Edain
Also calledAtani, Elf-friends, the Three Houses, Fathers of Men
The Edain were the Men of the three houses who came west into Beleriand in the First Age, befriended the Elves and fought beside them against Morgoth. Their descendants became the Númenóreans and later the Dúnedain of Arnor and Gondor.
Description
Who the Edain were
In the Elvish tongues Edain simply means Men, but in Beleriand the word was reserved for the three peoples who came over the Blue Mountains, entered the service of the Elven-kings and stood against Morgoth. Other Men who came later, such as the Easterlings of Bór and Ulfang, were not counted among them. The Edain were therefore both a group of kindreds and a mark of honour: the Elf-friends, the Men who chose the West.
They descended from those Men in the far east who had rejected the worship of Melkor and fled from his servants. Over many generations they journeyed westward, meeting the Dwarves and the Avari on the way and learning from them something of craft and speech. By the time they reached the eastern feet of the Ered Luin they were already three distinct peoples with their own tongues and customs.
The three houses
The first to enter Beleriand, in the year 310 of the First Age, were the people of Bëor. Finrod Felagund, hunting in Ossiriand, came upon their camp by night, sat among them as they slept, and when they woke he played to them and taught them. Bëor gave his own service to Finrod, and the House of Bëor was later settled in Dorthonion under the lordship of Finrod's brothers.
Behind them came two further peoples. The Haladin, a smaller and more scattered folk who kept apart from other Men, settled at first in Thargelion and afterward, under Haleth, in the forest of Brethil, becoming the House of Haleth. Last and most numerous came the tall people of Marach, who settled in Estolad and later, under Hador, were given the land of Dor-lómin in Hithlum by Fingolfin. This was the House of Hador, the greatest of the three.
The houses were not closed to one another. Marriages between the people of Bëor and the people of Hador were common, and the great figures of the later First Age combined their blood: Morwen and Rían of Bëor's house married Húrin and Huor of Hador's, and Huor's mother Hareth was of the Haladin.
Life among the Elves
The Edain were given lands on the frontier facing Angband, and they took the burden willingly. Many of them learned Sindarin and abandoned their own tongues in daily life; the people of Hador alone kept their ancestral speech alive, and from it came the later Adûnaic of Númenor. Their lords sat in council with the Elven-kings, their young men were fostered in Elvish halls, and their warriors served in Elvish armies. The Bëorians were remembered as the people most like the Noldor in mind, eager for lore; the Hadorians as the most valiant and quickest to laughter; the Haladin as secretive, woodland folk who preferred to live apart.
Not all Men were content in this alliance. Bereg of Bëor's house and Amlach of Marach's house questioned why Men should fight an Elvish war, and after a servant of Morgoth in Amlach's likeness stirred up dissent, some of the Edain went back east or south into the wilder lands. Those who stayed became the Edain of legend.
The great battles
The Edain first proved themselves in the long peace of the Siege of Angband and then in its breaking. In the Dagor Bragollach of F.A. 455 Bregolas of Bëor's house fell, Barahir saved the life of Finrod and won the ring that became an heirloom of his line, and Hador and his younger son Gundor fell defending Eithel Sirion. Dorthonion was overrun, and the survivors of Bëor's house were scattered.
In the Nirnaeth Arnoediad of 472 the House of Hador stood its ground at the Fen of Serech so that Turgon could escape. Huor was slain there and Húrin was taken alive. Haldir of Brethil died in the same battle with most of his men. After it, Morgoth gave Hithlum to the Easterlings, and the people of Hador became a subject folk.
Yet the Edain also produced the deeds that ended Morgoth's dominion. Beren won a Silmaril, Túrin killed the dragon Glaurung, and Tuor carried the warning of Ulmo to Gondolin and fathered Eärendil, who sailed to Aman and brought the Valar back into the war.
After the War of Wrath
When Beleriand was broken, the Valar rewarded the Edain who had fought for them with the island of Elenna, which became Númenor. Most of the surviving Edain sailed there under Elros, and their descendants, the Númenóreans, carried the name Edain in its Quenya form, Atani, into the Second Age. Those who stayed in Middle-earth mingled with other Men, and in later ages the Dúnedain recognised kin among the Northmen and other peoples of the north-west.
