some people have asked me (and perhaps elsewhere) if these Easterlings could not be the Variags of Khand, but I don’t think so. Tolkien seems to distinguish between the two groups when he lists the reserve forces Gothmog sends into battle: “Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand. Southrons in scarlet, and out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues …”

These Axe-Easterlings are different from other peoples. That is all we know. Their preference for axes does not appear to be unusual but they were organized in companies and their primary weapons were the large axes. I suggest that makes them shock troops, perhaps light infantry whose task was to charge an enemy force and break it up, allowing other types of soldiers to follow through (including cavalry). They might have been formidable warriors in the right circumstances but they were no match for the Rohirrim, probably because Gothmog’s move was more desperate than coordinated. The Easterlings should have been supported by archers and cavalry but the Rohirrim had already defeated the main cavalry force and Mordor’s army was thrown into turmoil.

Since Ingold did not recognize these Easterlings I think it doubtful that Gondor had fought them in any major engagements. Hence, that is another reason why I say they were probably not Variags. Although Tolkien provides even less detail about the Variags, they are known in Gondor by that name, which means Gondor had sufficient contact with their culture to recognize them and distinguish them from other Easterlings. It is tempting to try to identify the Axe Easterlings with a historical model but unless someone uncovers some other detail not included in The Lord of the Rings I think that will be impossible to justify.

See also:

• Who Were the Variags of Khand? (Tolkien Studies on the Web)
• Who Were the Variags of Khand? (Middle-earth Blog)

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