In the First Age of the Sun, three hosts of Men first came to the Elf--realms of Beleriand and allied with the Noldorin Elves. The hosts were the Three Houses of Elf-friends, the Edain; of the Three Houses the Second was named Haladin. A forest loving people, the Haladin were less numerous and smaller than those of the other Houses. Their first chieftain was Haldad, who, along with many of his people, was slain by Orcs. His daughter Haleth then led the Haladin to the Forest of Brethil, where they grew wiser in the ways of the woodlands. There, like the wise Green-elves of Ossiriand, they fought against the minions of Melkor. But, as the tide of the Wars of Beleriand turned against all the Edain, and though such a great hero as Turin Turambar came to fight with them, the Haladin also suffered loss and dwindled before the evil onslaught of Orc legions.

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Among the Dunlendings who, in the Third Age of the Sun, came to Saruman's banner of the White Hand in Isengard, were some whose blood, by the sorcery of Saruman, became mixed with that of the Orcs and Uruk-hai. These were large evil Men, who were called Half-orcs. Many were among the strongest servants of Saruman. They mostly perished at the Battle of the Hornburg, either before the fortress walls, or in the Huorn forest. Yet some lived beyond that day of doom and followed Saruman into exile, even to the Hobbit lands of the Shire, where they served the fallen Wizard until his last breath.

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No history tells how or when the Hobbits, the smallest of the peoples of Middle-earth, entered the World, but it is thought that perhaps it was in the First Age of the Sun, as they are near relatives of Men. However in the time that Men arose, there were many wars and great deeds wherein powerful races and forces fought for supremacy. In the struggle for dominion, little heed was taken of such a diminutive people, who, being half the height of Men were by Men most often called Halflings.

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South of the realms of Gondor and Mordor were the wild barbarian lands of Harad. During Sauron's many wars, the brown-skinned men of Near Harad and the black skinned men of Far Harad often came to fight for the Ring Lord against the Dunedain. Harad, meaning 'south' in Elvish, was also called the Sunlands, Sutherland and Haradwaith. Its people were called Haradrim or the Southrons. The land itself was vast and hot with great deserts and forests stretching far into the uncharted lands in the south of Middle-earth. It was divided into numerous warrior kingdoms; some were primarily foot soldiers, others cavalry, and still others were mounted on the backs of the tusked Mumakil, the giant ancestors of the elephants. One of the greatest ports of Harad was Umbar, the home of those sea-going Haradrim, known as the Corsairs of Umbar.

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In the histories that were written in the days of the War of the Ring, much is told of the brown-skinned Men of the South who were named the Haradrim, and how they came forth fiercely in war. Some Haradrim appeared on horseback and others on foot, and those who were named Corsairs came in the dread fleets of their black ships called dromunds. Most famous of the Haradrim forces were those who rode in war towers on the backs of the great Mumakil.

In the Battle of Pelennor Fields, the Haradrim were most numerous among the servants of the Witch-king of Morgul. They were fierce and they rallied under a red banner marked with a black serpent.

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All the lands of Middle-earth that lay south of Gondor were, in the histories of the West, called Harad, meaning the 'south'. Its people were sometimes called Haradwaith, sometimes Southrons and most commonly Haradrim.

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Most numerous and typical of the Hobbit strains were those who were named Harfoot. They were the smallest of the Halflings and their skin and hair were nutbrown. The Harfoot were first of the Hobbit people to leave the Vales of Anduin and cross over the Misty Mountains into Eriador. This migration was in the year 1050 of the Third Age. They were the friendliest with Dwarves, for they loved hillsides and highlands, and hole-dwelling to them was a joy.

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The Inland Sea in the far northeast of the continent of Middle-earth was called Helcar. It was located where the mighty northern pillar of the Lamp of the Valar once stood as a light to the world through the most ancient days of Arda. After the destruction of the Lamps, and at the time of the Rekindling of the Stars, it was in the Mere of Cuivienen, a bay on the eastern shores of this same Sea of Helcar, where the race of the Elves was first awakened. These waters of the Inland Sea of Helcar were constantly fed and refreshed by a multitude of crystal springs, streams and rivers.

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Until the end of the Second Age of the Sun and the Change of the World, there was a northern narrow gap of sea and ice between the Undying Lands and Middle-earth. This was called Helcaraxe, the Grinding Ice. It was over this bridge of ice that Melkor and Ungoliant the Great Spider fled after they destroyed the Trees of the Valar and stole the Silmarils.

