Editing Men in Middle-earth (section)

=== Diversity ===
{{anchor|Easterlings|Variags of Khand|Dunlendings|Edain|Dúnedain|Dunedain}}
[[File:Witan hexateuch.jpg|thumb|Tolkien modelled the [[Rohirrim]], the Riders of Rohan, on the [[Anglo-Saxons]] (here in an 11th-century illustration).{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=144–149}}]]

Although all Men in [[Tolkien's legendarium]] are related to one another, there are many different groups with different cultures. Those on the side of the hobbits in ''The Lord of the Rings'' are the [[Dúnedain]], the men who fought on the side of the [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]] in the First Age against [[Morgoth]] in [[Beleriand]], from whom other friendly groups, the Rangers including [[Aragorn]], and the men of [[Gondor]] are descended; and their allies the [[Rohirrim]].<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/>

[[File:Варяги.jpg|thumb|The Variags of Khand are named for the [[Varangians]], medieval Germanic mercenaries.<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/> Painting by [[Viktor Vasnetsov]]]]

[[File:Pyrrhus and his Elephants.gif|thumb|upright|The [[Harad]]rim used battle-elephants, as [[Pyrrhus of Epirus]] did. Illustration by Helene Guerber<ref name="Kennedy 2016"/>]]

The main human adversaries in ''The Lord of the Rings'' are the [[Haradrim]] and the Easterlings.<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/> The Haradrim or Southrons were hostile to Gondor, and used elephants in war. Tolkien describes them as "swart",<ref name="Sinex 2010"/> meaning "dark-skinned".<ref>{{cite web |title=swart in British English |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/swart |publisher=[[HarperCollins|Collins]] |access-date=25 July 2022 |quote=[[Old English]] ''sweart''; related to [[Old Frisian]] ''swart'', [[Old Norse]] ''svartr'', [[Old High German]] ''swarz'' black, [[Latin]] ''sordēs'' dirt}}</ref> The Easterlings lived in Rhûn, the vast eastern region of Middle-earth; they fought in the armies of [[Morgoth]] and [[Sauron]]. Tolkien describes them as "slant-eyed";<ref name="Sinex 2010"/> they ride horses or wagons, leading to the name "wain-riders".<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/> The Variags of Khand formed a third but smaller group, who appear as vassals of Mordor in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]]. Their name is from {{langx|ru|Варяги}} (''Variag''), meaning the [[Varangians]], Viking or other Germanic warriors who served as [[mercenaries]].<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/> Other human adversaries include the Black Númenóreans, good men gone wrong;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |author1-link=Wayne G. Hammond |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |author2-link=Christina Scull |title=The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion |title-link=The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] | year=2005 |isbn=978-0-00-720907-1 |pages=283–284}}</ref> and the [[Corsairs of Umbar]], rebels of Gondor.<ref name="Bowers 2019">{{cite book |last=Bowers |first=John M. |title=Tolkien's Lost Chaucer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5OwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA170 |year=2019 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-258029-0 |page=170}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Cultures of Men in the Third Age
|-
! Nation/group !! Culture !! Language !! Real-world analogues
|-
| [[Bree (Middle-earth)|Bree]]<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a}}, book 1, ch. 9 "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony"</ref> || Village; agriculture;<br/>houses of wood, earth, stone || [[Westron]] || [[Medieval England]]{{sfn|Shippey|2005|p=124}}
|-
| [[Beornings]]<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 7 "Queer Lodgings"</ref> || Wooden hall; [[beekeeping]],<br/>[[dairy]] || Westron || [[Norse myth]] ([[Bödvar Bjarki]]);<br/>[[Beowulf]]{{sfn|Shippey|2005|p=91}}
|-
| [[Dale (Middle-earth)|Dale]]<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937}}, ch. 10 "A Warm Welcome"</ref> || Towns, trade, taverns || their own || Germanic medieval Europe 
|-