Legacy
By the Third Age the Edain as a distinct people had ceased to exist, but their legacy remained in the Dúnedain of Gondor and Arnor, in the friendships between Men and Elves that survived at Rivendell, and in the lines of Elrond and Aragorn, both of whom descended from all three houses through Eärendil and Elwing. The word Edain itself survived in the name Dúnedain, the Edain of the West.
Physical traits
The three houses differed in appearance. The Hadorians were tall, strong and fair-haired, with blue eyes, and were reckoned the most Elf-like in stature. The Bëorians were shorter and darker-haired with grey eyes, and the Elves thought them closest to the Noldor in temper and looks. The Haladin were shorter and broader still, dark-haired and stocky, and were not so easily distinguished from other Men. All of them lived somewhat longer than lesser Men, and after their removal to Númenor their lifespans and stature increased greatly.
Culture
The Edain were organised under hereditary lords rather than kings, and their halls were of timber and stone in the manner of their Elvish neighbours. The Bëorians took to Elvish lore readily and largely gave up their own tongue for Sindarin; the Hadorians kept their own speech, later the root of Adûnaic, though their lords spoke Sindarin fluently; the Haladin spoke a tongue of their own and were ruled in Haleth's day by a woman, unusual among Men. The Haladin also kept a council and later a Moot in which the people had a voice. All three houses were skilled in weapons, hunting and husbandry, and the Hadorians in particular were a warrior people whose chief standard was the golden hair of their lord.
Origins
The Edain traced their beginnings to the first Men of Hildórien and, in their own reckoning, to those who turned away from Melkor and journeyed west. They spoke reluctantly of those days, remembering a darkness they wished to leave behind. Passing through the lands east of the Blue Mountains, they met the Dwarves of the Ered Luin and the Dark Elves, and by the time Finrod found them their songs already spoke of a light in the West that they sought.
Fate
The Edain of Beleriand either sailed to Númenor and became the Númenóreans, or remained in Middle-earth and merged with other Men. Through Númenor their line came down to the Dúnedain, and in the Fourth Age to the united kingdom of Aragorn Elessar.
Sub-kindreds3
- House
The House of Bëor was the first of the three houses of the Edain, the people whom Finrod Felagund found in Ossiriand and who held the highlands of Dorthonion until the Dagor Bragollach. Though the smallest of the houses and the first to be broken, it produced Beren and, through him, the lines of Elros and Elrond.
9 figures - House
The House of Haleth, or the Haladin, were the second and smallest of the three houses of the Edain, a secretive woodland people who under the lady Haleth settled the forest of Brethil and guarded the Crossings of Teiglin. Their story is bound up with the tragedy of Túrin, who died among them.
2 figures - House
The House of Hador was the third and greatest of the houses of the Edain, the tall golden-haired people of Marach who held Dor-lómin under the High Kings of the Noldor. Húrin, Huor, Túrin and Tuor were all of this house, and its speech became the root of Adûnaic and of the Common Tongue.
11 figures
Notable figures
Of the wider kindred
Lord of the House of Bëor
Beren
House of BëorBeren son of Barahir, last of the outlaws of Dorthonion, won the love of Lúthien Tinúviel and with her took a Silmaril from the iron crown of Morgoth. The first Man to marry an Elf, he died twice and returned once, and from his line came Elrond, Elros and the kings of Númenor.
Dorthonion; later Tol Galen in OssiriandLord of Dor-lómin
Húrin
House of HadorHúrin Thalion, lord of Dor-lómin, was the greatest warrior of the Edain. He held the Fen of Serech alone at the end of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, was taken alive to Morgoth, defied him and was cursed with his whole house, and sat bound on Thangorodrim for twenty-eight years watching the ruin of his children Túrin and Nienor.
Dor-lóminLord of the House of Hador
Tuor
House of HadorTuor son of Huor, born after his father's death at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, was raised by Grey-elves in Mithrim, enslaved by Easterlings, and chosen by Ulmo to carry his warning to the hidden city of Gondolin. There he married Turgon's daughter Idril, fathered Eärendil, and led the survivors out of the city's fall. At the end of his life he sailed into the West, and alone of Men he is said to have been numbered among the Elves.
Hithlum; Gondolin; the Havens of SirionLord of Dor-lómin
Túrin
House of HadorTúrin, son of Húrin and Morwen, was the greatest and most ill-fated warrior of the Edain. Cursed by Morgoth through his father, he wandered from Doriath to outlawry, to Nargothrond and to Brethil, killed his friend Beleg by mischance and unknowingly married his own sister, and slew the dragon Glaurung before taking his own life.