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Northman, king of Rohan. Helm Hammerhand was born in 2691 of the Third Age. he became the ninth king of Rohan in 2741. Helm ruled for seventeen years before Rohan suffered from a devastating Dunlending invasion. After the Rohirrim defeat at the Crossings of Isen in 2758, Helm and his army retreated to the fortress of Hornburg, where he held the enemy at bay through the Long Winter. He often terrorized his Dunlending besiegers by going out in the snow at night and silently slaying his enemies with his bare hands. On one of these raids, Helm froze to death. Helm's Deep, Helm's Dike and Helm's Gate were all named after Helm Hammerhand.

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The huge fortified gorge in the White Mountains in the Westfold of Rohan was called Helm's Deep. Named after the Rohirrim king Helm Hammerhand, Helm's Deep and Dunharrow were Rohan's two major places of refuge during times of war. Helm's Deep referred to the entire fortified system which included the gorge, the Deeping Wall built across the gorge, the fortress of Hornburg, the cavern refuge known as Aglarond (glittering caves) and the Deeping Stream that flowed from the gorge. The defences of Helm's Deep were largely built by the Men of Gondor, although the caverns of Aglarond were believed to have been delved during the Second Age by the Numenoreans. In 2758, the Rohirrim under Helm Hammerhand defended it against the Dunlendings, and during the War of the Ring, King Theoden fought the Battle of Hornburg here against the forces of Saruman.

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In the twenty-eighth century of the Third Age of the Sun, a king of great stature came to the Rohirrim, the Horse lords of the Mark. He was ninth in line of kings, and his people called him Helm Hammerhand. Though his rule ended in tragedy during the Long Winter and Dunlending Invasions, his legend grew strong among his foes. He was compared with a great Troll, for he hunted the Dunlendings by night and with his bare hands slew them in the snow. Even after his death the Dunlendings feared his wraith, who they claimed pursued them for many years.

The Rohirrim often called upon the spirit of that fearful king in war, and in his honour they called his mountain stronghold Helm's Deep, and named themselves the Helmingas.

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Of all the Elves, the mightiest were the High Elves, those of the Eldar who first reached the shores of Aman, the Undying Lands, in the days of the Trees of the Valar. These were called the High Elves, and they were those Elves who arrived in that place named Elvenhome and were granted great wisdom and many skills by the Valar and Maiar. In large part they dwell there still, though the Trees have been destroyed and the Undying Lands have been taken from the Circles of the World and cannot now be reached by any device of Men.

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When Arien the Sun first shone on the World, there came forth the race of Men far to the East of Middle-earth. They were late comers to the World, for many other races had arisen before them. Therefore the Elves named them the Hildor, for its meaning is the 'followers.

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In the Entenmoors in Eriador there lived an evil race of Hillmen who served the Witch-king of Angmar in the Third Age of the Sun. These barbarian Hillmen were fierce and numerous and they were allied with the Orkish legions. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries they subdued the provinces of Rhudaur and Cardolan of the Dunedain of the North Kingdom. In 1974, after six centuries of intermittent war this alliance finally brought down Arthedain, the last of the proud Dunedain provinces of the North Kingdom.

This too was the time of the Hillmen's own ruin. Hardly had the Hillmen and their Witch-king taken the Fornost, the last citadel of the Dunedain, when they were attacked by a great army led by Earnur of the South Kingdom of Gondor, Cirdan of Lindon and Glorfindel of Rivendell. In this Battle of Fornost the power of the Hillmen was broken, the Orcs exterminated and the kingdom of Angmar was destroyed. The Hillmen became a hunted people, scattered and forgotten.

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The most famous village in the land of the Hobbits of the Shire was Hobbiton in Westfarthing. It was a humble Hobbit village built on and around Hobbiton Hill with a mill and granary on a stream called the Water. The village became became famous because on that hill was the street of Bagshot Row and the Hobbit hole of Bag End. This was the home of the most celebrated of all Hobbits on Middle-earth, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, who played such critical roles in the War of the Ring.

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When the bright fire of Arien the Sun came into the World there arose the race of Men, it is claimed that in that same Age there also arose in the East the Halfling people who were called Hobbits. These were a burrowing, hole-dwelling people said to be related to Men, yet they were smaller than Dwarves, and the span of their lives was about 100 years.

All Hobbits, both male and female, shared certain characteristics. All measured between two and four feet in height; they were long fingered, possessed of a well-fed and cheerful countenance, and had curly brown hair upon their heads and peculiar shoeless, oversized feet.

