Q: Why Didn’t Gondor Give Calenardhon to the Dunlendings?
ANSWER: Calenardhon was Gondor’s northern fief or shire. It was one of the original five regions of Gondor that Isildur and Anarion established when they set up the kingdom in the late Second Age. Why did Cirion the Ruling Steward cede Calenardhon to Eorl and his people instead of to the Dunlendings?
The answer is that the Dunlendings — who were “native” to the region — were part of a larger group of peoples who had a long and hostile history with the Numenoreans. These men, some of whom were called the Gwathuirim in the Second Age, were an ancient group of tribes who had settled in the Ered Nimrais, Calenardhon, Enedwaith, Minhiriath, and Beleriand as far back as the First Age. The Beleriand group were the Folk of Haleth (the Men of Brethil).
Through the Folk of Haleth the Numenoreans had a blood connection with the Gwathuirim, but whereas the Beorians had survived as a people to populate western Numenor in the Second Age, the Folk of Haleth appear to have vanished as a people. Only their descendants through intermarriage with Beorians and Marachians did the Folk of Haleth survive into the Second Age. It may be that Tolkien felt this weaker connection made it difficult for the Numenoreans to establish any friendly ties with the Gwathuirim living near the Gwathlo river.
When Veantur the Numenorean sailed to Middle-earth in Second Age year 600 he visited Gil-galad’s kingdom of Lindon. Hearing about the arrival of the Numenoreans hundreds of years after their departure from Middle-earth, some of the chieftains of Beorian and Marachian peoples living in Eriador (and who were still friendly with Gil-galad’s people) asked to be introduced to the mariners.
According to the only account Tolkien wrote of the meeting (published in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth) about a dozen of these chieftains made the journey. These men and the Numenoreans at once recognized their kinship with each other and they quickly discovered that their languages were very similar. The Numenoreans at that time spoke three languages: Quenya (used only for high ceremonial purposes), Sindarin (used in daily speech), and Adunaic (the ancient language of the Marachians).
The Edainic men of Eriador spoke a language similar to Adunaic, which though similar to the forgotten language of the Beorians was nothing like the lost language of the Folk of Haleth. The Halethian speech would have been very similar to the languages of the Gwathuirim and their southern relatives in or near the Ered Nimrais. By this account we can therefore conclude that only Beorian and Marachian groups of Edainic peoples were represented at the fateful meeting with the Numenoreans.
So not only were the Numenoreans less directly related to the Gwathuirim, they didn’t even speak the same native language. These differences in blood and language were compounded by other differences in culture. The Gwathuirim did not build cities, but rather like the Folk of Haleth in Beleriand dwelt in deep woodlands, building few communities with each family preferring to maintain itself as independently as possible.
Tolkien does not describe the ancient inhabitants of Calenardhon, the Ered Nimrais, or the inhabitants of the Falas south of the mountains sufficiently for us to extrapolate how similar or dissimilar their cultures may have been compared to the northern Gwathuirim. Still, they seem to have recognized an ancient kinship with each other. Hence, after the Numenoreans began colonizing Middle-earth and making inroads into the great forests where the Gwathuirim lived, the Gwathuirim became openly hostile to Numenor.
At least some of the Gwathuirim allied themselves with Sauron during the War of the Elves and Sauron. But while the Numenoreans would not have appreciated this decision by their distant relatives, it was Sauron who betrayed the Gwathuirim’s misplaced trust. He set fire to the great woodlands on either side of the Gwathlo river, destroying what remained of the ancient homelands of the northern Gwathuirim. After the war, according to Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, remnants of these northern groups retreated either into the woodlands of Eryn Vorn (near the coast by the southern Ered Luin) or into the highlands of eastern Enedwaith in the foothills of the southern Misty Mountains (the region that in the late Third Age became known as Dunland).
One group of northern Gwathuirim eventually settled in what became the Bree-land, and they apparently accepted and maintained friendship with the Numenoreans for thousands of years afterward.
Meanwhile, the southern Gwathuirim of Calenardhon, Ered Nimrais, and the Falas either remained loyal to or turned to Sauron through the next thousand years or so. But after the Numenoreans became divided into the Faithful and the King’s Men, many Faithful Numenoreans began to settle in Middle-earth either in Eriador or in the southern vales of Anduin (especially after Pelargir was founded as a royal naval base).
