The History of Rhûn - Region Spotlight

Rhûn was the land of the east in Middle-earth, and what little we know about this place in the lore makes for an interesting exploration! Thank you all for watching, let me know your thoughts on Rhûn in the comments below! As always, a great thanks to the online artists whose visual works made this video possible! If you are one of the artists, please let me know and I will post your name and a link to your work in this description!
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[@Grayson030]

RIP Bernard Hill

[@Valdagast]

Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing? Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning, Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?

[@catherinewhite2943]

Westu Theoden hal.

[@Captain_Insano_nomercy]

Forth and fear no darkness

[@stalhandske9649]

In a way it's appropriate for him to leave these shores at the time of year when anemone (Tolkien's inspiration for _simbelmüne_ ) are blossoming. Let Mr. Hill find his way to his fathers.

[@boomstick457]

He goes now to his fathers, in whose mighty company he’ll not be ashamed

[@geviesanta3631]

RIP Bernard Hill, you were the best choice we ever had to Theoden. We will miss you. May God bless your soul. 🥺🙏🏻

[@juanchoguerrero9143]

Let’s Ride to the Red Dawn in his honor

[@emilsazanda]

To the Red dawn on the Red Mountains!

[@lordbane5627]

"Now for wrath, now for ruin, and the red dawn!"

[@Idk-ys7rt]

Rest in Peace Bernard Hill 🕊️

[@oscarstainton]

Like the Haradrim and Dunlendings, I view the men of Rhun as victims of circumstance and chance with Sauron choosing to hide in their lands to evade the Elves and the Wise. The Men of Rhun must have also been trading partners with Dorwinion, Dale, Esgaroth, and by proxy the Woodland Realm throughout the Third Age, despite their constant wars with Gondor, and the Eotheod. It makes the war of the Dwarves and Easterlings in the War of the Ring all the more tragic and bitter. Ironically, as a youth, I found their armoured pseudo-Samurai like appearance captivating, they looked like an army that would give Gondor a run for their money. They were intended to be the elites of Sauron's host besieging Minas Tirith before the Morgul Orcs were conceptualized.

[@Ned_of_the_Hill]

R.I.P. Bernard Hill (December 17, 1944 - May 5, 2024). Hail Théoden King!

[@Yesica1993]

Oh, I had not even heard!

[@marionbaggins]

Man, Rhûn had evolved history before I knew it for the Easterlings!!! R.I.P Today, our Great King of Rohan and Captain of Titanic Bernard Hill, he will be missed by us in Arda!!! Thanks Mellon for telling us on a Place before LOTR, I didn't know what it's like, Until the Mûmakil or Oliphaunts...Marion Baggins Out!!!

[@lazarpantic1360]

Rip Thèoden son of Thengel😢

[@grandadmiralzaarin4962]

Always found Rhun, Harad and Umbar fascinating and wished Tolkien had gone into more detail about the valiant but ruthless peoples of the East.

[@TheGeneralGrievous19]

Thank You for telling us about the History of Rhûn! 🧡 Rest In Peace Bernard Hill. 🕯 🙏🏻

[@Epic_Kingdom]

Great video! Rest in peace, King of Rohan.

[@Longshanks1690]

I know it’s not on topic, and there’s no way you could have got a tribute done on time, but nevertheless: RIP Bernard Hill. 😢

[@Alexs.2599]

He's now gone to the houses of his fathers. Hail the victorius dead!

[@Captain_Insano_nomercy]

​@@Alexs.2599hail!

[@orrointhewise87]

"Far to the east. Over ranges and rivers." Of all the peoples that allied with Sauron its these are the ones that fascinate me the most. All we know of this place is from the accounts of others. I've always wondered what language, customs, and beliefs they might have had. Really want to see how Khamul fell to the ring. If he was second only to the witch king then he must have been someone strong or powerful 🔆

[@seankim1592]

Not too knowledgable, but my headcanon is that during Numenor's oppression of all Middle-Earth and other lands, Khamul found Sauron in one of his disguises, struck a deal for a Ring of Power to protect his people and family, and slowly but surely gave into corruption.

[@saladinbob]

If we assume Harad is representative of the African Kingdoms, then I would imagine the Sea of Rhun to be analogous to the Black Sea, or perhaps even the Caspian because the Rhun seem to be a mix of Arabian/Mesopotamian, through to central Asian. Also RIP Bernard Hill. He will forever be how I picture Théoden, especially since his performance as such as flawless.

