#gamling

Exhibit A: Aragorn's opinion on Dunlending speech

This appears in an early draft of what is to me, a flagrant Dunlending enthusiast and Gamling appreciator, one of the most important exchanges in The Two Towers, when Gamling gently contradicts Éomer's low opinion of the Dunlending language. In the final version this section of the convseration is only between Éomer and Gamling. In an earlier draft, however, Gamling's speech is divided between Gamling's main point and Aragorn first interjection here:

'Yet among them are many that cry in the tongue of Westfold [later > in the Dunland tongue],' said Aragorn; 'and that is a speech of men, and once was accounted good to hear.'

The Dunland tongue being described as 'once [...] accounted good to hear' by Aragorn of all people is wild to me. Also when was it good to hear? Before Saruman co-opted some of them? Before Wulf's invasion of Rohan? Before Cirion 'gave' Calenardhon to the Éothéod? Tell me, Aragorn, when was it good to hear?!

Much as I do prefer the discussion of the Dunland tongue being between Éomer and a man of the local area who would have had closer contact with the Dunlendings throughout his life, I do think that this interjection from Aragorn is fascinating.

Exhibit B: Gamling getting more lines

From notes on an earlier draft of the aftermath of the Battle of the Hornburg:

In preliminary drafting for this passage the bodies of the Orcs were burned; the men of Dunland were still the men of the Westfold; it was Gamling who addressed them, not Erkenbrand ('Help now to repair the evil in which you have joined ...')

On the one hand I'm annoyed that Gamling previously had more lines (I like Erkenbrand fine, it's just I don't have the same raging fondness for him as I do for Gamling), on the other hand this just further validates my personal belief that Gamling usually gets assigned as the first point of communication with Dunlendings.

Also I'm not making a separate point about it but earlier drafts also explicitly state that Gamling is left in charge of the Westfold. I personally like to send that man off to Gondor to have a blood-splattered road trip with his grandson but I love to see my guy winning. You go, old man!

Exhibit C: Dunlendings fighting against Sauron

An excerpt from Aragorn discussing plans for going to Gondor's aid with Théoden:

'Not all your folk that can come have assembled yet, for the Last Quarter of the Moon was the day set; but most have already arrived. And with them have come also strange folk that are not of Rohan. For in some manner, the rumour of war seems to have gone far abroad long days ago, and men in distant countries have heard the word go forth that all who hate Mordor should come to Edoras or Minas Tirith. There are tall warriors of Dunland, some that fought against you, and some that never listened to Saruman, hating the Orcs far more than the Rohir! There are even Woodmen from the borders of Mirkwood, and wanderers of the empty lands. Last and fewest, but to me not least, there have come seven Rangers out of the North, my own folk, remnant of Elendil's race: they have sought me here.'

I already knew that one draft of The Return of the King included reference to Dunlendings joining the Muster of the Rohirrim but I legit grinned like an idiot when I saw this in person.

I love the acknowledgement that some Dunlendings were always against Saruman but LOVE the fact that there were those who fought for Saruman who turned up anyway. Everyone quickly hide any trophies you got from the Westfold, we're doing the quickest about-turn you've ever seen. And the fact that those who never supported Saruman hate the orcs even more than the Rohirrim - because of course! They're their closest neighbours! They're potential in direct conflict with each other! Fantastic stuff. Obsessed with every single Dunlending in the place.

Also, even apart from the Dunlendings specifically, I really love that this clearly sets out that this is not just the Rohirrim and the Gondorians fighting together because of their old alliance. Everyone everywhere feels that the world is under threat from Sauron and it's strong enough that even men who literal weeks ago were fighting for Saruman are turning up to fight alongside people that they don't like/hate/utterly despise because they recognise the danger they are all in. It just presents a much less homogenous picture of the people fighting against Sauron and I love it so much.

I also think that this opens up so many avenues for interesting interpersonal and political interactions springing from this. On the one hand there's the awkward possibility of men who have fought for Saruman bumping into Rohirrim that they have fought which is both somewhat hilarious and also incredibly fraught, particularly in an environment where everyone is highly strung and getting ready to ride to their deaths. (This is why I headcanon Gamling as coming to Gondor; they need someone with experience and understanding of Dunlendings to make sure that warriors don't start fighting each other before they even get the chance to fight Sauron's forces.)

And I'm sure for any Dunlendings who fought for Gondor and Rohan, post-war celebrations in those countries are going to be at best uncomfortable and at most incredibly hostile. These are peoples who have historically fought, derided and driven them from their homes, and now they are about to be stronger as a nation than they have been in centuries. I mean sure, you get the pride of having fought against the greatest evil still living in the world but the payoff is pretty poor when you compare it to getting the literal return of the King.

Exhibit D: Dunland after the War of the Ring

From writings on Saruman's Dunlending subordinates after the Scouring of the Shire:

If they gave themselves up they were kindly treated, and fed (for they were usually half-starved after hiding in the woods), and then shown to the borders. This sort were Dunlanders, not orc-men/halfbreeds, who had originally come because their own land was wretched, and Saruman had told them there was a good country with plenty to eat away North. It is said that they found their own country very much better in the days of the King and were glad to return; but certainly the reports that they spread (enlarged for covering of their own shame) of the numerous and warlike, not to say ferocious hobbits of the Shire did something to preserve the hobbits from further trouble.