I believe that Tolkien meant to imply that the gradual buildup of Numenorean families in the area helped to influence some of the local peoples to reconsider their loyalty to Sauron. Some of the tribes in the Ered Nimrais, however, remained beyond the influence of the Numenorean culture. These tribes were a sufficient threat to Gondor when it was established that Anarion built the fortress city of Minas Anor in the foothills of the Ered Nimrais to help shelter the Numenorean lands.
Gondor’s original five regions (Belfalas, Lebennin, Anorien, Ithilien, and Calenardhon) all had a mix of peoples: Native tribes, Numenorean families, and people of mingled descent. The Numenorean culture was strong enough in these areas for Isildur and Anarion to incorporate them into their kingdom. But the men of the Ered Nimrais and their relatives appear to have been untrustworthy allies and citizens. When Sauron attacked Gondor Isildur called upon all the local tribes to support Gondor. One tribe in the mountains refused, despite having sworn an oath of friendship to Isildur. That tribe became the Dead Men of Dunharrow.
Through the centuries of the Third Age the peoples of Calenardhon remained generally loyal to Gondor but they suffered from repeated invasions by Easterlings. Their northern relatives in Enedwaith were, until the time of the Great Plague (Third Age year 1636) at least monitored and partially held back by Gondor’s garrisons at Tharbad (on the southern side of the river), Angrenost (Isengard), and Aglarond (Helm’s Deep). These three garrisons defended Calenardhon and the great highway that linked Gondor and Arnor. However, after the Great Plague Gondor could no longer maintain the garrisons at Tharbad and in Mordor and the fortresses of Angrenost and Aglarond were left in the hands of local chieftains.
In time, as the Kin-strife and other griefs drained the resources of Gondor’s northern lands people began to migrate southward to the more populous regions along the Falas. The hereditary garrisons of Angrenost and Aglarond were eventually combined into one community. Hence, the men who lived in western Calenardhon became less and less dependent upon and loyal to Gondor. They became more Gwathuirimish, so-to-speak.
By the time Cirion called upon the Eotheod for help against the Balchoth (a federation of Easterling tribes that lived near southern Mirkwood and which were hostile to Gondor) the few remaining men of Calenardhon were too weak or too disloyal to defend the area. The Dunlendings apparently did not serve in Cirion’s army at all, and therefore had become unfriendly to Gondor.
Because enemies from the east could enter Gondor’s northern lands at the Undeeps (the series of loops in the Anduin’s course near Fangorn Forest) Cirion needed to ensure that the inhabitants of Calenardhon were both strong and loyal to Gondor. By ceding the land to Eorl and his people he ensured that Calenardhon would continue to be defended by powerful allies friendly to Gondor. Unfortunately, this choice meant that the original inhabitants of Calenardhon would have abandon their homes. In one text Tolkien indicates that some of Calenardhon’s people moved to Anorien or other parts of Gondor. Those who remained in western Calenardhon became or merged with the Gwathuirimic peoples who were later known as the Dunlendings.
In other words, Cirion withdrew all remaining loyal and friendly inhabitants of Calenardhon (except for a small community at Angrenost) in order to vacate the land for the Eotheod. Anyone who defied Cirion’s order of withdrawal essentially renounced loyalty to Gondor and therefore became an enemy of Gondor. By refusing to abandon the land the Dunlendings became, in the eyes of Gondor and Rohan’s laws, squatters and outlaws. And that, of course, is why the Rohirrim (formerly known as the Eotheod) began fighting with the inhabitants of western Calenardhon (now western Rohan).
Eventually the Numenorean community at Angrenost was infiltrated by the Dunlendings, who seized power there and use the fortress against Rohan in the great war of Third Age year 2758 (the war in which Helm Hammerhand was driven to seek refuge at Aglarond, where he eventually froze to death). Helm’s nephew and successow Frealaf eventually drove the Dunlendings out of Angrenost, which the Rohirrim held on behalf of Gondor until Saruman settled there.
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