Middle-earth

Race

Men

Also known as Edain, Hildor, Secondborn, Aftercomers

The Secondborn Children of Ilúvatar, mortal and brief-lived, whose kingdoms and choices dominate the later ages of Middle-earth.

Tolkien’s textsSupported by the narratives published in Tolkien’s lifetime.
Category
Race
Language
Many tongues; Westron became the common speech across the west of Middle-earth.
Men

What this is

In brief

The mortal race as a whole, not one kingdom or culture. Númenóreans, Rohirrim and Bardings are cultures of Men; Gondor or Rohan are the kingdoms some of them built.

Origins

Men awoke in Hildórien in the first years of the Sun, after the Elves. They were the Secondborn, whose gift is death and departure beyond the circles of the world. Those who came west and allied with the Elves against Morgoth were called the Edain.

Culture

Enormously varied: nomadic hunters, sea-kings, horse-lords and city-dwellers alike. Mortality shapes their art and ambition, giving rise to both great courage and the fear of death that Sauron exploited.

Language

Many tongues; Westron became the common speech across the west of Middle-earth.

History

The Edain of the First Age earned the island of Númenor as reward. Its people rose to unmatched power, then fell through pride under Sauron’s influence, and the world was changed. Survivors founded Arnor and Gondor in Middle-earth. Later peoples — Rohirrim, Bardings and countless others — filled the lands as the Elves faded, until the Dominion of Men began in the Fourth Age.

Leaders

Settlements

  • numenor
  • gondor
  • arnor
  • rohan
  • dale
  • bree

Alliances

  • elves
  • dwarves
  • the-fellowship-of-the-ring
  • last-alliance

Conflicts

  • war-of-the-jewels
  • war-of-the-ring
  • battle-of-the-pelennor-fields
  • battle-of-the-last-alliance

Notable members

Sources

  • The Silmarillion · 1977

    Posthumously edited. Contains the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth and Of the Rings of Power.

  • 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.

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