#borlad

[grey-gazania-fic]

The sons of Bór were Borlad, Borlach, and Borthand; and they followed Maedhros and Maglor, and cheated the hope of Morgoth, and were faithful.

Featuring Antonio Te Maioha as Bor, Benjamin Mitchell as Borlad, Julian Arahanga as Borlach, and James Rolleston as Borthand.

A belated Day 1 fill (family) for @tolkiengenweek

[grey-gazania]

My Silm/LotR friends! Hypothetically, would you be interested in an Easterlings Week?

Yes

No

See results (Don't click unless you're me, please!)

Voting ended onJul 14, 2023

I feel like the Easterlings (both First Age and Third Age) don't get enough love in this fandom, and I'd like to rectify that if I can. Woul anyone be interested in participating if I were to set up an Easterlings Week?

[symphonyofsilence]

You know whose story I really want to know? Like...I'd like to read a whole book about?

Bór & his sons. The Easterlings who allied with Morgoth & entered the service of Maedhros & Maglor but changed alliance & stayed faithful & died fighting in the Nirnaeth after they killed the traitors of the house of Ulfang & posthumously gained the title 'the faithful'.

What legends.

They must have known what consequences awaited them if they betrayed Melkor. What bravery.

Why is there no content about them in the fandom? Why are they so underrated?

They're so interesting.

I need to know their full story.

[arofili]

men of middle-earth ⧎ easterlings and southrons ⧎ headcanon disclaimer

          Kulren was the chieftain of a tribe of Easterlings who entered Beleriand in the First Age. He was a great war-leader who took close counsel with his wife Nabren, an archer and scout. Nabren passed on her skills to her eldest son Kultan, while her other two sons, Kulnab and Kulrad, favored the sword as did their father. Kulnab was also a great rider, commanding a company of horse-mounted warriors, while Kulrad had the gift of ekhda, “wildness,” which allowed him to go battle-mad and hew down his foes without fear for his own life.           When they crossed the Blue Mountains into Beleriand some months after their kinsmen led by Pegmûl, Kulren and his folk were met by the elven-lord Maedhros the Tall, who offered allegiance to them. Though at first Kulren was hesitant to bind his service to such a fearsome elf, Nabren saw the value in the allegiance and urged her husband to agree. When orcs attacked their camp during negotiations, the elven and mortal vassals of Maedhros fought fiercely against them. Kulrad recognized a fellow ekhren in Maedhros, who alone surpassed his deadliness in battle, and it was this more than anything that moved his father to agree to serve under the Lord of Himring.           Kulren’s folk settled in and around Himring, an unforgiving land made harsher by the recent Battle of the Sudden Flame. Kulren and his youngest son Kulrad dwelt in the main fortress, training and strategizing under Maedhros, while Nabren and her eldest son Kultan worked to till the lands where their people lived. Kulnab befriended his lord’s brother Maglor, who like him was both a singer and cavalry-leader. They all pledged their loyalty to the Union of Maedhros, and were dedicated by bonds of friendship and respect to their allies.           In the Fifth Battle, Kulren’s folk remained true to their allegiances when Pegmûl’s sons betrayed the Union. Kulren himself was among the first to fall, brought down by Khagan who was later named Uldor the Accursed; then died Kulnab, attacking his father’s killer in vengeance, and his body was thrown into the flames of Glaurung. In grief and rage, Maglor slew Khagan for his treachery and the slaughter of his friend, while Kultan and Kulrad battled Khagan’s brothers, slaying them both at the cost of their own lives. Nabren also perished, bleeding out from her wounds upon the battlefield, and the greater host of her people were slain or captured.            But the faithfulness of Kulren and his family would not be forgotten by the elves who survived this Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Maglor immortalized them in song, giving them each Sindarin names praising their loyalty: Bór the Faithful for Kulren their chief, Díbór the Faithful Wife for Nabren his spouse, Borlad of the Faithful Plain for Kultan the farmer, Borlach the Faithful Flame for Kulnab the minstrel-rider consumed in the end by dragonfire, and Borthand the Faithful Shield for Kulrad whose ekhda proved vital to the defense of those folk who survived the bloodshed.

