Easterlings, known in early times as Swarthy Men, were a race of Men who lived in the vast and uncharted lands of Rhûn, east of Mordor and the Sea of Rhûn. Easterlings were enemies of the Free Peoples and were allies of Sauron. There were many different nations and kingdoms of Easterlings living in the vast lands of Rhûn. These ranged from civilized empires to barbaric horse nomads of the open steppes.


Easterling of Rhûn

An Easterling, ready for battle

Easterlings, being of many different races and people, were either tall and sallow-skinned or short and swarthy. However, there were also said to be a different type of Easterlings that appeared during the Siege of Gondor from unknown eastern lands, who were broad, short, and bearded, and wielded axes like Dwarves. Easterlings were the most numerous and deadly of the enemies of the Free Peoples, and it is said if the Blue Wizards had not been sent into Rhûn the hosts of the East would have outnumbered the Western peoples. Their skin was either sallow (a pale yellow) or olive. Their eyes were dark (dark brown and black), and their straight hair was black. The "swarthier" Easterlings of the First Age and the Fourth Ages were not a related people, as those of the First came from the then-unknown lands east of the Blue Mountains, and could have had more relation to the Dunlendings than the later Balchoth and Wainriders.


First AgeEdit


During the First Age, the term was applied to the sons of Bór and Ulfang, or the Swarthy Men, who came into Beleriand much later than the Edain, and who were for a part secretly in league with Morgoth.[2] By some men of Dor-lómin that appear in the Wanderings of Hurin, they are called Eastrons.

Bór was a leader of Men who came into Lothlann, in Beleriand, during the FA 463. His sons were Borlach, Borlad, and Borthand.[2] Bór was welcomed by Maedhros, who gave him and his followers land north and south of the March of Maedhros. Bór and his sons swore allegiance to Maedhros, and remained faithful, though he was told by Morgoth to betray the banner of Caranthir. All of them were wiped out during the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.[3]

Ulfang also came in Lothlann, Beleriand, in 463,[4] shortly after Bór. He was the father of Ulfast, Ulwarth, and Uldor "the Accursed". Ulfang was welcomed by the sons of Fëanor, and he and his sons swore allegiance to Caranthir. They were given lands to dwell in the north and south of the March of Maedhros. Ulfang and his sons were secretly in the employ of Morgoth, and betrayed the Eldar and Edain during the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in what is now known as the Treachery of Men.[3]

Rule in HithlumEdit



The Easterlings ruled effectively in Hithlum as vassals of Morgoth from FA 473 to FA 583. After the War of Wrath, those that survived fled back over the Blue Mountains to Eriador and beyond where they sat themselves up as kings and chieftains of many of the Middle Men.[7]

Second AgeEdit

A King of the Easterlings, Khamûl, was given one of the Rings of Power and became a powerful sorcerer, until the power of the Ring corrupted him. Around SA 2251, Khamûl became a Wraith and one of Sauron's servants.[8]

Third AgeEdit

Screen shot 2010-12-05 at 5.52.07 PM

An Easterling during the Third Age

During the Third Age, the term was applied to the various nations and tribes of Men living in the uncharted lands east of the Sea of Rhûn and Mordor who were usually allied with Sauron (for one of their leaders was the second greatest of the Nazgûl, Khamûl) and frequently attacked Gondor and the lands bordering Rhûn. However, Sauron's defeat at the end of the War of the Last Alliance diminished his presence for over one thousand years, and any territorial ambition was left to them alone. In TA 490 they invaded Gondor, passing through Dagorlad and starting a series of wars that lasted sixty years until they were finally defeated in TA 550 by Turambar, the ninth King of Gondor. Afterwards, Gondor subdued some of them and took from them a large area of land between the Kingdom of Rhovanion and Mordor including the Sea of Rhûn.[9][10]


The War of the Ring Edit

During the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age, the Easterlings joined with the forces of Mordor participating in the Northern battles that nearly defeated the Elves of Mirkwood, Men of Dale, and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain.[11]

Despite being on the losing side in the war, some Easterlings still continued to remain a threat throughout the early Fourth Age but were finally subdued in a series of campaigns led by King Elessar. In these battles the Easterlings, aside from the hordes of Orcs, were the most numerous and tenacious of Sauron's warriors.

