The Dúnedain of Gondor and the Rohirrim are distantly related, having descended from the same place. Unlike the inhabitants of Gondor, who are portrayed as enlightened and highly civilized, the Rohirrim are shown as being at a lower level of enlightenment. [10] Unfinished Tales, p.315: "a Full Muster would probably have produced many more than twelve thousand riders" While Tolkien represents the Rohirrim with Anglo-Saxon culture and language, their ancestors are given Gothic attributes. The names of Rhovanion's royal family, (the ancestors of the Rohirrim), include such names as Vidugavia, Vidumavi and Vinitharya, which are of Gothic origin. Vidugavia specifically has been seen as an synonym for Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths in Italy from 536 to 540. [12] Tolkien saw this as a parallel with the real-world relationship between Old English and Gothic. [13]

Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Prague: Charles University. Eorl was succeeded upon his death by his son Brego. It was Brego who completed the great hall of Meduseld, which became the home of the Kings of Rohan thereafter. Brego's first son Baldor made a vow to tread the Paths of the Dead at the celebration to commemorate the completion of Meduseld, but was lost in the caverns beneath Dwimorberg. Brego was grieved at the loss of his son and died soon afterward, leaving rule of Rohan to his younger son Aldor. Aldor was called 'the Old', for, coming young to the throne, he ruled the Mark for 75 years.Further information: Beowulf in Middle-earth §Rohan People [ edit ] The Uffington White Horse, from where according to the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey the emblem of the House of Éorl – a "white horse upon green" – is derived. [9] Noel, Ruth S. (1977). The Mythology of Middle-earth. Houghton Mifflin. p.81. ISBN 978-0-39525-006-8.

Tolkien adapted the Ubi sunt passage of the Old English poem The Wanderer to create a song of Rohan. [22] The Wanderer Rohan is a fictional kingdom of Men in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy setting of Middle-earth. Known for its horsemen, the Rohirrim, Rohan provides its ally Gondor with cavalry. Its territory is mainly grassland. The Rohirrim call their land the Mark or the Riddermark, names recalling that of the historical kingdom of Mercia, the region of Western England where Tolkien lived. Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954). The Two Towers. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 1042159111. The Rohirrim used the Old English patronymic "-ing". They called themselves the Eorlingas, and Beorn’s people were the Beorningas; Scyld's people were the Scyldingas in Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology.

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Folcwine's third son, Fengel, is not remembered with honor. He did little to further strengthen Rohan, and was at odds with both his Marshals and his kin. His only son, Thengel, therefore spent much time in Gondor, and won praise through his service to Steward Turgon. He married Morwen Steelsheen of Lossarnach, and began to raise a family in Gondor. Eventually, when Fengel died, Thengel reluctantly returned to Rohan to take up the kingship. While Thengel was wise and restored dignity to the House of Eorl, he did create some discord by encouraging the use of the language of Gondor in Edoras. At the time of Thengel's return to Rohan in TA 2953, Saruman first began to trouble the Rohirrim, and he declared himself Lord of Isengard. Also during Thengel's reign, the captain Thorongil (later revealed to be Aragorn II Elessar) first appeared in Rohan, and entered the service of the king, and won great renown. Thengel died in TA 2980 and was succeeded by his son, Théoden the Renowned. The Rohirrim were not "medieval", in our sense. The styles of the Bayeux Tapestry (made in England) fit them well enough, if one remembers that the kind of tennis-nets [the] soldiers seem to have on are only a clumsy conventional sign for chainmail of small rings. [T 15] Horses and warfare [ edit ] Anglo-Saxon arms and chainmail armour Tolkien rendered Rohanese as Old English, but also included Scandinavian names, such as Westfold. Even words and phrases that were printed in Modern English showed a strong Anglo-Saxon influence. They are proud and wilful, but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and in deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songs, after the manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years [...]. It was in forgotten years long ago that Eorl the Young brought them out of the North, and their kinship is rather with the Bardings of Dale, and with the Beornings of the Wood, among whom may still be seen many men tall and fair, as are the Riders of Rohan." — The Two Towers, Book Three, The Riders of Rohan, pg. 41 Tolkien, J. R. R. (1967). Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings. reprinted in Hammond, Wayne G.; Scull, Christina (2005), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-720907-X.

