#druedain

[shotechis]

Realms of Men 2026 | A Middle-Earth Monthly Calendar

February · Drúadan Forest surrounded the Beacon Hill Eilenach in north-eastern Gondor. It was home to the Drúedain, a folk of wild Men. Neighbouring peoples avoided it, believing the forest to be haunted.

[flnno]

people are always very interesting, in fact. they are very different and that’s why I like to think about the images and national costumes. Haradrim and Easterlings are always a huge field for thought, and the Houses of the northern people are a big project. I'd love to mull over their designs later.

many things for the Druedain I took from the cultures of the forest peoples. in particular, Native Americans (mostly southern). we have a clear description of their physique, I could not deviate from the canon, but the drawings, the use of beads and jewelry (how about determining the status of a person by piercing) and so on...

oh, there is a lot of scope for imagination.

@sirboggins

[tolkienosaurus]

In Middle-Earth in T.A. 3010 would you be

A Hobbit (Minding your own buisness wherever you are)

A Noldorin Elf (One of the last of your kind, you can't waut to leave

A Sindarin/Silvan elf (Being reclusive somewhere)

An Orc (Preparing Sauron's masterplan to enact in about 8 years)

An Ent (Being sad the entwives left for the past 3000 years)

A Dwarf (Mining)

A Númenorean (Either being a ranger or living in Gondor, or being evil)

A Middle-Man (Bree, Rohan, Rhovanion, Dale, Beorning, Harad, Rhûn, Khand)

Drúedain (Living in a forest, playing drums and hating Gorgûn)

An Ainu (Being an angel or looking like an old man)

A Dragon (Arethere any of you left?)

Voting ended onJun 4, 2025

[silmarillion-dnd]

Men:

Masterlist

Bëorians: 

About: Also known as the house of Bëor and the first house of the Edain. Bëorians are said to be easier to pity than laughter and are crafty and quick in learning folk. They were known for being steadfast and serious. Their main alliance is with the people of Finarfin. They speak Sindarin (common) and Taliska, the language of the houses of Bëor and Hador.

Description: The Bëorians are described as having brown or dark hair, grey or brown eyes, and alikeness to the Noldor in look, and a broad build. Their skin was said to be pale to swarthy (light or dark).

Haladin:

About: The Haladin´s, also known as the house of Haleth, the second house of the Edain, are resident in Thargelion, and Brethil. They prefer to fight with axes, and are a strongheaded folk, known for their stubbornness.  They prefer fighting in forested areas and are known as the best group of Edain to fight in the forest, and they were said to have a custom specifically training of war in forests. They prefer not to associate with others outside of their own people and both Orcs, Edains, and elvers tend to keep away from them. Their customs and traditions seemed strange to both other Edains and elvers alike. They were known for being traditional folk who were secretive and hostile about adopting new things and costumes, and few of them were said to marry. They speak Sindarin (common) and Halethian, their own language.

Description: The Haladin is one of the small Edain clans in height, they were described as looking a bit like the Bëorians which means they probably have brown and dark hair and grey eyes.

Hadorians:

About: The Hadorians, house of Hador, is the first house of the Edain. They are the tallest clan of the Edain and are sometimes taller than the Eldar, they are also known for being quick to anger yet still generous and quick to laughter. They are the largest house of the Edain.

Description: The Hadorians are the tallest people of the three houses of the Edain, and are known for their mostly golden, few were said to have brown, hair, fair (light) skin, and blue eyes. They are said to be built for enduring cold and distances (nomadic (not sure what´s meant by this)) life. They speak Sindarin (common) and Taliska, the language of the houses of Bëor and Hador.

Beornings:

About: Beornings are the only playable changeling that can change into the shape of a bear, they can speak to animals, and prefer to live in mountains or forests up north. They enjoy the wild nature more than any city. They are descendants of the Northmen of the Edain, Éothéod, descending from the Haladin. Beorings are distrusting of everyone but their rivals are mainly orcs, but they bear a bigger distrust of Dwarves more than others, for presumed greed and the praise they give to metal. They speak Sindarin (common) and Taliska (language of the house of Bëor and Hador). Beornings are great bakers and start out with a package of honey-cakes, which they are famous for.

Description: Beornings have bearlike features and are bigger than other humans. They tend to wear raw materials, mainly wool, clothes, and fur, and keep away from any form of metal jewelry as they have seen what greed does to people.

