Dunland

Dunland sits in a pocket of the map that is easy to overlook: east of Enedwaith, west of the Misty Mountains, and directly north of the Gap of Rohan. The name in the speech of Rohan means hill-land, and hills are what it is, rising in ridges and moors toward Methedras. The Adorn and the headwaters of the Isen drain its southern edge.

The Dunlendings are the descendants of men driven out of Enedwaith and Minhiriath when Númenor felled the forests there. They kept their own language and remembered old wrongs for a very long time. Their bitterest quarrel was with Rohan. When Cirion gave the province of Calenardhon to Eorl in TA 2510, Dunlendish settlers who had been drifting into the empty land were expelled, and they never forgot it.

That grudge produced the war of Wulf. In the Long Winter of TA 2758 to 2759 Wulf son of Freca led Dunlendings into Rohan, took Edoras and killed Haleth son of Helm. King Helm Hammerhand held out in the refuge that afterward carried his name. Fréaláf broke the occupation in the spring.

Two and a half centuries later Saruman reopened the same wound. He armed the Dunlendings, told them Rohan had stolen their land, and sent them with his Uruk-hai against the Hornburg in March TA 3019. After the battle Erkenbrand and Éomer let the survivors go home on oath, which surprised the Dunlendings, who had been told the horse-lords burned their prisoners alive.

Events at this place

1. TA 2758 · Appendices

   Wulf seizes Edoras

   Dunlendings under Wulf son of Freca invaded Rohan during the Long Winter and held Edoras while Helm Hammerhand was besieged in Helm's Deep.

2. TA 3019, March 3 · The Lord of the Rings

   Dunlendings march on the Hornburg

   Saruman raised Dunland against Rohan and sent hillmen with his Uruk-hai to Helm's Deep. The survivors were released after swearing peace.

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