: Don't get carried away. The Rangers were largely self-sustaining, as were most medieval armies. They were adept at finding food in the wild, not to mention in isolated non-Dunedain settlements such as Bree.

: : Add on the women and children and old men then you come to a minimum total Dunedain population of around 3,000.

: Perhaps a little lower, but not much, considering the need for a reasonable genetic pool (see below).

: [snip]

: : The numbers are obviously very conjectural. By comparing numbers I really only meant thet they were in the same order of magnitude. Third Age armies (excluding Sauron's) seem to have been remarkably small by modern standards (or ancient - Alexander the Great led 40,000 troops into Asia). However,they are fairly close to many mediaeval armies in size, at Agincourt Henry V had only some 6,000 troops, and the Danish/viking "Micel here" - great army - in 9th century England probably numbered less than 2,000.

: Excellent point. In fact, such was what formed much of the basis of Tolkien's Created World. Early Medieval society was, after all, his area of professional expertise.

: In any case, Gondorian armies at the peak of Gondorian power were much larger -- probably as large or larger than Alexander's Army. Recall Imrahil's despair that 7,000 would have formed merely the "van" of the army of Gondor in its days of strength.

: : There is another reason for the minimum Dunedain population being at least in the thousands - a biological one. This would be the minimum necessary to stop inbreeding becoming biologically disasterous. The nadir of Dunedain numbers probably came in the generations immediately after the final war with Angmar. This would have been many (even for Numenoreans) generations before the War of the Ring. For the Dunedain to survive as a people their numbers must never have fallen below a couple of thousand in all this time. Otherwise inbreeding would have resulted in many health problems, on the contrary the Dunedain are described in LOTR as a physically strong and healthy people "A thrawn folk" as Tolkien might have said. One only has to look at the Amish community and the high levels of genetic disorder, such as six-fingered dwarfism (the"F"is correct here!), to see the detrimental effects of inbreeding.

: Some good points -- sorry for not responding sooner on this thread. I had given thought to the need for a minimal genetic pool. The Heirs of Isildur had to have someone to marry to remain of pure Numenorean stock! Of course, given the (divinely) altered biology of the Dunedain, there may be danger in extrapolating too much from our own biology.

: It's tough because LOTR treats the subject so sparingly -- not that I expected an extended venture into Dunedain society in the novel. A population of 3,000 may be on the high side, but not by much. The whereabouts of their dwelling must remain purely conjecture, although the speculation of the area around Lake Evendim is probably a good one. There is also the brief reference by Gandalf on ROTK that the Rangers visit Fornost -- perhaps they did more than just visit, even if most of the Norbury of the Kings was in ruins. They may have been scattered in more than one settlement.

: Oberon

I have a suspicion that the waste areas of Middle Earth were less deserted than a cursory look would suggest. I think what characterises Eriador is a relative lack of formally structured societies. The only ones we hear of are the Shire, Breeland and the Dunlendings (if you include Enedwaith) plus probably the Dunedain. I would imagine that many small isolated settlements existed in Eriador. Their inhabitants subsistance farmers, herdsmen or hunters, having no more formal society than a kinship group with a head-man or council of elders.

I would defend my minimum (and I think it is a bare minimum) of a Dunedain population of about 3,000. Mainly because it had to be essentially stable (or capable of quick recovery) for so many generations and cope with the added drain of the casualties undoubtably sustained by the Rangers in their operations.
Although what you said is true about the probable ability of the Rangers to sustain themselves in the field, this would only be true in relatively few months of the year. Mediaeval armies of amateur or semi-professional soldiers were restricted to a fairly short campaigning season when easy foraging for food was possible or when stealing it from the locals was effective because they had a sufficent supply themselves. I think it is implied that the Rangers (professional warriors) operated year round, and plundering was not an option for them. This would place a considerable burden on the Dunedain population as a whole, which would as a result have to have been large enough to cope with it.

Martin