"In the foothills of the western side of the Misty Mountains lived the remnants of the people that the Rohirrim later called the Dunlendings: a sullen folk, akin to the ancient inhabitants of the White Mountain valleys … hardy and bold …" (Unfinished Tales, Part 3, chapter V) "Only in Dunland did Men of this race hold to their old speech and manners: a secret folk, unfriendly to the Dúnedain, hating the Rohirrim …" (Lord of the Rings, Appendix F) "… the wild men of the Dunland fells… Not in half a thousand years have they forgotten their grievance that the lords of Gondor gave the Mark to Eorl the Young and made alliance with him … They are fierce folk when roused. They will not give way now for dusk or dawn …" (Lord of the Rings, Book 3, chapter 7) –J.R.R. Tolkien

Dunlending warrior (image by Gregor Hutton - visit his site!)

The Dunlendings must be one of the most misunderstood peoples of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Many regard them as little more than brutish savages, yet this is not how Tolkien portrayed them. A remnant of an ancient people akin to the Third House of the Edain, they withstood the forced rule of the Númenoreans and later the attacks of the Rohirrim, who drove them from the empty plains of Calenardhon to the barren uplands that became their only home. They were one of the few peoples in Middle-Earth who maintained their own cultural identity, rather than being ‘Númenorized’ as were so many others.

The Dunlendings have always intrigued me. Coming from a small nation that has had to struggle fiercely for its autonomy, and more often than not has lost the battle, my sympathies lie squarely with Dunland itself rather than its Forgoil (Rohirric) neighbours. Here you will find some information about the land of Dunland that I compiled as background material for my contributions to IGN’s Stilted Pony roleplaying message board, together with a couple of short stories I have written. Where Tolkien did not supply information, I have drawn heavily on Scottish and Welsh history and culture. The Dunlending language represented in these pages is based on Welsh (in contrast to MERP’s Dunael, which is Gaelic-derived).

Note to Elendor inhabitants
The Dunland that I have created for the Stilted Pony board is very different from the Dunland of Elendor, both geographically and politically. When I started writing for the Pony board I didn’t even know that Elendor existed; besides, it’s kind of fun starting from a blank slate. Anyway, consider it an ‘alternate’ future.

Updates

• 27 Nov 01: Pruned the ‘Stories’ page – just two left now.

Shameless plug

Since I stopped contributing to the ‘Stilted Pony’ board, I've mainly been spending my time on the Akallabêth MUSH. Come and check us out … we're a small MUSH and really need more players. We don't have a web page at present, but the page for the Númenor culture is still available, as is my own logs page.

Celtic knotwork obtained from the Celtic Art & Illuminations site.