Dúnedain

This article is about the Dúnedain as a whole. For the northern division, see Dúnedain of Arnor.

This article is about the Dúnedain as a whole. For the southern division, see Dúnedain of Gondor.

The Dúnedain (singular: Dúnadan) were Men descended from the Númenóreans who survived the fall of their island kingdom, Númenor, and migrated to Eriador in Middle-earth, led at first by Elendil and his sons. They were known as the "Men of the West" and the "Men of Westernesse" (direct translations of the Sindarin term). They settled mainly in Arnor and Gondor.

History

Dunedain — Depiction of a Dúnedain ranger from *Tales of the Cards.com*

The term Dúnedain designated the "Men of the West", the Númenóreans, although the term came out of use amongst the King's Men and came to denote especially the descendants of the Elendili, the Númenórean Colonists in Arnor and Gondor or Dúnedain of the North and Dúnedain of the South. The Noble Families of high-blood continued to consider themselves Dúnedain, while denominating the mixed-blooded common people as "lesser Dúnedain" or Tergil (Haeranedain in Rhudaur).

After the fall of Arthedain during the war with Angmar in TA 1974, some of the Northern Dúnedain became the Rangers of the North in Evendim. The surviving Dúnedain population of Arnor retreated to the Angle south of Rivendell. In the meantime the Southern Dúnedain intermarried more and more with so-called Middle Men, except in some regions (such as Dol Amroth).

Kingdomsofthedunedain — The kingdoms of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth

During and even before the War of the Ring, Dúnedain Rangers went through a variety of different duties. Some were stationed around the Shire, protecting it from the forces of darkness. Others simply patrolled the northern lands, hunting and defeating any enemies they found. In general, Dúnedain Rangers mainly took care of themselves and of lands of the Free Peoples, though if they were called upon to battle (by Gondor or some other land in need) they were quite willing to do so.

In the Fourth Age, the Dúnedain of Gondor and Arnor were reunited under king Aragorn II Elessar (who was also called the Dúnadan).^{[citation needed]}

Dwarves at the Ruin City of Fornost — Dunedain at the city of Fornost, in *The Battle for Middle-earth II*

Characteristics

Age

Direct descendants of the Dúnedain are known to have lived longer than normal Men. A good example is Aragorn who, in the movies, tells Éowyn he is 87 years old, although he appears to be relatively young. It is said that Dúnedain live three times longer than normal men. That would translate that the Dúnedain's average lifespan is up 140 to 250 years, given normal human lifespan.

Weapons and Tactics

Rangers were an elite force and used a variety of weapons to achieve victory in battles. Non-canonical information hints that they preferred bows and archery as their primary weapons, though this is not always the case (Aragorn, for example, used a sword). They also used swords to engage in close combat if necessary. The Dúnedain mainly rely on stealth as an advantage rather than an actual face-to-face confrontation. It is also hinted that their battle skill was greater than that of the average Gondor soldier or archer.

Etymology

The Westron name for Dúnadan was simply Adûn, "westerner", but this name was seldom used. This name was reserved to those Númenóreans who were friendly to the Elves:

Tergil (Sgl."Targil" Q."Tarkil") or Torfiriath were the descendants of Dúnedain who had intermarried with other peoples (usually middle-men). They were also known as Lesser Dúnedain. Most Men of Gondor and of Eriador were of this race.

Known Dúnedain

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Amharic	ዹነዳኢን ?
Arabic	دوندين
Armenian	Դունեդաին
Belarusian Cyrillic	Дунэдайн
Bengali	ডুনেদাইন
Bosnian	Dúnedaini
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Дунеданци
Chinese	登丹人
Czech	Dúnadani
Georgian	დუნედელი
Greek	Ντουνεντάιν
Gujarati	ડ્યુડ્ડિન
Hebrew	דונאדין
Hindi	ड्यूनडैन
Hungarian	Dúnadanok
Irish Gaelic	Fear Thiar (West Man)
Japanese	ドゥーネダイン
Kannada	ಡ್ಯುನೆಡೆನ್
Kazakh	Дұнедаін (Cyrillic) Dunedain (Latin)
Korean	두네다인
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Дунэдаин
Macedonian Cyrillic	Дунедаин
Marathi	ड्यूडेनइन
Mongolian Cyrillic	Дунэдаин
Nepalese	डुनेद्ऐन
Persian	دون‌ا‌داین
Polish	Dúnadainowie
Russian	Дунэдайн
Sanskrit	डुनेद्ऐन्
Scots Gaelic	Siar Duine
Serbian	Дунедаин (Cyrillic) Dunedain (Latin)
Sinhalese	ඩුනෙද්ඓන්
Tajik Cyrillic	Дунедаин
Tamil	டுனிடைன்
Telugu	డునెదైన
Thai	ดูเนไดน์
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Дунедайн
Urdu	دنیداان
Uzbek	Дунедаин (Cyrillic) Dunedain (Latin)
Yiddish	דúנעדאַין

The People of Middle-earth

Men:

Elves:

Dwarves: