men of middle-earth ✦ middle men ✦ headcanon disclaimer
Mogru was the town-master of Agar, the leader of a dwindling people in their last years. He was fearful and suspicious of young Tal-Elmar, and when strange ships appeared on the horizon he sent Tal-Elmar to greet their captains, whom he believed were enemies. When Tal-Elmar did not return, and the fell folk of the sea marched to Agar and demanded their surrender, Mogru was stricken with terror and fled into the night as his people resisted the conquering Númenóreans. He did not make it far from his town, for many beasts prowled the Hills of Agar, and he was set upon and devoured before he could find a place of refuge. Balgab was the aged town-master of Udul, a once-prosperous town neighboring Agar. The curse of Elmar reached even them, and they fell into a slow ruin as a plague descended upon them. Once Balgab had sheltered the maiden Agelm, who fled Agar after the birth of her son to Hazad Longbeard; now, many years later, Agelm counseled him to send marauders to Agar and rob them of their food, for they were undeserving of their own prosperity. Balgab assented, and the men of Udul began to raid Agar, leading to Tal-Elmar creeping to spy upon them. Little came of both the raids and Tal-Elmar’s mission, for soon the pestilence of Udul overwhelmed its people, and when the Númenóreans arrived to the surrounding hills they found only the shell of a town left, littered with bodies of the dead. Only a few generations later, when the men of Agar and Udul were dead and scattered, another village to the north and east of those hills was visited by the Númenóreans. Their arrival had been foreseen by their chieftain Agaldor, who had hoped their coming would signify the return of the Gods and the redemption of mankind: but though once the Men of the West may have been benevolent servants of the Powers, they had become cruel and rebellious, and instead came in war, slaying Agaldor and taking control of his people’s lands.