| [[Drúedain]]<ref group=T name="Muster">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, Book 5, ch. 3, "The Muster of Rohan"</ref><ref group=T name="Rohirrim">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, Book 5, ch. 5, "The Ride of the Rohirrim"</ref><br/>Wild men,<ref group=T name="Rohirrim"/> Púkel-men,<ref group=T name="Muster"/> Woses<ref group=T name="Rohirrim"/> || Forest || their own || [[Wild man]] legends<br/>of medieval Europe{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=74, 149}}
|-
| Dunlendings<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, b, Appendix F, "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age"</ref><br/>Wild men of Dunland || Agriculture || Westron,<br/>Dunlendish || [[Celtic Britons]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Panshin |first1=Cory Seidman |title=Old Irish Influences Upon the Languages & Literature of ''The Lord of the Rings'' |journal=[[Tolkien Journal]] |date=1969 |volume=3 |issue=4 |at=article 4 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/tolkien_journal/vol3/iss4/4}}</ref>
|-
| Easterlings<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954}}, book 4, ch. 5 "The Window on the West"</ref><br/>People of Rhûn, Wainriders || Horses, war-wagons || their own || [[Huns]]{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=18, 20}}
|-
| [[Gondor]] and the [[Dúnedain]]<ref group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, book 5 ch. 1 "Minas Tirith"</ref> || Cities, stone architecture;<br/>literature, music ||  Westron,<br/>[[Sindarin]],<br/>[[Quenya]] || [[Byzantine Empire]],<ref name="Libran-Moreno"/><br/>[[Ancient Egypt]],{{sfn|Garth|2020|p=41}}<br/>[[Goths]],<ref name="Libran-Moreno"/><br/>[[Langobards]]<ref name="Libran-Moreno">{{cite book |title=Tolkien and the Study of his Sources |last=Librán-Moreno |first=Miryam |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7864-6482-1 |editor-last=Fisher |editor-first=Jason |editor-link=Jason Fisher |pages=84–116 |chapter='Byzantium, New Rome!' Goths, Langobards and Byzantium in ''The Lord of the Rings'' |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=98VQ3gHsVsMC&q=Gondor+Byzance&pg=PA98}}</ref>
|-
| [[Harad]]rim<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954}}, book 4, ch. 3 "The Black Gate is Closed"</ref><br/>Southrons || Desert; war-elephants; raiding in ships || their own || Enemies of [[Ancient Rome]]<ref name="Kennedy 2016">{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Maev |author-link=Maev Kennedy |title=Tolkien annotated map of Middle-earth acquired by Bodleian library |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/03/jrr-tolkien-annotated-map-middle-earth-bodleian-lord-rings-hobbit |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 May 2016}}</ref>
|-
| [[Riders of Rohan]]<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954}}, book 3, ch. 6 "The King of the Golden Hall"</ref> || Wooden [[mead-hall]]s,<br/>agriculture, horsemanship || Rohirric,<br/>Westron || [[Anglo-Saxons]],<br/>[[Goths]]{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=144–149"}}
|-
| Variags of [[Khand (Middle-earth)|Khand]]<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, book 5, ch. 6 "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"</ref> || [[Mercenaries]] || their own || [[Varangians]]<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/> 
|}

[[Sandra Ballif Straubhaar]] notes<!--p. 416--> in ''[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'' that [[Faramir]], son of the [[Steward of Gondor]], makes an "arrogant"<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/> speech, of which he later "has cause to repent",<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/> classifying the types of Men as seen by the Men of [[Númenórean]] origin at the end of the [[Third Age]]; she notes, too, that his taxonomy is probably not to be taken at face value.<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ [[Faramir]]'s taxonomy of Men of Middle-earth<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/>
|-
! High Men<br/>Men of the West<br/>[[Númenórean]]s !! Middle Men<br/>Men of the Twilight !! Wild Men<br/>Men of the Darkness
|-
| The Three Houses of Edain who went to [[Númenor]], and their descendants 
| Edain of other houses who stayed in Middle-earth; they became the barbarian nations of Rhovanion, [[Dale (Middle-earth)|Dale]], the House of [[Beorn]], and the [[Rohirrim]].
| All other Men, not connected to the Elves, including Easterlings and Dunlendings.<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/>{{efn|It is unclear whether the friendly Lossoth (Snow-Men of the Ice Bay of Forochel) and [[Drúedain]] are part of this group.<ref name="Straubhaar 2013"/>}} 
|}