[tolkienmatters]

Ulfast, Ulwarth, and Uldor The Accursed were the sons of Ulfang and Easterlings of the First Age. They are notorious for betraying Caranthir and Maedhros at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (Nirnaeith Arnoediad). In the First Age many Easterlings came to Beleriand. They came when they heard of the riches of Beleriand, some came secretly in service of Morgoth, while others fled the destruction of Dagor Bragollach. They were outsiders to the native Edain. Two Easterling leaders came to Beleriand at this time, Bór and Ulfang. Bór and his sons Borlach, Borlad, and Borthand swore allegiance to Maedhros. Ulfang and his sons Ulfast, Ulwarth, and Uldor came into the service of Caranthir. The Edain did not trust the Easterlings, but Maedhros and other elves who had lost faith in their kinsmen welcomed these new warriors into their ranks - knowing that another battle with Morgoth was imminent. Maedhros believed that if he could unite the free peoples of Beleriand he could stop Morgoth, and he formed an alliance called the Union of Maedhros. Bór and Ulfang called their kinsmen from the East and were armed and trained for the upcoming war. The Union of Maedhros attacked Morgoth in the north of Beleriand at Anfauglith, a desert outside of Angband. Bór and Ulfang’s armies marched with the Western Army through the hills designed to flank the armies of Morgoth. The Eastern Army under Fingon assailed Angband but were forced to retreat. During this retreat the Western army came to reinforce Fingon’s host. Angband was emptied; wolves, balrogs, and Glaurung the dragon came to the battle. At this pivotal point Ulfang and his sons betrayed the sons of Fëanor and attacked them in the rear. Uldor had hidden armies in the hills who now emerged and attacked Maedhros’ flank, leading to a mass retreat. Many of the faithful easterlings fled due to the confusion and lies they were told. Uldor The Accursed was slain by Maglor, and Bór’s sons died killing Ulfast and Ulwarth. The fate of Ulfang and Bór is unknown. Nirnaeith Arnoediad was a massive defeat for the Union of Maedhros. Morgoth was uncontested in the North and raided Beleriand freely, he restricted the Faithless Easterlings that served him to the small region of Hithlum, forbidding them any of the riches of Beleriand, which made them bitter and they ruled in that fashion. The War of Wrath would sink Beleriand, but it would not sink the legacy of their betrayal. The many tribes in the East would continue to serve Sauron in the Second and Third Ages.

“Yet neither by wolf, nor by Balrog, nor by Dragon, would Morgoth have achieved his end, but for the treachery of Men. In this hour the plots of Ulfang were revealed. Many of the Easterlings turned and fled, their hearts being filled with lies and fear; but the sons of Ulfang went over suddenly to Morgoth and drove in upon the rear of the sons of Fëanor, and in the confusion that they wrought they came near to the standard of Maedhros. They reaped not the reward that Morgoth promised them, for Maglor slew Uldor the accursed, the leader in treason, and the sons of Bór slew Ulfast and Ulwarth ere they themselves were slain. But new strength of evil Men came up that Uldor had summoned and kept hidden in the eastern hills, and the host of Maedhros was assailed now on three sides, and it broke, and was scattered, and fled this way and that. Yet fate saved the sons of Fëanor, and though all were wounded none were slain, for they drew together, and gathering a remnant of the Noldor and the Naugrim about them they hewed a way out of the battle and escaped far away towards Mount Dolmed in the east.” - Silmarillion, Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad.

Art by https://magpiecrown.tumblr.com/

[grey-gazania]

That's 31 yes, 5 no, and 8 people who can't follow directions. I think 31 people expressing interest is worth doing an event for, so I'll start posting at @easterlingsweek once I've got the details hammered out!

[lesbiansandboromir]

Some close ups of Maedhros meeting Bor the Faithful because tumblr compression is killing me, I’m being gutted as we speak

[lesbiansandboromir]

Just one more... Absolutely no one is allowed to tell me Bor and Maedhros weren’t the best of friends.