Drúedain:

About: The Drúedain was said to be the most pure hearted of all the Edain, yet they suffered under the ignorance and persecution of others when they saw the Drúedain. They are known for their phenomenal tracking skills, knowledge about plants, and their enchanted wood and stone carvings which they used to practice their spells and charms (rune magic). They are said to be in temperament to a Hobbit but can be ruthless and grim if needed, less than Dwarves. They used caves in the mountains as storehouses which they also used for sleeping in the winter where they hibernate. These places were seen as secret and even the Haladin, who is the only known other group who communicated with them, who they were great friends, although not allowed to know their location. Otherwise, they live a nomadic lifestyle in tents and makeshift shelters of trees. The Drúedain used poisoned darts and arrows as weapons, and mainly lived off eating all kinds of fungi, which they knew how to prepare safely and passed the knowledge on to the Haladin. They, sometimes, speak Sindarin (common) and Drúadan (their own language). You get + knowledge of plants and can only play as good, you also start knowing 2 rune spells.

Description: Their appearance was said to be unlovely (according to the Eldar), and their height of 4 feet, wide faces with low deep sat eyes, heavy brows, broad flat noses, and wide mouths let people believe they were savages and beats.

Easterlings:

About: Easterlings, the largest population of Edains, are known as a headstrong folk who came from the East with different cultures and backgrounds. Some of them were early corrupted by Morgoth while others thought with the Elvers and the rest stayed in the east. They inhabit Rhún, all lands East, Rhovanion, March of Maedhros, and Hithlum. Tspeak Sindarin (common) and all the languages spoken in the east. 

Description: They are said to have dark hair and skin.

Forodwaith:

About: Almost nothing is known about the Forodwaith as they usually kept to themself, only that they lived far Noth and might have been the oldest of the Edains according to some sources. They preferred living in icy areas, some even close to Angband, and the most common land they lived on was called Forodwaith after the people. Forofwaith means people of the North in Sindarin. Nothing is said about their language but they presumably have their own and they probably speak Sindarin.

Description: They are described as being hardy people, they were said to be described by Vikings, and in some drafts and letters about Ælfwine Tolkien refers to them as Vikings, which means they presumably looked something alike to the Scandinavian people.

Pros: Huamans are not restricted to any class, although some classes make more sense when you choose your origin. They have + 1 for their Array in the first round of a fight. Humans have alliances with all the other races which means that everyone around you is less hostile and usually have a friendly approach to you, which also makes it easier for you to disguise yourself when moving on to enemy territory.

Cons: Depending on your origin others might be mistrust of you depending on where you are.

[thekingofwinterblog]

The Sad, Sad Tale of The Druedain.

Amongst Tolkien's many, many Human peoples, the Druedain might be the saddest in my opinion.

Both for their current situation, their history that led to them to this point, their very real and tragic real life inspirations, and the way everyone still alive, Drunedain, Numenorean, and everyone else has forgotten their true history and it's signifigance.

The Druedain's origins go back to the First age, where they(or the ones of them who wandered west into beleriand at least)were one of the Human people who fought against Morogth on behalf of the Valar, and upon the war's conclusion, they like all the rest of these Humans were given the name Edain, and many wonderous gifts.

Long life, massive size and strength compared to regular folk, and an island paridise kingdom to live in.

They called this land Numenor, named Elros, son of Earendil as their first king, and settled their new home, and so, these disparate and formerly different men of many origins joined together and mixed, becoming the Numenoreans.

And the Dru who joined them became the Druedain, one of the founding people of Numenor.

We don't know how much the Druedain intermarried with the rest(being the only ones that were visually distinct from the rest by the end) but given they and other men intermarried already in the first age(Earendil and all his descendants have Dru blood in their veins for examole), it's rather certain that enough did that by the time Numenor fell, most if maybe not all had at least one Druedain ancestor.

Whatever the case of that may be, both in Arnor and Gondor alike, the legacy of the Druedain(The great hunters, scouts and trackers of the Numenoreans) live on in the form of the rangers of North and south, both groip with incredible skill in all related to stealth, wilderness survival and hunting.

The skills of the wild that Aragorn displays was not learned just from personal experience. It, and the skills of all of rest of Dunedain, north and south were a distant, distant descandants of the Druedain's far greater, passed down through the ages until finally it ended up here, at the end of the third age.

Humanity is in truth, all one people, not many. They were split apart by unnatural means, and it is when Men combine their strength rather than let differences divide them, that they are truly strong.

But divided they were, for when the Numenoreans made contact with the outside world anew, after countless years of iaolation, the Druedain foresaw that their brethren would eventually fall to darkness, and so as they grew darker and darker, the Druedain began to sail back to Middle Earth, quietly, and rejoining the rest of the Dru, who had not left middle earth for Numenor.

