Elfhelm

The Fords of Isen

Elfhelm was a captain of the Rohirrim in the War of the Ring, based at Edoras. On 25 February 3019 he led four companies of Riders from the capital toward the Fords of Isen, where Théodred had crossed to strike at Saruman, and arrived to find the king's son dying on the eyot and Grimbold of the Westfold holding it. Elfhelm's Riders drove the enemy off and held the river. On 2 March he and Grimbold commanded the defence at the Second Battle of the Fords, disagreeing on how to place their forces, and were broken by Saruman's main host; Elfhelm's retreat toward Edoras and the survivors he gathered kept some strength in the field while Erkenbrand regrouped in the Westfold.

The ride to Gondor

Elfhelm led one of the éoreds in the muster of the Mark on 10 March, and it was among his Riders that a young man called Dernhelm rode with a hobbit on the saddle before him. Elfhelm knew that Dernhelm was Éowyn and that the hobbit was Merry, and he looked the other way. On the road through Anórien he was the marshal who nearly trod on Merry in the dark at the edge of the Drúadan Forest, and who explained to him that the Wild Men had come to speak with the king. He fought on the Pelennor Fields on 15 March, and afterward, when Aragorn marched to the Black Gate, Elfhelm was sent west with three thousand Riders along the road to drive out the enemy force still in Anórien and to guard Minas Tirith from the north. He did both.

Marshal of the East-mark

When Éomer became king he reorganised the command of the Mark, and Elfhelm became the first Marshal of the East-mark, with Erkenbrand as Marshal of the West-mark. Nothing is recorded of his later life or death.

Survived the War of the Ring and served King Éomer as Marshal of the East-mark.