Pre-Numenoreans

Pre-Númenóreans are the indigenous Mannish peoples of Middle-earth, in contrast to the Dúnedain who drew their heritage from Númenor.
These indigenous peoples were the descendants of the second group of the Edain who migrated to the West in the First Age; their relatives who reached Beleriand became the Haladin while themselves stayed in the eastern regions of Middle-earth that would be later settled by the Númenóreans (hence the name).
From the perspective of the Dúnedain, these Middle Men were considered unrelated to them or the Northmen.
== History ==
=== First Age ===
The first Men moved from Hildórien to the West; during their migration those of the second group joined the Drúedain near the White Mountains and stayed with them. When the core of their team was pressed to wander on, some Drúedain accompanied them westwards, passing through the Gap of Calenardhon.
However some of them did not go through the dense forest covering the Minhiriath and the western half of Enedwaith and stayed behind; those herd-tenders eventually expanded to the forests of the shore-lands south of the Blue Mountains, especially in Minhiriath.
By the end of the First Age the branches of those peoples must had spread as far as Cardolan in the north, and as far south as Umbar.
=== Second Age ===
By the Second Age the Men of the White Mountains were scattered communities of forest-dwellers without central leadership. With the destruction of Beleriand in the War of Wrath, evil Men and Easterlings fled from Angband and apparently took in larger numbers to the hills of Rhudaur and the Mountains of Angmar. These Men of Darkness terrorized and conquered the Men of the Mountains who had refused to join in the rebellion against the Valar.
In Gondor there were Pre-Númenórean communities far from the sea, such as Agar and a primitive harbour of fisherfolk, who feared the Eldar of Edhellond, and fled to the White Mountains.
When the Númenóreans returned to Middle-earth, they failed to recognize the forest-folk of Minhiriath as "kinsmen" of the Edain, and confused them with Men of Shadow because their language was not related to Adûnaic.
Aldarion's successors continued his works and even fought with the natives until they attacked and ambushed the Númenóreans when they could. They became their enemies giving no thought to husbandry or replanting. The Númenóreans wrecked the banks, the shorelines, and built great tracks and roads into the forests northwards and southwards from the Gwathló. They continued battling and destroying what lay ahead of them, pushing into Minhiriath]and Enedwaith, establishing themselves inland as far as the river Glanduin, beyond which natives and hostile peoples lived, a remnant of the peoples that had dwelt in the vales of the White Mountains in ages past. The natives overcame their fear of the Elves and fled from Minhiriath into the dark woods of the great Cape of Eryn Vorn (south of the mouth of Baranduin). Those from Enedwaith took refuge in the eastern mountains (Dunland).
Sauron recruited pre-Númenóreans and in the early second millennium he increased pressure on the West, left his stronghold in the East and relocated in Mordor. He was welcomed by the natives and used the haters of Númenor as spies and guides for his raiders who caused havoc and burned their settlements.
Around that time the Men of the White Mountains fled to the southern dales of the Misty Mountains during the Dark Years, and thence some passed into the empty lands until the Barrow-downs; from them came the Men of Bree (q.v.)
Eriador was already ruined when king Tar-Minastir sent a Númenórean fleet that utterly defeated Sauron, bringing peace in the Westlands (S.A. 1700). The surviving pre-Númenóreans now apparently crossed the Glanduin back south to Dunland which now seemed safer than wrecked Eregion.
In the south the Númenóreans found a useful natural haven already called Umbar by the natives, and then Pelargir in S.A. 2350 who made contact with Men who dwelt in the valleys on either side of the White Mountains.. Of those were the Men of the Mountains (q.v.) near Dunharrow. who repented when Sauron left from Mordor and the power of Gil-galad had grown great.
When the Elendili established the Realms in Exile many Men turned from evil and became subject to them; the King of the Mountains first swore allegiance to Gondor. However many natives never learned to distinguish between King's Men and Faithful, while many remembered Sauron's influence so they were hostile to them.
When Sauron returned, Isildur summoned the King of the Mountains to fulfill their oath, but they would not because they were afraid of Sauron. They hid in the mountains isolated till slowly dwindled in the barren hills and became the Dead Men of Dunharrow.
=== Third Age ===
The indigenous Men of Eriador were absorbed by the civilisation of Arnor. By the time of Valandil this mixed population was diminished and there was not enough people to maintain all the places built by Elendil, until eventually Arnor was split into smaller realms. However when the Hobbits came to Arnor, Númenóreans, allies and enemies were numerous. The Númenorean element was stronger in Arthedain and thinner in Rhudaur until utterly failed. Eventually Angmar was populated by evil men gathered by the Witch-king.
Hill-men (q.v.) practiced magic and from the 14th century on, fortified the hills of Eriador with dark structures harassed Rhudaur until an evil lord, allied with Angmar, seized its throne and eventually all of Rhudaur was occupied by evil Men subject to Angmar. The Dúnedain were either slain or fled west. The Angmar War however caused those populations to perish. Cardolan was also deserted and could not be repopulated. Rhudaur came to be inhabited only by monsters. After the Great Plague, Minhiriath was deserted except for hunters in Eryn Vorn. Other known Mannish settlements included only the Bree-land and the Lossoth in the far North.
The indigenous Men were also absorbed in the South Kingdom of Gondor, which pursued an expansionist policy. Gondor's borders were extended by the Ship-kings, subduing the pre-Númenóreans. Their blood was mixed and in the following generations the Dúnedain's power and wisdom was diminished.
As Gondor expanded East and South, the few remote Dunlendings (q.v.) resisted the Númenórean influence and Enedwaith had no such settlements, other than Tharbad. They remained unaffected, independent and even unfriendly to the Dúnedain, holding their own manners and Dunlendish language. By the time of the Ruling Stewards they ceased to be subjects of Gondor and, from the foothills of the Misty Mountains moved to now-depopulated Calenardhon, until they were deplaced by the Éothéod. Some people remaining between Isen and Adorn were largely of mixed blood, and not loyal to Edoras.
Before the War of the Ring, Saruman found in those peoples an opportunity for creating crossbreeds of Orcs and Men. The Dunlendings allied with him and joined his forces in the Battle of the Hornburg. After the War, under King Éomer, there was relative peace.