In The Lord of the Rings movies and books, the general rule of thumb is that the Men, Elves, and Dwarves of Middle-earth are allied against the armies of Orcs, trolls, and horrible beasts commanded by the Dark Lord Sauron. However, there are many other kinds of Men in Middle-earth besides those who reside in the kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan, or their distant cousins in isolated northern cities, like Bree and Lake-town. Those are just the most prominent within J.R.R. Tolkien’s Third Age story.

While the Men of Middle-earth never quite had the degree of diaspora that the Elves did — or the same variety of languages as Tolkien’s elves — there were many more tribes of Men than just the Númenoreans and their descendants. One of those other groups, the Dunlendings, settled southwest of the Misty Mountains, which repeatedly brought them into conflict with the long-lived Númenoreans in the Second Age. And that conflict meant that, by the time of the War of the Ring in the Third Age, the Dunlendings were all too eager to get revenge on the Men of Gondor.

Why The Dunlendings Sided With Sauron During The War Of The Ring

The Dunlendings Were An Oppressed Indigenous Population Manipulated By Saruman And Sauron

The Dunlendings, or at least their ancestors at the beginning of Middle-earth’s Second Age, had effectively free rein of the lands of Eriador, and the pastoral bounties there made their standard of living a good one. The Númenoreans arrived around S. A. 600, and seemed at first to desire friendship with their indigenous cousins, yet the Númenorean hunger for dominance led them to begin a campaign of timber-harvesting to expand their colonies and fleets. The Men who dwelled in those forests fought back, but they were eventually driven north to the land called Dunland.

The Dunlendings’ resentment of Númenoreans simmered for generations, lasting long after the fall of Númenor and the founding of its successor kingdoms, Gondor and Arnor. In the Third Age, the Dunlendings tried expanding their territory but were stymied in T. A. 2510, when the kingdom of Rohan was formed on the very lands the Dunlendings desired. And so, the Rohirrim also earned the Dunlendings’ ire. This made it so that, at the outset of the War of the Ring, it was all too easy for Sauron’s pet wizard, Saruman, to stoke the Dunlendings’ wrath and set them against Rohan and Gondor.

What Happened To The Dunlendings After Sauron Was Defeated

The Dunlendings Received An Unexpected Show Of Mercy From Théoden King

Unfortunately for Saruman and Sauron, the Dunlendings’ aid during the War of the Ring wasn’t enough to sway the outcome. Although a great host of Dunlendings accompanied Saruman’s army to besiege Helm’s Deep, they surrendered on the third day of the Battle of the Hornburg, when Gandalf the White and Erkenbrand (who in the films was replaced by Éomer) arrived and turned the tide of the battle. Saruman’s subsequent defeat after the Ents assaulted his tower of Orthanc put an end to the Dunlendings’ participation in the War of the Ring.

In Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, the Dunlendings are only seen as they harry and raid the villages of Rohan, and they do not accompany Saruman’s army to Helm’s Deep.

While the Dunlendings expected to be slaughtered by the Rohirrim after their loss at the Hornburg — especially after watching the escaping Orcs be wiped out by the Ents and the trees of Fangorn Forest — they were surprised by the mercy shown to them by the Rohirrim. Théoden King and Erkenbrand understood that the Dunlendings had been deceived by Sauruman’s silver tongue, and they chose to show mercy. They only requested that the Dunlendings aid in rebuilding the damaged portions of the Hornburg, and that they swear an oath to never serve Sauron’s aims again.

The Dunlendings’ Hopeful Ending Doesn’t Get Enough Attention In LOTR

Their Happy Ending Is Relegated To The Books’ Appendices Because It Doesn’t Fit The Narrative Arc

The story of The Lord of the Rings is one of loss and of change, focusing on the beautiful sorrow at the end of Middle-earth’s Third Age. J. R. R. Tolkien wrote Frodo’s narrative to reflect his own experiences of loss and tragedy in the trenches of World War I, and that same sense echoes throughout most of the narrative; while the War of the Ring ends in victory, and Aragorn takes up his birthright as Gondor’s King, it also means the Elves finally leave Middle-earth and magic fades from the world.

With the departure of the Elves and Sauron’s final defeat, the Fourth Age is potentially one of unprecedented prosperity for Dunland.

While that narrative focus reflects the nature of the story as a whole, it also precludes any chance to pay attention to the Dunlendings and other minor people of Middle-earth who also survived the War of the Ring. Indeed, with the departure of the elves and Sauron’s final defeat, the Fourth Age is potentially one of unprecedented prosperity for Dunland and the other kingdoms of Men. They may have been a minor player in the events of The Lord of the Rings, but in the end, the Dunlendings and their redemption represent the promising new future of Middle-earth’s Fourth Age.