The Green Book of the White Downs: Migrations and monuments: Part 7

Migrations and monuments: the story of the First Age in Eriador and Rhovanion

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“Migrations and monuments” quick links:

📗 Part 7] In their image: the faithful Drúedain and their watch-stones

Alongside the House of Haleth on the migration is another group of Men, different in looks and nature, but considered close allies. The story of these beings, the Drúedain (Púkel-men), help understand migration routes and we’ll also discover our first monument(s) left by Men within Eriador.

“The Drûgs that are met in the tales of the First Age – cohabiting with the Folk of Haleth, who were a woodland people – were content to live in tents or shelters lightly built round the trunks of large trees, for they were a hardy race. In their former homes, according to their own tales, they had used caves in the mountains, but mainly as store-houses only occupied as dwellings and sleeping-places in severe weather. They had similar refuges in Beleriand to which all but the most hardy retreated in times of storm and bitter weather; but these places were guarded and not even their closest friends among the Folk of Haleth were welcomed there.”

-- Christopher Tolkien, The History of Middle-earth, Book 12: The Peoples of Middle-earth (Part Two: Late Writings – X. Of Dwarves and Men: II The Atani and their Languages)

From this one paragraph we learn that the House of Haleth, who are woodfolk, have allies called the Drúedain. Notes from this about the Drúedain include:

🌳 They prefer a simple existence (tents/shelters around trees)
⛰ Mountain caves were used mainly as storage spaces
❓ They eventually have secret places in Beleriand that even their allies are unaware of

It was the Drúedain who helped the Rohirrim reach Minas Tirith by secret ways during the War of the Ring in the Third Age. One of the main sources for our knowledge about the Drúedain is a chapter in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Unfinished Tales” (Part Four, I: TheDrúedain). Some of the main takeaways from this chapter include:

👣 Considered “unlovely in looks”
👣 Had “rich and rolling” infectious laughter
👣 Considered Atani by the Eldar
👣 Skilled “trackers of all living creatures”
👣 Near unequalled knowledge of “growing things”
👣 “…small tools of flint for scraping and cutting”
👣 Used simple signs for marking trails and giving information/warning
👣 “…showed great talent for carving in wood or stone”
👣 “knowledge of pigments” (plant-based)
👣 “…drew pictures and patterns on wood or flat surfaces of stone”
👣 “…would scrape knobs of wood into faces that could be painted”
👣 “…delighted in carving figures of men and beasts” to create toys, ornaments and large images
👣 Some “images were strange and fantastic, or even fearful”
👣 “making of Orc-figures which they set at the borders of the land, shaped as if fleeing from it, shrieking in terror”
👣 “capacity of utter silence and stillness” for days

It is clear the Drúedain lived in a harmony with the landscape around them, they still left their mark on it through their crafts and arts. It is not clear how far back these go, perhaps to their earliest settlement in Eriador, but:

“They made also images of themselves and placed them at the entrances to tracks or at turnings of woodland paths. These they called ‘watch-stones’ of which the most notable were set near the Crossings of Teiglin, each representing a Drúadan, larger than the life, squatting heavily upon a dead Orc.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Four, I: The Drúedain)

The most famous of “watch-stones” are the Púkel-men at Dunharrow in Rohan, still extant in the Third Age but made long before. There was mystery to the Drúedain, so much so even their allies were in awe:

“…though they held the Drúedain in love and trust, many of the Folk of Haleth believed that they possessed uncanny and magical powers”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Four, I: The Drúedain)

In the watch-stones (or Púkel-men) we have our first example, but perhaps not the earliest in time (see later), of monuments left by Men on the landscape in Eriador. The magical powers were emphasised in a First Age story, “The Faithful Stone”, featuring a watch-stone. We can also place the location of where these monuments are through the story of the Drúedain which highlights the route taken by the southerly migration:

“An emigrant branch of the Drúedain accompanied the Folk of Haleth at the end of the First Age, and dwelt in the Forest [of Brethil] with them. But most of them had remained in the White Mountains, in spite of their persecution by later-arrived Men, who had relapsed into the service of the Dark.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Four, I: The Drúedain)

The Drúedain even in their earliest days during the migration of Men westwards into Beleriand are tied to the mountain range known as Ered Nimrais (White Mountains).

“The ‘Púkel-men’ occupied the White Mountains (on both sides) in the First Age. When the occupation of the coastlands by the Númenóreans began in the Second Age they survived in the mountains of the promontory [of Andrast], which was never occupied by the Númenóreans.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Four, I: The Drúedain)

Gondorian folklore does the Drúedain a massive disservice, showing inherent racism in their histories towards peoples they deem inferior, by claiming that the Drúedain were originally from lands south of Mordor:

“We can thus if we wish elaborate the ancient legend of the coming of the Edain in The Silmarillion (pp. 140 – 3) by the addition of the Drúedain, descending out of Ered Lindon into Ossiriand with the Haladin (the Folk of Haleth). Another note says that historians in Gondor believed that the first Men to cross the Anduin were indeed the Drúedain. They came (it was believed) from lands south of Mordor, but before they reached the coasts of Haradwaith they turned north into Ithilien, and eventually finding a way across the Anduin (probably near Cair Andros) settled in the vales of the White Mountains and the wooded lands at their northern feet.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Four, I: The Drúedain)

The Drúedain place themselves with both the White Mountains and an area to the west of them called the Drúwaith Iaur and Andrast. Even Drúedain lore seems to get confused about their origins:

“They said that they had always been there, and had formerly lived also in the White Mountains. In ages past they had paid no heed to the Great Dark One (Morgoth), nor did they later ally themselves with Sauron; for they hated all invaders from the East.”

-- J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales (Part Four, I: The Drúedain)

Both the account from Gondor and also from the Drúedain hold potential truths and also errors. The Drúedain, as part of the Atani, awoke along with all the other groups of Men in the far east of Middle-earth in place called Hildórien. Tolkien describes three tribes or Houses leaving the east and migrating westwards towards Beleriand. The Drúedain would have been part of those and are (as above) connected with the House of Haleth.

They could not have come from south of Mordor and then come up through Ithilien. That route would have delayed them too long and we know they accompanied the House of Haleth. It is possible or even likely they crossed the Anduin at Cair Andros in their journey to the White Mountains. Like the northernly migration, the Anduin was a barrier for all and had to be safely crossed.

The comment in the Gondor lore about Morgoth also seems odd. The westwards migration of Men specifically happened because of Morgoth and his servants. The note is in “Unfinished Tales” so we can perhaps not worry too much with the confusion. But one thing from J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings that is clear about the Drúedain (and also the next group to be discussed) is that they were Men and they awoke in the east and joined the westwards migration:

“It was a mark of all kinds of Men who were descendants of those who had abjured the Shadow of Morgoth and his servants and wandered westward to escape it – and certainly included both the races of small stature, Drûgs and Hobbits.”

-- Christopher Tolkien, The History of Middle-earth, Book 12: The Peoples of Middle-earth (Part Two: Late Writings – X. Of Dwarves and Men: II The Atani and their Languages)

As you can see from this Tolkien quote, the Drúedain were not the only small Men amongst the migration…

Next:
📜 Part 8] “Their Wandering Days”– Pre-Shire Hobbits in Rhovanion

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Saturday 8 July 2023

Migrations and monuments: Part 7 - Drúedain

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