And here we get into a usually overlooked tragedy, for during the dark years, when Sauron worked in Middle Earth, one of the people who opposed him and his were the Dru, now forever renamed the Druedain.

The image most fans have of Druedain was Tolkien obviously drawing inspiration from various primitive, tribal societies that Europeans encountered across the world during the age of exploration and colonization.

But that's not actually true, for the Druedain were inspired by two things, the first being the real life Woses, the mythical wild men of Europe's still untamed wilderness in medieval times.

But the second was the now forgotten native peoples of Europe, who nobody remembers anymore. And there are a lot of those, and most don't care to remember them any more.

For all the minorities of Europe who survived up to this day, many, many, many more were snuffed out forever by Europe's many waves of immigration and conquest, and nobody remembers them anymore, their culture forgotten, their languages dead, and whatever they made torn down and replaced by those who took their lands from them.

And so it is with the Druedain. For the state we see them in now, is not their "Natural" state so to say.

For the Druedain were also the true heirs of Numenor, as much as the Gondorians and the Arnorians ever were, and when they rejoined their distant kin, they helped them create a great and powerfull society, capable of raising massive and expertedly carved stone statues all across the lands that would one day become Rohan.

These are all that remains of their people's golden age, for these men who fought Sauron and his forces during the Dark years, were in turn conquered by another people who served sauron, and in turn took their lands from them, and built over their homes, and claimed rulership over these lands.

The ancestors of the oathbreakers of Dunharrow, drove the druedain into the hills and forests, where they were forced to live on nothing but hunting, and there they slowly forgot their roots, and were forgotten by all others.

Knowing all of this, it completely changes a lot of one's understanding of this People's oath to Isildur, and their ultimate rejection of it.

"Thou shalt be the last king, and if the west prove mightier than thy Black Master, this curse I lay upon thee and thy folk; to rest never until your oath is fulfilled. For this war will last through years uncounted, and you shall be summoned once again ere the end."

And such was the power of this oath, that upon breaking it, it destroyed their very spirit, and they fled and they hid in the mountains and dwindled and became fewer and fewer, and as the Druedain, they lost their homes, but not to sword, but their own cowardice and the gruesome power they had brought down upon themselves.

It's a very good tale, but when you know the background of all men, it becomes intimately intertwined with Tolkien's themes.

For what Isildur asked the mountain men, was to uphold their oath to fight sauron, and by doing so, earn redemption for their previous acts and crimes they did under his name.

And they refused to repent for their wicked ways and deeds and redeem themselves, and so they were cursed and destroyed... By a kinsmen of the people who's land they took by might and evil deeds.

There is something remarkably fitting about that.

However, justice did not heal the Druedain's wounds, for they did not come forth to join Elendil and Gil-Galad to fight sauron, as their ancestors had against Morgoth.

Instead they hid in their forest and hills, until such a time that they would be called upon once more, NOT by their kin, but a people who they had a personal and very real grievance with the Rohirrim.

For the Rohirrim became the stewards of their former lands after many other came and went, and they did not have a good relationship with the Druedain eitger, mistaking them for beasts or monsters, and turn hunting them...

But in the end, despite this, these two were able to make peace, and common cause, and bury the hatched. For though not direct kin as they were with the Gondorians, they were still both Human beings, they both fought evil, and by doing so, they both managed to survive and see another day and Age of peace and hope.

The tale of the Druedain is one of eternal sadness, but withouth hope. But it is a harsh reminder that important things, and people ARE forgotten. Good people can, and have been defeated, and evil folk can and have taken that which rightfully was theirs.

It's a bittersweet ending, like most things in the Legendarium.

[khorazir]

“The silent watchers”

Thirteenth of fifteen new watercolours depicting Tolkien’s Second Age.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Section of Unfinished Tales (Poll 2 of 2 - Third Age)

Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan

The Quest of Erebor

The Hunt for the Ring

The Battles of the Fords of Isen

The Drúedain

The Istari

The Palantíri

Voting ended onOct 1, 2023

[a-really-big-cat]

I just realized something, the Drúedain are probably Tolkien's interpretation of the Middle-earth equivalent of Neanderthals or other archaic Homo species. They are described in similar ways to prehistoric hominins: short, with thick limbs, "flat noses and wide mouths", etc. And their unknown and ambiguous origin and unique phenotype hints that they are very old and likely not close relatives of any other Mannish people.