Dor-lómin; Doriath; Nargothrond; BrethilLord of the House of Bëor
Barahir
House of BëorBarahir, younger son of Bregor, saved the life of Finrod Felagund in the Dagor Bragollach and received from him the ring that became the heirloom of his house. He held out with twelve companions in the highlands of Dorthonion until Gorlim's betrayal, and he was the father of Beren.
DorthonionFirst lord of the House of Bëor
Bëor
House of BëorBëor, born Balan, led the first company of Men over the Blue Mountains into Beleriand in F.A. 310 and became the vassal and friend of Finrod Felagund. The first house of the Edain bears his name, and from him descended Barahir, Beren and the kings of Númenor.
Estolad; later NargothrondLord of Dor-lómin
Hador
House of HadorHador Lórindol, Goldenhead, was the beloved of Fingolfin who received the lordship of Dor-lómin in F.A. 416 and gathered the people of Marach there. The Third House of the Edain took his name. He fell with his younger son Gundor defending Eithel Sirion in the Dagor Bragollach.
Dor-lóminChieftain of the Haladin
Haleth
House of HalethHaleth was the daughter of Haldad and the chieftain who saved the Haladin from destruction in Thargelion, refused the protection of Caranthir, and led her people west to the forest of Brethil. The second house of the Edain took her name, and she is the only woman recorded as ruling one of the three houses.
Brethil- House of Hador
Huor, younger son of Galdor of Dor-lómin, was carried with his brother Húrin to Gondolin as a boy and fell beside him holding the Fen of Serech in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Before he died he foretold to Turgon that a new star would rise from their two houses; his son, born after his death, was Tuor, father of Eärendil.
Dor-lómin Lady of Dor-lómin
Morwen
House of BëorMorwen Eledhwen, daughter of Baragund of the House of Bëor, was the wife of Húrin and the mother of Túrin and Nienor. Proud, beautiful and unbending, she held her house in Dor-lómin under the Easterlings for more than twenty years and died at the grave of her children beside the Teiglin.
Dor-lómin- House of Hador
Nienor, daughter of Húrin and Morwen, was born after her father's capture and never knew her brother Túrin. Robbed of her memory by Glaurung, she was found by the woodmen of Brethil, named Níniel, and married Túrin unknowing. When the dying dragon restored her memory she threw herself into the Teiglin.
Dor-lómin; Doriath; Brethil Lord of Brethil
Brandir
House of HalethBrandir the Lame, son of Handir, was the last lord of the House of Haleth in Brethil. A gentle man who preferred healing to war, he took in Túrin and later Níniel, whom he loved, and was slain by Túrin after telling him the truth of Nienor's death.
BrethilLord of the House of Bëor
Bregolas
House of BëorBregolas was the elder son of Bregor and lord of the House of Bëor in Dorthonion at the breaking of the Siege of Angband. He fell in the Dagor Bragollach, and his sons Baragund and Belegund were the fathers of Morwen and Rían.
DorthonionLady of the House of Bëor
Emeldir
House of BëorEmeldir the Man-hearted was the wife of Barahir and the mother of Beren. After the Dagor Bragollach she led the women and children of the House of Bëor out of Dorthonion over the mountains to safety, among them Morwen and Rían.
Dorthonion; later Brethil and Dor-lóminLord of Dor-lómin
Galdor
House of HadorGaldor the Tall, elder son of Hador, was lord of Dor-lómin for seven years after the Dagor Bragollach. He married Hareth of the Haladin and was the father of Húrin and Huor. He was slain by an arrow at Eithel Sirion in F.A. 462.
Dor-lómin- House of Bëor
Gorlim son of Angrim was one of the twelve companions of Barahir in Dorthonion. Deceived by Sauron with a phantom of his lost wife Eilinel, he betrayed the outlaws' refuge, was killed for it, and as a ghost warned Beren too late in a dream.
Dorthonion Leader of the Third House of the Edain
Marach
House of HadorMarach led the third and largest people of the Edain over the Blue Mountains into Beleriand in F.A. 313 and settled them in Estolad. His great-great-grandson Hador gave the house its lasting name.