Kingdom of Dale • Harad • Núrn • Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor • Rohan • Rhûn • Khand • Eriador • Rhovanion • Vales of Anduin The Rohirrim preparing to charge the Orcs of Mordor and the armies of Minas Morgul at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields In the years that followed the Great War of the Ring, Éomer Éadig ruled the Rohirrim with dignity, and the kingdom prospered once again. In the coming years, whenever King Elessar went with war to subdue the last remnants of his enemies, so too went his friend King Éomer; A known camp was Dunharrow, even deeper in the White Mountains. Additionally, one of the most significant places in Rohan was the Hornburg, a great fortress at the center of the valley of Helm's Deep.The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance writes that Théoden is transformed by Gandalf into a good bold "Germanic king"; she contrasts this with the failure of "the proud Beorhtnoth" in the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon. In her view, in the account of the battle of Helm's Deep, the fortress of the Riddermark, Tolkien is emphasising the Rohirrim's physical prowess. [28] Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). Unfinished Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-29917-3. The armies of Rohan were largely horsemen. The basic tactical unit was the éored, Old English for "a unit of cavalry, a troop", [14] which at the time of the War of the Ring had a nominal strength of 120 riders. [T 16] In the 13th century of the Third Age, the Kings of Gondor made alliances with the Northmen of Rhovanion, a people thought to be distantly descended from the Edain, those peoples of Men who crossed into Beleriand in the First Age and later settled in Númenor. The Men who would become the Rohirrim were in fact more closely akin to the Beornings and the Men of Dale, and were accounted as Middle Men, who, while not directly descended from the Men of Númenor, never served the will of Sauron. In The Two Towers, Aragorn describes the Rohirrim:

Cirion committed the guardianship of Calenardhon to Eorl and his men for three months, during which time the Steward took counsel to determine what reward he could present to the Éothéod for their heroic arrival on the Field of Celebrant. At the end of the three months, he rode north with his son Hallas and his counsellors, and led Eorl and some of his guard to the hidden tomb of Elendil upon Amon Anwar (Hill of Awe), which was later renamed Halifirien (the Holy Mountain) in Rohanese. Cirion realised that the Éothéod as a people needed more room to flourish, and that they would make for a strong ally to Gondor against the growing threat of Sauron and the continued harassment of the Easterlings. Therefore, upon Amon Anwar he told Eorl that in reward for their aid in battle, he would grant the land of Calenardhon to the Éothéod to dwell in. Eorl was so impressed and grateful for Cirion's gift that he swore to the Steward the Oath of Eorl; of everlasting friendship to Gondor, and aid to the South-kingdom in war. Eorl thus became the first King of Rohan, and his army sent north for their wives and kin. Coming into the land of Calenardhon the Éothéod were named anew the Rohirrim in Gondor, and named their new realm the Mark of the Riders, and themselves the Eorlingas. Saruman used his influence through the traitor Grima Wormtongue to weaken Théoden. Saruman then launched an invasion of Rohan, with victory in early battles at the Fords of Isen, killing Théoden's son, Théodred. [T 24] Saruman was defeated at the Battle of the Hornburg, where the tree-like Huorns came from the forest of Fangorn to help the Rohirrim. [T 8] Hammond, Wayne G.; Scull, Christina (2005). The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-720907-1. Morris, William (1904) [1889]. "Chapter 1". The House of the Wolfings. Longmans, Green, and Co. In the aisles were the sleeping-places of the Folk, and down the nave under the crown of the roof were three hearths for the fires, and above each hearth a luffer or smoke-bearer to draw the smoke up when the fires were lighted. Jane Ciabattari writes on BBC Culture that Lady Éowyn's fear of being caged rather than "doing great deeds" by riding to battle with the Rohirrim resonated with 1960s feminists, contributing to the success of Lord of the Rings at that time. [32] Portrayal in adaptations [ edit ] Edoras in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

Rohanese was, like the languages of all Men, akin to Adûnaic, the language of the Edain. The Rohirrim called their homeland the Ridenna-mearc, the Riddermark or Éo-marc, the Horse-mark, also simply the Mark and called themselves the Eorlingas, the Sons of Eorl. In the original Rohanese the name for their land is Lôgrad, with the element "lô-"/"loh-" corresponding to Anglo-Saxon "éo", horse. The philologist and Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that the Riders of Rohan are, despite Tolkien's protestations, much like the ancient English (the Anglo-Saxons), but that they differed from the ancient English in having a culture based on horses. They use many Old English words related to horses; their name for themselves is Éotheod, horse-people, and the names of riders like Éomund, Éomer, and Éowyn begin with the word for "horse", eo[h]. [29] In Shippey's view, a defining virtue of the Riders is panache, which he explains means both "the white horsetail on [Éomer's] helm floating in his speed" and "the virtue of sudden onset, the dash that sweeps away resistance." [27] Shippey notes that this allows Tolkien to display Rohan both as English, based on their Old English names and words like éored ("troop of cavalry"), and as "alien, to offer a glimpse of the way land shapes people". [27] In 2509, Cirion the Steward of Gondor summoned the Éothéod to help repel an invasion of Men from Rhûn and Orcs from Mordor. Eorl the Young, lord of the Éothéod, answered the summons, arriving unexpected at a decisive battle on the Field of Celebrant, routing the orc army. As a reward, Éorl was given the Gondorian province of Calenardhon (except for Isengard). [T 23] Kingdom of Rohan [ edit ] Line of Viking royal grave mounds at Gamla Uppsala, like those at Edoras [26]