men of middle-earth ♞ house of éorl ♞ headcanon disclaimer
Léod was a Lord of the Éothéod, a descendant of Fram, who had flourished 500 years earlier. He was a great horseman and a well-loved leader, protecting Framsburg from orcs and wolves and winning great renown among his people. His wife was Godliss, a gentle woman unlike the shieldmaidens Léod’s ancestors had wed, but she also was beloved by the Éothéod and raised their son Éorl in grace and nobility. In the lands about Framsburg, many horses roamed wild and free. The men of the Éothéod would often capture and tame these beasts, and Léod was renowned for his ability to break proud and wild horses into obedient steeds. While his son was still a youth, Léod captured a white foal more fierce and resistant than any he had before seen, and when it was grown he attempted to mount the creature, confident in his skill. Alas, this mighty horse was greater than even Léod knew, and he threw his rider, escaping to freedom. Léod hid the ground with great force, his head breaking open upon a rock, and died, leaving Éorl the Lord of the Éothéod. Godliss mourned her husband’s loss and soon wasted away in grief; Éorl, only sixteen years old, was left with a people who doubted his youth and abilities and feared that the loss of their beloved Lord Léod would spell the doom of the Éothéod. But Éorl was a mighty young man, and he swore to avenge his father’s death. He hunted down the white stallion that had killed his father and recaptured it, determined to break it as Léod had endeavoured. The confrontation between Éorl and the horse was great indeed, but in the end Éorl won and bent his father’s killer to his will. Éorl named his steed Felaróf and doomed the stallion to carry him for the rest of their lives. Humbled, Felaróf accepted this burden, and in time a great bond was forged between horse and rider. Felaróf could understand the speech of Men—or at least the words of Éorl—and lived a long and glorious life alongside his master. He gave rise to a race of remarkable horses, the mearas, and according to tradition his descendants could only be ridden by the Lord of the Mark, Éorl’s own progeny.