Estolad- House of Bëor
Rían, daughter of Belegund of the House of Bëor, married Huor two months before the Nirnaeth Arnoediad and bore his son Tuor after his death. Leaving the child with the Elves of Mithrim, she went to the Hill of the Slain and died there.
Dor-lómin - House of Hador
Aerin, a kinswoman of Húrin, was taken by force as a wife by the Easterling Brodda after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. From his house she secretly sent food and help to Morwen, and when Túrin killed Brodda she burned the hall and chose to die there rather than flee into the wild.
Dor-lómin Wise-woman of the House of Bëor
Andreth
House of BëorAndreth was a wise-woman of the House of Bëor, daughter of Boromir and sister of Bregor, remembered for her learning in the lore of Men and for her love of Aegnor son of Finarfin, which was never fulfilled.
Dorthonion- House of Hador
Urwen, called Lalaith, was the second child of Húrin and Morwen and the beloved little sister of Túrin. She died at three years old in the plague that came out of Angband, the first sorrow of Túrin's life.
Dor-lómin Woodwright of Húrin's household
Sador
House of HadorSador, called Labadal, was a lame woodwright in the household of Húrin in Dor-lómin and the childhood friend of Túrin, who gave him an Elf-made knife. Grown old under Easterling rule, he was mortally wounded in the fight in Brodda's hall when Túrin returned to Dor-lómin.
Dor-lómin
Relations with other peoples
- Descended fromMen
- Allied withNoldor(service to Finrod, Fingolfin and the sons of Fëanor)
- Allied withSindar(the Haladin held Brethil under Thingol's leave)
- Enemy ofEasterlings(after the treachery of Ulfang at the Nirnaeth)
- Related toNúmenóreans(the Númenóreans are their descendants)
- Enemy ofOrcs
- Enemy ofDragons(Glaurung and the children of Húrin)
- Related toPetty-dwarves(sheltered Túrin's outlaws and betrayed them)
- Allied withEldar
- Related toNandor(first Elves to meet Men in Beleriand, and wary of them)
- Descended fromHouse of Bëor(the First House)
- Descended fromHouse of Hador(the Third House)
- Descended fromHouse of Haleth(the Second House)
- Descended fromNúmenóreans
- Related toDrúedain(once counted among them)
- Related toNorthmen(held to be kin of the House of Hador)
Places
Homeland
- DorthonionRegionHouse of Bëor
- BrethilForestHouse of Haleth
- Dor-lóminRegionHouse of Hador
Timeline
- F.A. 310
Bëor's people enter Beleriand
Finrod finds the first Men in Ossiriand and takes Bëor into his service.
- F.A. 313
The Haladin and the people of Marach arrive
Two further peoples follow Bëor over the mountains and settle in Thargelion and Estolad.
- F.A. 375
Orc-raid on the Haladin
Haldad and Haldar are slain; Haleth holds the stockade until Caranthir arrives.
- F.A. 390
Haleth's people settle in Brethil
Thingol permits the Haladin to dwell in Brethil on condition that they guard the Crossings of Teiglin.
- F.A. 416
Hador granted Dor-lómin
Fingolfin gives Hador the lordship of Dor-lómin, and the people of Marach gather there.
- F.A. 455
Dagor Bragollach
Bregolas, Hador and Gundor fall; Barahir saves Finrod and is given his ring.
- F.A. 460
Barahir's band destroyed
The last defenders of Dorthonion are betrayed by Gorlim and slain; Beren alone survives.
- F.A. 466
The quest of the Silmaril
Beren and Lúthien take a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown.
- F.A. 472
Nirnaeth Arnoediad
Huor is slain and Húrin captured at the Fen of Serech; Haldir of Brethil falls. Hithlum is given to the Easterlings.
- F.A. 499
Death of Glaurung
Túrin slays the dragon at Cabed-en-Aras, and the Children of Húrin perish.
- F.A. 510
Fall of Gondolin
Tuor leads the survivors of the hidden city to the Mouths of Sirion.
- F.A. 545
War of Wrath
The Edain alone of Men fight on the side of the Valar against Morgoth.
- S.A. 32
Departure for Númenor
The Edain sail to the island of Elenna, guided by the star of Eärendil.
Sources
- The SilmarillionQuenta Silmarillion chapters 17 to 24; Akallabêth
- The Children of Húrinchapters 1 to 3
- Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earthOf Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin; Narn i Hîn Húrin
- The Lord of the Rings: AppendicesAppendix A (I), Appendix F