Board Thread:Lore/@comment-26373317-20150728140858/@comment-25869554-20150728141635

"Easterlings, commonly known as the Men of Darkness, were a race of Men who lived in the vast and uncharted lands of Rhûn, east of Mordor and the Sea of Rhûn. Easterlings were enemies of the Free Peoples and were allies of Sauron. There were many different nations and kingdoms of Easterlings living in the vast lands of Rhûn. These ranged from civilized empires to barbaric horse nomads of the open steppes.

Easterlings were either tall and sallow-skinned or short and swarthy. However, there were also said to be a different type of Easterlings that appeared during the Siege of Gondor from unknown eastern lands, who were broad, short, and bearded, being perhaps Dwarves from one of four Dwarf clans of the Orocarni in the far East. Easterlings were the most numerous and deadly of the enemies of the Free Peoples, and it is said if the Blue Wizards had not been sent into Rhûn the hosts of the East would have outnumbered the Western peoples. Their skin was either sallow (a pale yellow) or olive. Their eyes were dark (dark brown and black), slanted, and their straight hair was black. The "swarthier" Easterlings of the First Age and the sallow-skinned men of the Second, Third, and Fourth Ages may have not been a related people, as those of the First may have simply come from the then-unknown lands east of the Blue Mountains, and could have had more relation to the Dunlendings than the later Balchoth and Wainriders.

There were many different races of Easterlings that came under Sauron's banner in the War of the Ring. Some were tall and sallow skinned, others short and broad. Some Easterlings who were present at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields were short, broad and bearded like Dwarves.

Confederation of Easterlings

Wainriders

The Wainriders were a confederation of Easterling and Haradrim tribes who were united by their hate of Gondor, fueled by the Dark Lord Sauron. Following the Great Plague which weakened Gondor, they started their attacks in TA 1856, defeating a Gondor army at the Battle of the Plains and killing King Narmacil II. They rode in great chariots (which gave them their name), and raided the lands of Rhovanion, destroying or enslaving its people. Gondor gradually lost all of its possessions east of Anduin to them.

In TA 1899, the thirtieth King of Gondor, Calimehtar son of Narmacil, defeated the Wainriders at Dagorlad, buying some rest for his land. However the Wainriders struck back in TA 1944, allying themselves with the Haradrim of Near Harad and the Variags of Khand. Before this they had been expanding their power southward, beyond Mordor, and had come into conflict with the tribes of Khand and the eastern Haradrim. But eventually these men allied under their universal hate of the West. They managed to kill King Ondoher and all his heirs, but instead of riding on to Minas Anor and taking the city, they paused to celebrate.

Meanwhile, general Eärnil of Gondor's southern army rode north to defend his king defeating an inferior force of Haradrim in South Ithilien, but he came too late to rescue Ondoher, but he did manage to annihilate the Wainriders for good at the Battle of the Camp. Eärnil was crowned king. After this defeat the might of the Wainriders was broken, and they retreated east. They still held Rhovanion, but never troubled Gondor again until the War of the Ring.

Balchoth

The Balchoth were a fierce race of Easterlings, who attacked Gondor while under orders of Dol Guldur. In TA 2510, they overran the plains of Calenardhon and almost destroyed the army of the Ruling Steward Cirion, but were defeated by the Éothéod under Eorl the Young. Like the Wainriders they rode in chariots and wagons, and they may have been descendants of these people. However, they were notably far more primitive and savage than the advanced Wainriders, so their origin is at most obscure.

The War of the Ring

During the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age, the Easterlings joined with the forces of Mordor participating in the Northern battles that nearly defeated the Elves of Mirkwood, the Men of Dale, and the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain.

Despite being on the losing side in the War of the Ring, some Easterlings still continued to remain a threat throughout the early Fourth Age but were finally subdued in a series of campaigns led by King Elessar. With some of their lands annexed to the Reunited Kingdom, it is presumed that there were no more major invasions to threaten the peace. It is not known whether these men mixed with their former enemies and learned to live in peace or initiated more wars thereafter. During these battles the Easterlings, aside from the hordes of Orcs, were the most numerous and tenacious of Sauron's warriors.

Variags

The Variags (Possibly related to the real world Varangians) were from Khand, and they first appeared in the West in 1856 and than in 1944 of the Third Age, fighting alongside the Wainriders. They later appeared during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Tolkien wrote little to nothing about the Variags and Khand; what information we have about them is speculative. It can be gleaned that the Variags were a horse riding people, as they supplied Mordor with horses and brought a large cavalry force to support the Wainriders. It is also possible that, like their real-world namesakes, they wielded large axes and were used as shock troops."

- from the Easterlings page on the lotr Wiki