Heden was a Man of Middle-earth, clad in leather and fur, who made his living as a hunter and trapper on the coasts. His wife was Gyda, who bore him two sons: Beorn, strong as a bear, and Eoh, swift as a horse. Heden claimed descent from the god Wóden, and raised his sons in pride and skill.
When they were grown, Beorn and Eoh took leave of their father’s house and traveled inland and entered the service of a great duke in his castle. The duke was wealthy and provided well for his people, and soon Eoh won the favor of his daughter Mildwyn, and wed her in the high tower of her father. Mildwyn gave Eoh a son, Ottor, who was born under the star of Eärendil, and would ever be a wanderer, taking the name Wǽfre when he came of age.
But the easy peace of this land was not to last. Beorn also loved Mildwyn, and grew jealous of his brother’s good fortune, and he conspired with the Men of the Eastern Mountains to attack the city and claim its wealth for themselves. In the war that came there was a great siege, amid which Mildwyn perished of hunger and the cruelty of her kin, and Beorn took up arms against Eoh his brother and slew him in the last sack of the city. Then Ottor his son was taken and made a bondslave, for he was not yet war-high and had not the strength to resist.
Yet Ottor prevailed, and escaped his uncle’s cruel mastery, fleeing to an island in the North Sea, and there he found peace and took a wife of his own, the woman Cwén, whom he dearly loved.