Character Bios
Men
Other Names:
Edain (pl.), Adan (sing.) 'Father(s) of Men'
Atanatári 'Fathers of Men'
Atani (pl.), Atan (sing.) 'The Second People'
Apanónar 'The After-born'
Engwar 'The Sickly'
Fírimar 'The Mortals'
Hildor 'The Followers'
Race/Species: Man
Dates: 1st - 4th Age
Description:
At the first rising of the Sun the Younger Children of Ilúvatar awoke in the land of Hildórien in the eastward regions of Middle-earth; but the first Sun arose in the West, and the opening eyes of Men were turned towards it, and their feet as they wandered over the Earth for the most part strayed that way. The Atani they were named by the Eldar, the Second People; but they called them also Hildor, the Followers, and many other names: Apanónar, the After-born, Engwar, the Sickly, and Fírimar, the Mortals; and they named them the Usurpers, the Strangers, and the Inscrutable, the Self-cursed, the Heavy-handed, the Night-fearers, the Children of the Sun. Of Men little is told in these tales, which concern the Eldest Days before the waxing of mortals and the waning of the Elves, save of those fathers of men, the Atanatári, who in the first years of the Sun and Moon wandered into the North of the world. To Hildórien there came no Vala to guide Men, or to summon them to dwell in Valinor; and Men have feared the Valar, rather than loved them, and have not understood the purposes of the Powers, being at variance with them, and at strife with the world. Ulmo nonetheless took thought for them aiding the counsel and will of Manwë; and his messages came often to them by stream and flood. But they have not skill in such matters, and still less had they in those days before they had mingled with the Elves. Therefore they loved the waters, and their hearts were stirred, but they understood not the messages. Yet it is told that ere long they met Dark Elves in many places, and were befriended by them; and Men became the companions and disciples in their childhood of these ancient folk, wanderers of the Elven-race who never set out upon the paths to Valinor, and knew of the Valar only as a rumour and a distant name.
Morgoth had then not long come back into Middle-earth, and his power went not far abroad.... There was little peril in the lands and hills; and there new things, devised long ages before in the thought of Yavanna and sown as seed in the dark, came at last to their budding and their bloom. West, North, and South the children of Men spread and wandered, and their joy was the joy of the morning before the dew is dry, when every leaf is green. ...
In those days Elves and Men were of like stature and strength of body, but the Elves had greater wisdom, and skill, and beauty ...
Immortal were the Elves ... But Men were more frail, more easily slain by weapon or mischance, and less easily healed; subject to sickness and many ills; and they grew old and died. What may befall their spirits after death the Elves know not. Some say that they too go to the halls of Mandos; but their place of waiting there is not that of the Elves, and Mandos under Ilúvatar alone save Manwë knows whither they go after the time of recollection in those silent halls beside the Outer Sea.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 12, Of Men
Races of Men
Dúnedain & Related Races
Edain
— House of Bëor
— Haladin of Brethil
— House of Hador of Dor-lómin
Númenóreans
Dúnedain
— Dúnedain of the North
— Gondorians
Rohirrim & Related Races
Northmen of Rhovanion
— Éothéod
— Rohirrim
— Bardings and Men of Laketown
— Beornings and Woodmen
Dunlendings & Related Races
Dunlendings
Men of the White Mountains
Breelanders
Hill-men
Haradrim & Related Races
Haradrim
— Corsairs of Umbar
Easterlings & Related Races
Easterlings, Wainriders, and Balchoth
Other Races
Drúedain
Lossoth
Variags of Khand
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 8Dec04
Tanaqui: added links to new bios 14Jan05
new links: ET 14Jan05, 17Jan05, 26Feb05, 25Apr05