On the interactive atlas
Coordinates shown here are approximate, marking this place on the shared atlas map for orientation rather than cartography. It sits on the Third Age layer.
View on the interactive atlas →Geography
Wide grasslands between the Gap of Isen and the White Mountains, watered by the Entwash and Snowbourn.
History
Granted in T.A. 2510 to Eorl the Young after the Éothéod helped Gondor at the Field of Celebrant. It endured war with Dunlending and Orc, and fell under Gríma’s counsel before Théoden’s renewal.
People & inhabitants
The Rohirrim, horse-lords of Rhovanion descent.
Significance
Rohan embodies a heroic, pre-industrial culture and supplies the great cavalry charge at the Pelennor.
Connections
Helm’s Deep and Edoras lie within; Fangorn to the west; Gondor to the east.
Events here
Figures of this place
CharacterThéoden
King of Rohan, aged prematurely by Gríma’s counsel, later restored and killed at the Pelennor Fields.
CharacterÉomer
Théoden’s nephew, a marshal of Rohan who becomes king after the war.
Éowyn
Théoden’s niece, who defied the prohibition on women going to war and slew the Witch-king at the Pelennor.
CharacterGríma Wormtongue
Théoden’s treacherous counsellor, secretly in Saruman’s service.
CharacterGandalf
A Wizard of the Istari, keeper of the Elven-ring Narya, and the chief architect of the resistance to Sauron.
Sources
The Lord of the Rings · 1954–55
Three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
Unfinished Tales · 1980
Expanded and alternative accounts of the First, Second and Third Ages.
Related places
LocationEdoras
The capital of Rohan, its golden hall Meduseld standing on a green hill below the White Mountains.
LocationHelm’s Deep
The fortress of the Hornburg in the valley behind the Deeping Wall, scene of Rohan’s greatest defensive battle.
LocationIsengard
Saruman’s fortress at the southern end of the Misty Mountains, ruined by the Ents in the War of the Ring.
Gondor
The great southern kingdom of the Dúnedain, long defended by its Stewards and finally restored under King Elessar.