Rhûn

Rhun begins where the known map runs out. East of the Sea of Rhun and beyond the plains that stretch from Mirkwood to the Iron Hills, the land is marked but not detailed, because Gondor's records covered only what its armies reached.

The name is simply the Sindarin word for east. Under it Tolkien gathers several different peoples across many centuries: the Easterlings who killed Romendacil I, the Wainriders who fought a hundred-year war against Gondor from TA 1851, the Balchoth who were crushed at the Field of Celebrant in TA 2510, and the Easterlings of the War of the Ring who besieged Erebor and marched to the Black Gate.

Sauron cultivated them for the same reason he cultivated the Haradrim in the south: numbers, and a long grievance against Gondor. Some Easterlings had served Morgoth in the First Age, and in the Second Age men of the east were among those who accepted rings and became enslaved.

After the fall of Barad-dur, Aragorn as King Elessar dealt with these frontiers directly, taking his forces east and making terms rather than leaving the border to settle itself. In the years after the war Elessar pardoned the Easterlings who gave themselves up and sent them away free, released the slaves of Mordor, and made terms on that frontier instead of hunting the survivors.

Events at this place

1. TA 1851 · Appendices

   The Wainrider wars

   A confederacy of Easterling peoples began nearly a century of war on Gondor's northern and eastern borders.

2. TA 2510 · Appendices

   The Balchoth are broken

   The Balchoth crossed the Anduin into Calenardhon and were destroyed at the Field of Celebrant when Eorl's riders arrived from the north.

3. TA 3019 · Appendices

   Easterlings in the War of the Ring

   Sauron's eastern allies attacked Dale and Erebor and fought at the Black Gate before the Ring was destroyed.

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