Elleth wrote:Hrm - I'd thought it might have been drawn from Letters, but the only instance of that text string I see is a blog post that may have been from Simon himself. It certainly fits with the descriptions I've seen elsewhere, and I *suspect* it's drawn from some note Christopher Tolkien made or found in the compilation of Children of Hurin - but I can't say for certain
The closest I've found is from
HoME Vol 12: Part Two – Late Writings: X Of Dwarves and Men: II.
The Atani and their languages:
"The Folk of Hador were ever the greatest in numbers of the Atani, and in renown (save only Beren son of Barahir descendant of Beor). For the most part they were tall people, with flaxen or golden hair and blue-grey eyes, but there were not a few among them that had dark hair, though all were fair-skinned.(43). 43. No doubt this was due to mingling with Men of other kind in the past; and it was noted that the dark hair ran in families that had more skill and interest in crafts and lore."
“the observable physical differences between [Folk of Hador and Beor]. There were fair-haired men and women among the Folk of Beor, but most of them had brown hair (going usually with brown eyes), and many were less fair in skin, some indeed being swarthy. Men as tall as the Folk of Hador were rare among them, and most were broader and more heavy in build.(46) 46. Beren the Renowned had hair of a golden brown and grey eyes; he was taller than most of his kin, but he was broad-shouldered and very strong in his limbs.
[47. The Eldar said…that [the Folk of Hador] could not easily be distinguished from the Eldar—not while their youth lasted..."
Definitely getting a 'Nordic' vibe from Hador's folk.
"[During the early 2A] there were many men in Eriador, mainly, it would seem, in origin kin of the Folk of Beor, though some were kin of the Folk of Hador. They dwelt about Lake Evendim, in the North Downs and the Weather Hills, and in the lands between as far as the Brandywine, west of which they often wandered though they did not dwell there."
Of these come the twelve Men of Eriador who meet Veantur on the Tower Hills in 600 2A. Presumably the Men of Bree are descended from them.
The Finns line is interesting since the folk of Haleth (who included Druedain members) are never given physical descriptions that I can find, but we know they are the ancestors of the Dunlendings:
"...many of the forest-dwellers of the shorelands south of the Ered Luin, especially in Minhiriath, were as later historians recognized the kin of the Folk of Haleth...this hatred [of Numenoreans] remained unappeased in their descendants, causing them to join with any enemies of Numenor. In the Third Age their survivors were the people known in Rohan as the Dunlendings.†(314)
And I'm not sure where the Men of the White Mountains (Isildur's oathbreakers, Tal-Elmar's village, builders of Dunharrow, etc) fit into this scheme, if they're meant to be folk of Haleth who settled along the way or if they're just non-Atani, indigenous Men from the 1A. And where do the Lossoth fit in??!?
As I've been pulling out a lot of Roman-Numenorean similarities of late, this is a timely discussion. It's a very delicate line to walk when we can draw clear
parallels between M-e cultures and possible real-world analogues/inspirations...but we don't want to interpret a Roman centurion with Numenorean motifs added, we want to interpret an actual Numenorean!
Personae: Aistan son of Ansteig, common Beorning of Wilderland; Tungo Brandybuck, Eastfarthing Bounder, 3018 TA; a native Man of the Greyflood, c.850 SA