Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-5601442-20151231172926

Why does everyone equate Variags with Mongols? Im really trying to wrap my head around this. Not once in the books are the Variags ever actually described. The only thing we know about them from Tolkien is that they lived in Khand and they fought Gondor. Yet, somehow, people have it in their mind that theyre some sort of nomadic horse culture, even though thats never once even hinted at in the lore canon? Makes no sense.

Now, if any middle earth culture could be said to emulate real world eurasian nomads (Mongols, Huns, Scythians, Turkics, etc) I do beleive it would be the Wainriders of Rhun. They're described as travelling in wagons and laden wains and having numerous encampments, thus its highly probable they were nomadic or atleast semi-nomadic. We are told in the text that they fought on horseback and that their cheiftans rode in chariots, quite a unique trait. It is also mentioned directly in LOTR that the Easterlings had numerous hosts of "bowmen upon horses", interestingly being the ONLY culture in the books ever described as practising horse-archery, the other being the Rohirrim. Also, they were said to train their children in fighting, as well as their women, also a common real world practice of Asiatic steppe nomads. These things combined suggest a very equestrian-nomad culture, far more Mongolic then anything the Variags are relatable to.

This all being said, I beleive it is the Wainriders who should be primarily Mongolic in inspiration, and not the Variags. Of course, really a mix of several eastern and asiatic cultures for them would be best, as Tolkien was highly original, so perhaps a fusion of Mongol and perhaps Parthian/Sassanid would work well. As for the Variags, really anything could be done since theyre never described in detail, but I myself would look at them as perhaps Turkish in nature. The Turks originally were asiatic nomads from central asia (Rhun, in this case), but they invaded and migrated into the Middle East and Anatolia and became "Islamized" in their culture. As a nation between the more Asian lands of Rhun and the more Middle-Eastern lands of Harad, I really think Khand being more Turkish would be interesting.

I hope you take these things into consideration when creating said factions. I am a Tolkien scholar and can source any information here you may need. Thanks. 