Specific groupsEdit


The Wainriders were a confederation of Easterling tribes who were united by their hate of Gondor, fueled by the Dark Lord Sauron. Following the Great Plague which weakened Gondor, they started their attacks in TA 1856, defeating a Gondor army at the Battle of the Plains and killing King Narmacil II. They rode in great chariots (which gave them their name), and raided the lands of Rhovanion, destroying or enslaving its people. Gondor gradually lost all of its possessions east of Anduin to them.


Meanwhile, general Eärnil of Gondor's southern army rode north to defend his king defeating an inferior force of Haradrim in South Ithilien, he came too late to rescue Ondoher, but he did manage to annihilate the Wainriders for good at the Battle of the Camp. Eärnil was crowned king. After this defeat the might of the Wainriders was broken, and they retreated east. They still held Rhovanion, but never troubled Gondor again until the War of the Ring.[12][10][13]


Easterling man



Not much is known about the weapons used by the Easterlings. They had as far as it is known among their arsenal spears, bows, axes and chariots. They also seemed to favor the horse on many occasions, although all this probably differed greatly among the Easterling tribes, kingdoms, or empires.


Knowledge of the culture of the Easterlings is limited. In the First Age they could be quite savage; examples of this rise from Brodda's treatment of the Men of the House of Hador in Dor-lómin. In the Third Age at least, the Easterlings fought with great valor, as displayed during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Battle of the Black Gate. The numerous clans of the Easterlings were united by Emperors and Kings of Rhûn (like Khamûl). An Emperor of the Easterlings was supposed to have led an army to the Battle of Dale and supported Sauron.

Portrayal in adaptationsEdit

The Lord of the Rings film trilogyEdit


An "Easterling" at the Black Gate

In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, an army from Rhûn is seen by Frodo, Gollum, and Sam entering the Black Gate. The corresponding passage in the book describes them as Easterlings; in the movie they are the same, quite distinct from the Haradrim passing through Ithilien later in the film. During this encounter, Sam accidentally falls down a slope near to where Easterlings are passing by. Frodo goes after him, and two Easterling warriors notice the commotion; they leave the formation to inspect. Frodo hides himself and Sam under his elvish cloak, disguising them as a boulder. The Easterling soldiers almost find them, but eventually return to their legion and march into Mordor.

In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King they are also seen briefly after the gate of Minas Tirith has been breached. There they advance upon the soldiers of Gondor, but they are not seen fighting.

The Hobbit film trilogyEdit

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies depicts one of the Nazgûl in armor resembling that of the Easterlings; this is undoubtedly intended to be Khamûl.


In Peter Jackson's film series, the Easterlings are depicted as a heavily-stylized, vaguely Middle Eastern culture. This caused some controversy after the films were released. In the appendices of the Special Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the artists claim that they were inspired by a variety of Persian cultures, particularly Sassanid Persians, Mongol horsemen, and Ottoman Turks. They have "crests" on the backs of their hat-like helmets that resemble feudal Samurai crests. They also bear a rising sun emblem upon their armor. The full-body armor the Easterlings wear resembles armor which ancient Chinese soldiers wore. Beneath their armor they wear veils, headscarves, and robes. In some movie-models, their boots have upturned toes, suggesting a Mongolic or Persian influence.

Video games Edit

  • Easterlings also appear in The Lord of the Rings Online, in the Brown Lands bordering with the Parth Celebrant region, where they established a couple of settlements, and in many other regions south of this, where they threaten the eastern borders of Rohan and in some cases join in invaders of Gondor. They belong to a few tribes: the Balchoth, the Jangovar, the Khundolar, the Variags, and the Wainriders.
  • Easterling pikemen are a unit in all three The Battle for Middle-earth games, available to the Mordor faction.

Military in adaptations Edit

Easterling Army




During battle, these heavy infantrymen formed the core of Sauron's armies, for they were taller and better-equipped than the swarming Orcs that fully comprised his forces.

