Q: Why Did the Rohirrim Move South to Gondor?
ANSWER: According to the story “Cirion and Eorl”, published in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, Eorl never intended to migrate south when he answered Cirion’s summons. It was only Eorl’s intention to provide military aid to Gondor in its time of need and then, if he and his men survived, return to their homes in the north.
However, Cirion saw in Eorl’s people a strong ally who could defend Gondor’s northern flank against Easterling invasions. He was also aware of the problems facing Eorl’s people due to their growing numbers. They could not expand northward into the Grey mountains without risking conflict with dwarves, orcs, and dragons.
Also, Cirion wanted to provide Eorl and his people with a meaningful reward that matched their selfless expedition. They traveled several hundred miles, leaving their homes and families vulnerable to invasion, for no reason other than to defend a nation that their distant ancestors had once been allied with. Eorl did believe (and probably his people with him) that Gondor was an important bulwark for the free peoples of Middle-earth, but his expedition was essentially “a freebie”.
Cirion therefore used his authority as Ruling Steward to permanently release from Gondor’s claim the entire province of Calenardhon. It was situated in a warmer climate, bounded by a friendly nation on the south, and provided more land for the Rohirrim than their northern home. By inviting Eorl to establish a kingdom on its border, Gondor strengthened its weakening defenses and at the same time handed strategic control over the Undeeps (a shallow section of the Anduin river that enemies had used to invade northern Gondor) to a faithful ally, thus freeing Gondor’s military to concentrate on problems in Ithilien and Harondor (South Gondor).
Tolkien styled this land grant on similar historical grants made to the Visigoths, to whom the Romans ceded control of southwestern Gaul (the province of Aquitaine). The land grant was made to King Wallia by the Emperor Honorius in the year 417 CE. Honorius needed the Visigoths’ army to help fight other Germanic tribes (including the Siling Vandals in Iberia, or what is now Spain and Portugal). And the Roman state had by this time so weakened itself through several civil wars and rebellions that it could no longer maintain adequate government over vast regions of territory.
One of the chief reasons for the Roman state’s weakness, however, was the political conflict between Christians and Pagans. Honorius was a Christian emperor who favored the Church; he disenfranchised Pagan (or Arian) soldiers and bureaucrats, thus depriving the Roman state of vital trained and experienced servants. Brutal racial discrimination against Germans living in Roman cities, including alleged wholesale massacres of families held hostage, also drove the emperor to find a solution that would not further weaken the empire. So dividing Gaul with Wallia and his Goths made sense for several reasons.
Honorius concluded treaties with two other tribes: the Burgundians and the Franks. Both were allies of the empire. The Burgundians were bestowed imperial lands; the Franks seized them by colonization and war. Honorius simply redrew the map so that he had allies on his flank rather than enemies, ceding to them all claims to the lands he could no longer defend. In fact, the first generations of these resident barbarians only wanted to become more Roman, seeking Roman offices and connections. That was the inevitable evolution of Rome’s gradual transition to handing its defenses over to German allies throughout the 300s.
In this respect, then, Tolkien’s story diverges from the historical narrative: Eorl’s people had no ambition to become Gondorians. They simply wished to remain as they were, but allied with Gondor and faithful in word and deed because that was the nature to which they were born. The Rohirrim were Tolkien’s ideal of heroic Northmen: faithful, valiant, loyal, trustworthy, and undaunted by the task of facing tremendous evil.
In this depiction Tolkien made the Rohirrim exceptional among the Northmen. That is, the Woodmen (and Beornings) of Mirkwood were not so friendly to Gondor that they could be enticed to pick up and move south, or even to send aid to Gondor’s armies in times of great need. They were friendly to Gondor in other ways, but not as close as the Rohirrim. The Rohirrim’s relationship with Gondor can be interpreted (if you will) as an escalation of the friendship between the Men of Dale and the Dwarves of Erebor. Again, the Men of Dale were not inclined to join the kingdom of Erebor, but they were close, loyal allies who held to their duty in the face of overwhelming odds; and yet the Men of the Long Lake (and presumably other nearby Northmen) were not so close to the Dwarves of Erebor that they were willing to share in their misfortunes.
That the Men of the Long Lake helped Thorin and Company probably only reflects the mixed nature of the population; many of Laketown’s people, like Bard the Bowman, were descended from Men of Dale. When Erebor was re-established loyal Northmen once again moved to Dale to make it (and Erebor) strong.
And so I think the greatest reason for why Eorl’s people were willing to move south is that they truly loved and believed in Gondor. They were the descendants of Gondor’s formerly greatest ally, the Northmen of Vidugavia’s kingdom (Rhovanion). As a people steeped in tradition they remembered their ancient kinship with Gondor’s people (many Northmen had settled in Gondor on two occasions, especially after Eldacar of Gondor defeated his kinsman and rival, Castamir the Usurper) and their ancient alliance with Gondor’s kings, who came of Vidugavia’s own family through Eldacar.
# # #
See also:
- How Did the Éothéod differ from the Rohirrim?
- How Many Lords of Éothéod were There?
- What Were the Beornings Like?
- Where Did the Rohirrim Come From?
- Who Were the Men of Mirkwood?
- How Many Tribes of Northmen are There?
- What was Éothéod Like?
Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
Nice answer, but I have a question related more to Men of Dale and Beornings. Do you think that besides Bard Bowman there were others who understood trushes and could talk with them? And what about Beorn, if there was one who could change into bear there might have been others (not only his descendants but also others, there was a bear gathering with small bears ordinary bears and giant bears so if Beorn was a giant bear maybe those were skinchangers too?).
Since Balin said that the Men of Dale could understand the thrushes I would think that Bard might have had some fellow thrush-speakers to hobnob and confer with, although clearly Tolkien had no story in mind about that.
As for the Beornings, since Tolkien said he was a “bit of a magician” and used the expression “skin-changer” to describe him in the story, I believe Beorn’s ability was learned and not intended to be an inherited trait. He would have passed on his knowledge to his heirs, and perhaps whatever went along with that (assuming there was some artifact Tolkien had in mind).
Beren and Luthien used artifacts to disguise themselves when traveling to Angband so the idea of a magical device that changes your shape is not unique to The Hobbit. I don’t know if Peter Jackson’s movie will use such a device; he might be courting legal action if he does so, since the only “proof” of Tolkien using such artifacts in his literature is found in The Silmarillion.
Hmm Beorn abilities coming from an artifact interesting, I bet this is in reference to berserkers who wore animal skins 🙂 well it is open to interpretation as we never actually see how Beorn transforms but maybe it was skill which didn’t require any objects, something like Elwing’s transformation into a bird (she later learned how to change into..err swan I think, but she had special heritage as descendant of Luthien). As for the movies I think it will be portrayed as a sort of werewolf change sequence or something like it :). Thanks for the answer!