Rhûn



Rhûn is a large region of eastern Middle-earth.

Overview
Rhûn is a name used for all lands lying east Rhovanion, around and beyond the inland Sea of Rhûn, from where many attacks on Gondor and its allies came during the Third Age.

We know almost nothing of the lands of beyond the great Sea of Rhûn that stood on its borders with the western lands. Even Gandalf had never explored there, and though Aragorn had travelled there, we have no report of his doings.

Of its ancient geography we can glean a little from the Silmarillion; far beyond the Sea of Rhûn was another inland sea, the Sea of Helcar, and beyond that a range of red mountains known as the Orocarni. Somewhere in the lost east, too, lay Cuiviénen and Hildórien, where Elves and Men first awoke: all the Children of Ilúvatar could trace their ancestries back to the eastward regions of Middle-earth.

Rhûn was the domain of the Easterlings, Men of Darkness who were ready to follow both the Dark Lords and fought as their allies in war. These lands, too, were peopled by lost Elves, Avari and Úmanyar, and by four of the seven clans of the Dwarves.

During the Third Age, Rhûn was visited by three Wizards; Saruman, Alatar and Pallando, and though Saruman returned into the west, the two Blue Wizards remained. Sauron himself journeyed into the eastward lands, in hiding from the White Council during the centuries known in the west as the Watchful Peace.

Dorwinion lay in Rhûn, and the Easterlings of the Balchoth and Wainriders lived there.

Rhûn was conquered by Gondor twice: under the Kings Rómendacil I and Rómendacil II, but the Númenóreans never had full control over it.

Rhûn was finally subdued in the Fourth Age under King Elessar and his son Eldarion.

Rhûn was, especially during the Second Age, a land where trade was a main part of their culture. - Especially around the northern regions around the Sea of Rhûn, where wine and tobacco were produced and traded throughout Middle-Earth.

Behind the Scenes
Tolkien was probably inspired by China, Korea, or Mongolia for Rhûn. This is supported by the fact that in the Games Workshop Lotr wargame and the video-game Battle for Middle Earth, we can see yurts and pagodas in the maps which represent Rhûn.