The first piece of information in this paragraph that is important to me is that 'their own land was wretched' which is an admittance that not only did the Dunlendings lose Calenardhon to the Rohirrim, they were pushed into a land which was less hospitable. (Hence why in my headcanon the Dunlendings call Dunland 'Lle Allarus', meaning 'lamentable place'.)

The second piece of information, which has me grinding my teeth, is 'It is said that they found their own country very much better in the days of the King', largely because it implies that their country being 'wretched' can be remedied by 'better management' under Gondor's influence. It's the old 'backward indigenous peoples need the advanced and well-educated colonists to explain to them how to make the best of their own country that they've lived in for hundreds/thousands of years.' But it also brings up the question of what form exactly this influence takes.

I have always wondered whether, with Aragorn's re-unification of Gondor and Arnor, Dunland came under Gondorian control, whether directly or indirectly. There's the option to go back to the Arnor-Gondor model where Enedwaith (the larger region in which Dunland is located) is largely left alone by Arnor and Gondor (not as generous as it sounds given what the Númenóreans did there but that's a problem for another time). If we follow this model, Gondor and Arnor are only interested in maintaining and defending transportation networks going through or connected to Enedwaith. The post-Arnor model followed by the Gondorian kings, however, did involve the area being officially under Gondor's rule, although little appears to have changed in terms of actual involvement with the area.

With this in mind, Dunland's better fortune could be due to increased trade with Gondor and Arnor, perhaps in recognition of how some Dunlendings fought for the Free Peoples at Pelennor, and the fact that Dunland is referred to as 'their own country' could be read as them maintaining at least some degree of independence from Gondorian control.

However, the way that Gandalf talks of the Greenway being reopened and there being 'people and fields' in Enedwaith would certainly make it seem that Gondor will at least have as much influence in the region as they did before Arnor's weakening. Whether this would involve taking over the Dunlending regions of Enedwaith directly or indirectly is not specified but given Tolkien's writings about Aragorn's dealings with Harad, I am not too optimistic. And I refuse to believe that the Dunlendings, even those who had fought for Gondor, would be pleased at the idea of being rewarded for their altruism (and I'm sorry, even if the world is at stake, it is altruism to fight alongside people who took your land and people who 'gave it away') with being placed more firmly under Gondor's thumb. Eldarion better be ready for the DRA (Dunlending Republican Army) is all I'm saying.

So yes, I think this can be read in various different ways, depending on whether the Aragorn you are looking to portray is more accurate to the books or the films. Whatever Gondor's future relationship with Dunland is like and whatever way Gondor attempts to become involved there, I think it is an interesting opportunity for examining both countries and peoples.

Exhibit E: Duinhir's original fate

From an earlier draft of the song of the Mounds of Mundburg.

There Théoden fell, Thengling mighty, life and lordship long had he wielded hoar king and high, Harding and Grimbold, Dúnhere and [Elfhelm >| Marculf, Déorwin the marshal. Hirluin the fair to the hills by the sea, nor Forlong the great to the flowering vales ever of Arnach in his own country returned in triumph, nor the tall bowman doughty Duinhir to the dark waters, meres of Morthond under mountain-shadows.

Not to have far too many feelings about a guy mentioned once in the final book but as someone who has a lot to say about him, Duinhir originally dying instead of his sons alongside Forlong is exactly the sort of thing that Duinhir would have preferred in the aftermath of the Pelennor to losing both his sons and his best friend.

I do appreciate that in this draft Duinhir's two characteristics are 'tall' and 'doughty' because, without meaning to, I have dedicatedly been writing that man as a great looming tower who has never backed down from a fight in his life.

Also, in a horrifying near-miss for Elfhelm lovers, he apparently also almost got merked.

Exhibit F: A rogue nephew appears

This is from an earlier draft of the Muster of the Rohirrim, describing the arrival of Denethor's messenger to Théoden.

Halbarad sister-son of Denethor. He asks for ten thousand spears at once.

WHAT. THE. HELL. What do you MEAN Denethor had a nephew at one point? What do you mean I have never seen this anywhere else?? How am I meant to fit him into my belief system at this stage in the game, John, come on!

To me this also makes the parallel lines in the final version very interesting, where Hirgon the messenger is described like this:

A tall man entered, and Merry choked back a cry; for a moment it seemed to him that Boromir was alive again and had returned. Then he saw that it was not so; the man was a stranger, though as like to Boromir as if he were one of his kin, tall and grey-eyed and proud.

This could of course be down to Hirgon simply looking very classically Númeno-Gondorian but the fact that Tolkien really emphasises how alike Boromir and Hirgon look has me wondering if this was a bit of a call-back to when they actually were related.

(And yeah, because I am incredibly predictable, I am already constructing an AU in which Halbarad/Hirgon cousin-of-Faramir-and-Boromir exists, don't you worry.)

Anyway, that's what I was able to dig up on Dunlendings in the early drafts, plus other titbits that interest me. I hope this has been as interesting/entertaining/informative for you as it has been for me!