After many years living peacefully in alliance with Gondor, the Northmen found their lands invaded by a mysterious eastern people known as the Wainriders. Together, the Gondorians and Northmen formed an army to meet the Wainriders, but the resulting Battle of the Plains proved disastrous. King Narmacil II of Gondor was killed in the battle, and so was Marhari of the Northmen. Marhari's son Marhwini fought in the rearguard of the army, and his cavalry was said to have saved many of Gondor's soldiers, but in the end, the Wainriders had the victory.
After the battle, many of the Northmen remained in their old lands as a subject people of the Wainriders. Others fled north, with some mingling with the people of Dale. Marhwini led another group between the eastern bank of Anduin and the western edge of Mirkwood, settling at last in the northern Vales of Anduin. This was the origin of the Éothéod, the people from whom the Rohirrim would eventually arise.
Notes
1 |
III 1856 was the year of the defeat of Narmacil II of Gondor by the Wainriders, after which Marhwini chose to move his people northward away from the incoming foe. For him to have held this position of command, he must presumably have been born several decades earlier. The last we hear of him is in III 1899, when he joined Narmacil's successor Calimehtar in a great battle on Dagorlad that reversed the advance of the Wainriders. We do not have a precise data for Marhwini's death, but by III 1936 his son Forthwini had become lord of his people, so Marhwini himself must have died at some point between III 1899 and III 1936.
|
2 |
The pronunciation of the 'h' in Marhwini's name is uncertain, but in Gothic (the language from which his name is derived) it would typically have been pronounced like 'ch' in German.
|
Indexes:
About this entry:
- Updated 18 September 2018
- This entry is complete
For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.
Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2004, 2016, 2018. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.
SHARE