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The evil beings to whom Men now give the name Goblin were in the days of Middle-earth called Orcs, and there were many kinds. Most powerful of these were the Uruk-hai; Man-sized creatures of great strength and endurance; like the smaller breeds of wickedness, but stronger and unafraid of light. Often these were the cruel leaders of the lesser Goblin folk, and they formed elite fighting units within a larger army. They are sometimes called Great Goblins, or Hobgoblins, een though they could wreak far greater evil in ancient times than now.

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The "Red Book of Westmarch" tells much of the history of the Halfling people called Hobbits. In one part is explained how that name was derived from the Holbytlan, which means 'hole-dwellers' in the tongue of the Rohirrim.

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The massive fortress of Hornburg was built by the Men of Gondor in the first millennium of the Third Age on the Hornrock in Helm's Deep, a gorge in the White Mountains. Hornburg was the centrepiece of a huge defence system in Helm's Deep that included the Deeping Wall, and the great cavern refuge of Aglarond, the 'glittering caves'. In 2758, the Rohan King Helm Hammerhand and his people defended the Hornburg against the might of the Dunlendings. However, the greatest conflict fought here was the Battle of Hornburg, one of the decisive battles in the War of the Ring.

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How Horses were first made is not told in the histories of Arda, but it is known that Nahar, the steed of Orome, the Huntsman of the Valar, was the first such being to enter the World. Though all Horses take from Nahar their form, he is the mightiest and most beautiful of the race. Golden hooves and white coat by day and silver by night. Tireless, Nahar travels over the Earth as easily as the swiftest Eagle speeds through the air.

Men and Elves bred Horses to their needs, but it is said that the nobler breeds were descended from Nahar, and these were the Elven Horses of Eldamar and those named the Mearas that lived in Rhovanion.These noble breeds were, for the most part white or silver grey. They were long-lived and fleet, and they understood the language of the Elves and Men.

Rochaller was the most welknown of these Horses. He was the warhorse that Fingolfin, most valiant of the Noldor kings, rode in his great ill-fated duel with Morgoth the Enemy.

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Wolfhound of the Valar. Hound of the Orome the Huntsman, Huan was given to the Noldor prince Celegorm. Huan went with his new master to Beleriand. Because of his love for the Elven princess Luthien, he became fatefully caught up in the Quest of the Silmaril. One by one, he slew the Werewolves of Tol Sirion, including their sire, the mighty Drauglin, and even managed to defeat Sauron in Wolf form. Finally he took on Carcharoth, the largest and the mightiest Wolf of all time who was hand-reared by Morgoth. In the ensuing battle Huan prevailed, but he was fatally wounded by Carcharoth's poisonous fangs.

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According to Hobbit rhyme, a race of winged insects called Hummerhorns was said to have battled a questing knight. Whether these ferocious insects were of giant size, or the knight was of some diminutive race, or whether the tale was a product of Hobbit humour cannot now be learned.

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Among the most ancient of the Olvar that lived within Arda were the trees of the Great Forests that came from the seeds that Yavanna devised in the Ages of the Lamps. For many ages they grew peacefully, but in Middle-earth at the beginning of the Ages of Starlight there came among the trees great spirits, which were called Ents, the Shepherds of Trees. These protectors appeared because many other races in that time came into the World and Yavanna feared that the forest would be destroyed. So through the Ages of Starlight and the Sun the Ents walked the forests, and in time it is said some Ents became more tree-like than they were before, and some of the ancient trees became more Ent-like and limb-lithe. Like the Ents, they learned the art of speech. Whether tree or Ent in the beginning, by the Third Age of the Sun there was a race apart from either, that was named the Huorns. Mostly the Huorns stood like dark trees in the deepest forests, gnarled and unmoving yet watchful. When aroused in wrath they moved swiftly as if wrapped in shadows, falling on foes with deadly and merciless strength.

During the War of the Rings the Huorns marched on Isengard along with the Ents and under the direction of the Ents of Fangorn they exterminated the entire Orc legion at the Battle of the Hornburg.

Old Man Willow who held the Old Forest in enchantment by the power of his song and led all travellers to him, where with limb-lithe roots and branches he ended them was on of the Huorn.

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Edain lord of the Dorthonian. Born in the middle of the fourth century of the First Age, Hurin was the son of Galdor, lord of the Edain. He married Morwen, a lady of the First House, and fathered three children: Turin, Lalaith and Nienor. He was a short, but powerfully built man. In 462, Hurin's father was slain breaking the siege of the Elven tower of Barad Eithel. During the Battle of Unnumbered Tears in 473, Hurin's brother Huor was killed, along with the Edain of the rearguard, except Hurin, who slew seventy Trolls before being captured and taken to Angband. Withstanding terrible tortures, and deceptions, he was imprisoned on a crag of Thangodrim from twenty-eight years.

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