The march of the Easterlings

The curved, rectangular, two-foot by three-foot Easterling shield had concave top and bottom edges and was made with brass that surrounded a dark-brown square. It was held by an iron handgrip that was behind a brass circular boss surrounded by a diamond shape that was itself enveloped by the square. It came with a dark-red leather "belt" if the Man of Rhûn was to strap the shield to the forearm for combat requiring two hands. Even archery was allowed by this big strap. One rather striking detail on Rhûnic armor was that a sun was etched into their sternum-plate, resembling a burning of a grassland such as Rohan or Dale.

! Non-Canon Alert!
Easterling Kataphrakts

Easterling Kataphrakt models from The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game

In The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, the Easterlings have a unique type of cavalry known as kataphrakts*. These were Easterlings mounted upon heavily armored horses and wielding a scimitar and broad shield. They were notorious for their ferocity of their attacks and defensive power when they were deployed side-by-side. The brass lamellar armor on the fronts of their horses allowed them to safely trample spearmen and pikemen. Rhunic composite short-bows were sometimes taken instead of shields.
Easterlings at rhun


Kataphrakts is from the ancient Greek derivative word Kataphraktos meaning "the armored", translating to Cataphract in English. Cataphracts were heavily armored cavalry used as elite troops or bodyguards. The Sassanid Persian Empire had elite troops called the "Savaran Cataphracts". Cataphracts are thought to have been developed as early as the 8th century B.C. by Middle Eastern cultures such as the Assyrians and Achaemenid Empire. Such heavy horse troops were integrated into the Roman Army sometime around the 2nd Century B.C. and became a distinct troop regiment by the time of Hadrion in the 2nd Century A.D.

Translations around the WorldEdit

Foreign Language Translated name
Afrikaans Die Manne van die Ooste
Albanian Burra të lindjes
Amharic የምሥራቅ ሰዎች
Arabic رجال الشرق
Armenian Արեւելքի տղամարդիկ
Belarusian Cyrillic вастаков
Bengali প্রাচ্যের পুরুষদের
Bosnian Plemena s istoka
Bulgarian Cyrillic Източни люде
Catalan Homes de l'Est
Chinese (Hong Kong) 東方人
Chinese (China) 东夷
Croatian Plemena s istoka
Czech Východňané
Danish Østerlingene
Dutch Oosterlingen
Finnish Itäläiset
French Orientaux
Georgian ისტერლინგები (აღმოსავლელები)
German Ostlinge
Greek Ανατολίτες
Hindi पूर्व के पुरुषों
Hungarian Keletlakók
Icelandic Austmenn
Irish Gaelic Fir an Oirthir
Japanese 東夷
Kannada ಪೂರ್ವದ ಮೆನ್
Kazakh Шығыс ерлері (Cyrillic) Şığıs erleri (Latin)
Korean 동부인 (이스터링)
Kurdish Zilamên rojhilat (Kurmanji Kurdish)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Чыгыш адамдар
Latvian Austrumnieks
Macedonian Cyrillic Мажи на исток
Marathi पूर्व लोक
Mongolian Cyrillic Дорно дахин эрчүүд
Norwegian Austringene
Pashto ختیځ نارینه
Persian مردان در شرق
Polish Easterlingowie
Punjabi ਪੂਰਬ ਦੇ ਪੁਰਸ਼
Romanian Oamenii din Est
Russian Истерлинги
Scottish Gaelic Fir an ear
Serbian Источњаци (Cyrillic) Istočnjaci (Latin)
Sinhalese නැගෙනහිර පුරුෂයන්
Slovak Východniari
Slovenian Moški na vzhodu
Spanish Hombres del Este
Swedish Östringar
Tajik Cyrillic Мардони шариф
Tamil கிழக்கு ஆண்கள்
Telugu తూర్పు పురుషులు
Turkish Doğulular
Ukrainian Cyrillic Еастерлінґс
Uzbek Чарқий эркаклар (Cyrillic) Sharqiy erkaklar (Latin)
Vietnamese Đàn ông phương Đông
Welsh Dynion y dwyrain
Xhosa Madoda aseMpuma
Yiddish מענטשן פון די מזרח
Yoruba Awọn ọkunrin ti ila-õrùn
Zulu Amadoda aseMpumalanga


  2. 2.0 2.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XVIII: "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin"
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XX: "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad"
  10. 10.0 10.1 The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands), "The Third Age"