Dúnedain

In the fictional universe of J. R. R. Tolkien, the dúnedain (Sindarin, "men of the west"; singular: dúnadan) are a subrace of men. They are the descendants of the edain, the three houses of the elves' friends, who during the First Age aided them in their wars against Morgoth.

The Dúnedain were superior to other men in nobility of spirit, although they were still mortal, but they could live a longer life than the normal men of Middle-earth, and corruptible. They were tall men, with dark hair and gray-blue eyes. The Dúnedain of the north were paler skinned than their Gondor kinsmen.

History

In Númenor

At the beginning of the Second Age of the Sun, the Valar rewarded them, giving them a land to live in, far from Middle-earth and close to the Undying Lands of the West: the island of Númenor. So they sailed there, guided by the star of Eärendil, and settled in that land. From then on they were called the Dúnedain.

A virtue that distinguishes them from lesser men is the advanced age they manage to reach (up to 250 years for a purebred dunadan). This was especially noticeable in the royal house of Númenor: its first king, Elros Tar-Minyatur, son of Eärendil the Half-Elf, reached 500 years of life. Also in the lords of Andúnië, descendants of the daughter of the Numenórean king Tar-Elendil: this princess, despite being her firstborn, could not be queen due to the laws of Númenor; but in exchange, her father Tar-Elendil gave her the title of Lady of Andúnië. Elendil and her sons Isildur and Anárion were, therefore, descendants of Tar Elendil, and reached ages between 300 and 400 years.

However, because of the desire to prolong the pleasures of life forever, they began to fear death and wanted to prolong their lives by any means. They also began to look with envy at the immortal shores, which appeared in the distance, and to question the prohibition of sailing there and exceeding the limits of their own beatitude. So, as the centuries passed, the kings became prouder and more reluctant to abandon life and pass the scepter to their heirs, clinging to it until senility and madness. The majority of the people shared the misgivings of their kings and were no longer loyal to the Valar or friends of the Elves. Thus began the decline of the Dúnedain of Númenor.

Ar-Phârazon, last king of Númenor, the proudest and most ambitious, challenged Sauron's power in Middle-earth and took him prisoner to Númenor. However, this was what Sauron really wanted, for for much of the Second Age the Númenóreans had interfered with his plans, helping Gil-Galad and the Elves against him, and now he wanted the kingdom of the Dúnedain to disappear and Finish with them. Thus, he soon won over the king, advising him to conquer Aman and immortality, since "it was his right." as a descendant of Eärendil. Ar-Pharazôn, faced with the proximity of death, relented and prepared a fleet. But when men arrived in Aman, Ilúvatar ordered the Change of the World and the withdrawal of the Undying Lands from the circles of the world. Númenor succumbed beneath the waters and most of the Dúnedain perished in the cataclysm. Only a remnant of the faithful, the Elendili (friends of the Elves) were saved by sailing to Middle-earth, led by Elendil and his sons, Isildur and Anárion.

At the end of the Second Age, this remnant of Dúnedain, already settled in Middle-earth, in their newly founded kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, faced Sauron, who had managed to return from the sea. They allied themselves with the Elves again in the Last Alliance and defeated the Dark Lord, taking Isildur's Ring from him.

In Middle Earth

During the Third Age of the world, the fortunes of the two kingdoms of Dúnedain were uneven:

• To the north, in the kingdom of Arnor, after the War of the Last Alliance, the protracted Barad-dûr Site and the massacre and death of Isildur in the Gladios Fields; the places built before such as Annúminas, Fornost and Amon Sûl could not be maintained and gradually decayed. Over the centuries, the Dúnedain of Arnor were reduced in number and power, to which also contributed the constant confrontation against the forces of Angmar under the command of King Brujo. Arnor divided into small kingdoms: Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur; they fell one by one before the Witched King of Angmar. When Arvedui died, the last king, his son Aranarth became the first Captain of the Northern Dúnedain. Since then, the surviving Dúnedain lost all dominion and royalty in the North, and became a wandering people. Only in Rivendel knew the truth about the high lineage of these mysterious nomads known as "the Montaraces", which were actually the secret guardians of Eriador.

• In the south, the kingdom of Gondor prospered for centuries, recalling even the ancient glory of Numenor. But their kings were falling into the same error of their ancestors, clinging to the pleasures of life and thinking more about the past than in the future and its offspring. They had fewer and fewer children. They suffered several calamities: a plague brought by a dark wind from Mordor; the invasion of the Aurigas (terrible warriors of the East lands); and the Struggle among kinsmen, which caused great and painful losses and in which the best blood of Gondor was shed. Because of this, the kings saw their blood mixed with that of younger men, like the lords of Rhovanion. Little by little the pure Noenorian blood was lost in Gondor, and at the time of the Ring War it was almost gone, except in rare exceptions, such as Denethor II and his children.

There was a time when the kings of Gondor and Arthedain came into contact after too long a separation, for they finally understood that a certain power and a certain will was directing attacks on all the surviving Dúnedain of Númenor. They agreed to an alliance, but dissension over the succession of the crown in Gondor (which had been left without an heir) divided them, as Arvedui argued his right to it since his wife (and mother of his son), Fíriel, was the only daughter. of the Gondorian king Ondoher who survived the battle of the Camp, having to choose his distant relative Eärnil II. After that, there would only be kings in both kingdoms for one more generation: with Arvedui in the North and with Eärnur in the South there would be no more kings of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth, for a long time to come.

After this, in the North only the Rangers represented this ancient lineage, but despite their small number, their blood never mixed with that of other men (they only intermarried), and the line of heirs of Isildur never broke. In Gondor the opposite had happened: the population was large, but Númenórean blood was very difficult to find, and the line of kings had followed devious paths until they disappeared.

During the War of the Ring we discovered that of the Dúnedain of the North, led by Aragorn, there remained only a handful of men, but brave and blameless men, who, according to Théoden of Rohan, were worth as much as an army. Taking the name of the Gray Company they march south led by Halbarad, Aragorn's cousin, to aid his lord in his last war. They join him in Rohan, accompanying him along the Paths of the Dead and through Gondor, beneath the gathering darkness of Mordor. They fight at the Battle of Pelargir and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and eventually accompany Aragorn to challenge the Dark Lord at the Black Gate of Mordor. After Sauron's final defeat, they help Aragorn achieve victory.

It is said in "The Lord of the Rings" that the glory of the Dúnedain was renewed after Aragorn, as legitimate (and only) heir of Elendil, took possession of the Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor. Aragorn, for his part, renewed the dignity of the kings of old by willingly giving up his life at the end of his days.