Posted: December 27, 1999 at 12:14:48: by Gildor
: : I realize in a work of fiction that the author concentrates on
: : the primary characters and events, leaving everything else kind
: : of shadowy. Still, I've allways wondered why Middle Earth
: : seems so sparsly populated. All those wide streaches of
: : wilderness. It shouldn't matter, but Tolkien spends so much
: : time in building his world. Then there's the fact that folks
: : don't seem to get around much. Rohan doesn't seem to be that
: : far from Lorien, but you notice that Eomer knows nothing of
: : that land. Is this all an offshoot of that fact that while
: : Numenor was enjoying the limelight, things in Middle Earth
: : weren't nearly so grand. I almost get the impression that even
: : at the time of the War of the Ring, Middle Earth was a land in
: : recovery.: I don't think there are any satisfying answers. A lot of people have expressed similar concerns to your own. One of Tolkien's themes, however, is the gradual estrangement of peoples (which was part of Sauron's strategy in the Third Age). : The large populations were mostly to the east and south. Sauron used them to continuously hammer at the western peoples, and I guess the effect isn't really what the author seems to have intended. By that, I mean the reader doesn't seem to perceive the massive presence of the enemy forces just beyond the horizon of the western peoples. : I suppose to many people it just doesn't seem plausible that the Easterlings, Haradrim, Southrons, Corsairs, and other peoples could be held at bay for so long. But then, they did make serious inroads. Southern Mirkwood and the neighboring lands were settled by Easterlings. That's not so obvious to the casual reader. >>>Well, I think one reason the populations are so small is that the Middle-earth is not as big as it looks. Arnor was not much larger than France, as a matter of fact. But that still probably does not answer your question. But I think that Eriador and Rhovanion would be the only areas of Middle-earth still in a state of recovery. But Gondor, it had many more people than most people think. I posted a question asking for a population estimate of Gondor, and I got an estimate of about four million. As for the population of Rohan, I wouldn't estimate it at more that a few hundred thousand. Unfinished Tales says that 12,000 riders could be gathered at a full muster. But perhaps that is referring to professional soldiers still in their prime. I bet Rohan could get twice that much if it gathered all men between 19 and 45, although it might be difficult to arm them.
As to not getting around much, by the third age, the races of men and Elves were estranged. But the people of Rohan had no reason to care about the Elves, as they came from Rhovanion and had little or no history of dealings with the Elves. Another reason Eomer knows nothing of that land is that the Elves did not want visitors of the race of Men, unless maybe they were of the Dunedain, which were few by the WotR.
- Gildor Inglorion of the House of Finrod
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