In the year TA 2509, Eorl received summons from Cirion, Steward of Gondor. The Steward pleaded for help from Gondor's old allies; as a large army of Easterling Balchoth had invaded the province of Calenardhon and threatened to overrun it. Eorl surprised even the errand-rider of Gondor by agreeing to come to the aid of Cirion. Though young, Eorl wisely perceived that if Gondor should fall, all the lesser realms of men west of Anduin would eventually fall. He gathered all the Men of the Éothéod that could possibly be spared, some 7000, and, leaving his land at risk of invasion itself, rode south to the aid of Gondor. Despite a prejudice against the Elves that would continue up until the time of the War of the Ring, a protective mist seemed to come out of Lothlórien as the Éothéod journeyed south, rejuvenating horse and rider and shielding their approach from their enemies. Believing that there would be no time for the Éothéod to help his armies, Cirion nonetheless met them in battle on the Field of Celebrant, though Gondor's legions were worsted. All hope seemed lost when an army of Orcs came upon the flank of the army of Gondor, but at that moment Eorl and his cavalry thundered out of the north unlooked for and, smashing into the rear of the Balchoth, completely reversed the fortunes of battle. Gondor's army was saved, and the riders of the Éothéod drove the Balchoth into the Anduin. 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] Lee, Stuart D. (2009). "J.R.R. Tolkien and 'The Wanderer' ". Tolkien Studies. 6: 189–211. doi: 10.1353/tks.0.0060. S2CID 171082666. Lee, Stuart D.; Solopova, Elizabeth (2005). The Keys of Middle-earth. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1137454690. Rohan is stated (III 391, 394) to be a later softened form of Rochand. It is derived from Elvish *rokkō ‘swift horse for riding’ ( Q[uenya] rocco, S[indarin] roch) + a suffix frequent in names of lands [e.g. Beleriand, Ossiriand]. ...

And beyond the Sea of Rhûn and on the far fields of the South, the thunder of the cavalry of the Mark was heard, and the White Horse upon Green floated in many winds until Éomer grew old" — pg. 438, the Appendix A of The Return of the King 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. 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 trilogyIt was because of this close affiliation with horses, both in war and in peace, that they received their now famous name. Rohirrim (or more properly Rochirrim) is Sindarin for " Horse-lords," and Rohan (or Rochand) meant "Land of the Horse-lords." Shippey, Tom (2001). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0261-10401-3. Beacon". The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge. Vol.III. London: Charles Knight. 1847. p.25. The capital of Rohan is the fortified town of Edoras, on a hill in a valley of the White Mountains. [T 6] "Edoras" is Old English for "enclosures". [3] The town of Edoras was built by Rohan's second King, Brego son of Eorl the Young. The hill on which Edoras is built stands in the mouth of the valley of Harrowdale. The river Snowbourn flows past the town on its way east towards the Entwash. The town is protected by a high wall of timber.

Rochann The name comes from the elvish translation of horse-land into Rochand, the word later developed into Rochann. Gríma: possibly from "grima" ("mask", "helmet", "ghost")or from gríma, the icelandic word for mask. Within the plot of The Lord of the Rings, Rohan plays a critical role in the action—first against the wizard Saruman in the Battle of the Hornburg, then in the climactic Battle of the Pelennor Fields. There, Théoden leads the Rohirrim to victory against the forces of Mordor; he is killed when his horse falls, but his niece Éowyn kills the leader of the Ringwraiths. 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 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.Upstream from Edoras, deeper into Harrowdale, are the hamlets of Upbourn and Underharrow. At the head of Dunharrow (from Old English Dûnhaerg, "the heathen fane on the hillside" [8]) is a refuge, Firienfeld, in the White Mountains. [T 7] Aldburg, capital of the Eastfold, is the original settlement of Eorl the Young. The Hornburg, a major fortress guarding the western region, is in Helm's Deep, a valley in the White Mountains. [T 8] Regions [ edit ]

Rohanese bears a similar relationship to the Common Speech of Middle-earth as that of Old English to modern English, and so Tolkien renders Rohanese names and phrases into Old English (Anglo-Saxon), just as the Common Speech is translated into English. Examples include words such as Mearas (Old English for horses) and éored. Tolkien was a philologist, with a special interest in Germanic languages. 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]Rohanese nouns were pluralized with the suffix "-as", as were Old English nouns of the strong-masculine declension. 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.

Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Prague: Charles University. Many archaic Hobbit names bear similarities to Rohanese, since the ancestors of the Shire-hobbits lived on the upper reaches of the Anduin, close to the ancestors of the Rohirrim, and there was apparently a good deal of linguistic cross-fertilisation. The name Hobbit itself is believed to be derived from the Rohanese Holbytlan (hole builders). These Tolkien, J. R. R. (1996). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). The Peoples of Middle-earth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-82760-4.In Tolkien's works [ edit ] Etymology [ edit ] Tolkien stated that there was no link between Rohan and the noble family of Brittany, though he borrowed the name. [T 2] Stained-glass window depicting Marguerite de Rohan (c.1330–1406) Shippey, Tom (2005) [1982]. The Road to Middle-Earth (Thirded.). Grafton (HarperCollins). ISBN 978-0261102750. 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] 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; Rohan is a famous name, from Brittany, borne by an ancient proud and powerful family. I was aware of this, and liked its shape; but I had also (long before) invented the Elvish horse-word, and saw how Rohan could be accommodated to the linguistic situation as a late Sindarin name of the Mark (previously called Calenarðon 'the (great) green region') after its occupation by horsemen. Nothing in the history of Brittany will throw any light on the Éorlingas. ... [T 2] Geography [ edit ] Sketch map of part of Middle-earth in the Third Age. Rohan is top centre, below the southern end of the Misty Mountains and Fangorn forest, and west of the River Anduin.