Helm Hammerhand

Helm Hammerhand was the ninth King of Rohan, and the end of the first line of its Kings. His rule was plagued by war with the Dunlendings that attempted to usurp his rule of Rohan.

Biography

Helm was born in TA 2691 and was the son of Gram. He became King at the age of fifty when his father Gram died in TA 2741 during a time of crisis. His father had fought open warfare with the Dunlendings, who operated from the captured fortress of Isengard.

During his reign, King Helm came into conflict with an arrogant and powerful landowner named Freca. Freca was a Dunlending with Rohirric blood; he claimed to be a descendant of King Fréawine of Rohan. Freca held lands - both banks of the river Adorn and his stronghold was near its source on the borders of Rohan. Freca viewed King Helm with both contempt and scorn, while Helm mistrusted Freca and was wary of him.

In TA 2754, Freca attempted to intimidate and coerce King Helm into giving his approval and consent to an arranged marriage between Freca's son Wulf I and Helm's daughter. Freca marched to a meeting of the King's council in Edoras with a great force of men, planning to threaten the King into complying with his demands. In the resulting quarrel, Helm Hammerhand smote Freca with single blow from his fist. The blow was so great Freca died soon after. Enraged, the men of Freca left Edoras, and King Helm declared Wulf and his kin enemies of the King.

Four years later in TA 2758, a combined force of Dunlendings under the leadership of Wulf, and the Corsairs of Umbar overran Rohan. Helm was defeated in battle at the Crossings of Isen, and Helm withdrew into the Hornburg at Helm's Deep (which was later renamed in his honor). There, he endured a long siege.

While King Helm and his younger son Prince Háma were besieged in the Hornburg, a force of Dunlendings under the leadership of Wulf also besieged Edoras. Prince Haleth, King Helm's elder son who was the last defender to fall, led the defence of Edoras. He fell defending the doors of the Golden Hall .

Shortly after Yule 2758, Prince Háma accompanied by a small force went out to search for food, but he and his men were lost in a blizzard and never seen again. The Hornburg held a large war-horn, and whenever it was blown, Helm would break through the Dunlending ranks, slaying many of their men. Helm's came to fear him greatly during this time and it was believed that he became so fierce and terrible, that he slew many of them with his bare hands. It was also believed that when he grew hungry and had no food he ate men.

It was said that grief and hunger made Helm more ferocious. After one such sortie, Helm died and did not return; his body was discovered the next morning frozen in the snow still standing, his eyes open, ready to fight. This led to a belief among the Rohirrim and Dunlendings that even in death the wraith of Helm Hammerhand still wandered through Rohan, and defended the Hornburg. Helm died in TA 2759 at the age of sixty-eight. Prince Haleth and Prince Háma also died during the war; his nephew Fréaláf Hildeson, who defeated the Dunlendings, succeeded Helm.

Helm was called Hammerhand because of his great strength and prowess with his fists: he was known to fight barehanded. This is sometimes attributed to a superstition that if "he used no weapon no weapon would upon bite him".^[1][2]

Portrayal in adaptations

In the video game Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Helm is shown to have become a Nazgûl. He received his ring from Sauron and Celebrimbor after he was mortally wounded in an ambush during which his daughter was kidnapped. After recovering, he led a group of men to the man responsible for the ambush, but accidentally fatally struck his daughter in rage. This further fueled his anger, and he proceeded to slaughter everyone in the room, including his own troops who tried to calm him down. He wields a great hammer unlike the Helm of the books, and the story appears to have been pushed up to the end of the Second Age in order to fit in with the game's timeline. His hammer later ends up in the hands of Talion after the latter joins the nine himself.

House of Eorl

Translations around the World

References

1. ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers, II: The House of Eorl
2. ↑ Unfinished Tales, Part Three: The Third Age, V: "The Battles of the Fords of Isen"