[@paulsteinhauser434]

Be at Peace Bernard Hill

[@logansfury]

What a terrible and sad day. I feel such sympathy for the family, friends, and people that knew Bernard Hill personally. I saw my roommate watching TV just a few days ago and noted Martin Freeman on the screen. It turned out she was watching The Responder, which Bernard Hill was either already a part of, or due to join in season 2. Interesting that cast from both LOTR and The Hobbit would find themselves working together again on a totally unrelated project. Today's video was entertaining. It just made me suddenly realize something, after the last boat sailed carrying Sam to Valinor, what happened to the Blue Wizards? I have only read The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Trilogy, Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales I & II, The Fall of Gondolin, The Children of Hurin, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and Smith of Wotton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham. I own a copy of The Return of the Shadow but have yet to read it. I haven't bought or read any of the other avail books Christopher has published on older writings. Nothing that I read ever mentioned their final fate, and it seems they never took ship back to the Undying Lands? Is there any mention of them in the books I haven't read yet?

[@athysw.e.9562]

these retrospectives are so comforting. I love it

[@simoncooper6752]

Requiesce in pace, Bernard Hill 🙏🏼✝️ Eternal rest grant unto him, o Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen

[@geviesanta3631]

Amen 🙏🏻✝️

[@user-dt7qu5ll7i]

RIP Bernard Hill “King”… “Where is the horse and the rider ?”… Regards🇶🇦

[@Nancye68]

As usual, a wonderful adventure with you Yoystan. ❤️

[@808INFantry11X]

Thedoen king has passed like rain on the mountains. RIP Bernard Hill

[@Comicnut64]

Region spotlight let’s go Yoystan

[@loganw1232]

RIP Theoden (Bernard Hill)😢

[@edwardkamau773]

RIP Bernard Hill ride forth with the Rohirrm into the after life.

[@Darkgeran7]

So much history that we don’t know of so fascinating

[@AlejandroBetancourtweb]

"Hail the victorious dead!" Theoden. King of Rohan The Lord of the Rings RIP Bernard Hill.

[@licmir3663]

I like to imagine that there were heroes fighting for good in Rhun and Harad, it’s just that we never learned about them, because the tales were written from the perspective of the Hobbits who lived far away.

[@voltfields3900]

Make a video of the journey of Sauron. That will be interesting.

[@shadowofchaos8932]

Many tales untold in the east have happened to shape Middle-Earth. Some day a great writer could try to develop a story of some of those tales. Like when Saruman came and left.

[@Asgard2208]

Beautiful artwork.

[@Tolkienosaurus]

What about Ulfang and his sons, aren't they "Easterlings"?

[@seankim1592]

It's always fascinating to imagine how much uncharted land there was beyond the western parts of Middle Earth beyond Gondor. Thinking about it, it feels like a missed opportunity to not have any media feature Rhun or other Easterlings' lands and their interaction with Middle Earth or Numenor. Maybe come up with a story of how the Easterling Khamul became one of the Nazgul - perhaps in a misguided attempt to save his people from Numenor oppression?

[@giokun100]

They had the opportunity in ROP but wasted the blacks in replacing white characters and pretend they are elves n shiet

[@cavetroll666]

hope Lotro goes here someday and also RIP Bernard Hill.

[@godofwar1498]

Love your videos❤️ RIP Bernard Hill wonderful actor ❤️❤️🥺🥺

[@kaidorade1317]

I love learning about the true history of the world! See teacher of geography? I was right! Rhun was real!

[@kajlennartsson4234]

R.I.P. Bernard Hill 💔

[@sabinehaider6921]

Just read about it. RIP Bernard Hill.

[@istari0]

While Sauron certainly had many Orcs in his armies, I think his greatest strength was the Men of Rhûn, the Easterlings, along with the Haradrim, the Men of the South. They were the ones who warred with Gondor so often during the 3rd Age and slowly whittled away much of its territory from its height in the first part of the second millennium of the 3rd Age. R.I.P. Bernard Hill. “I go to my fathers. And even in their mighty company, I shall now not feel ashamed.”

[@Transilvanian90]

Cool video about a relatively unknown place in ME! Rhun does indeed remind me of the real-world civilizations of Asia, such as the Persian Empires (Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid) as well as their Islamic and Turkic successor entities. They have a similar, usually hostile relation with the Western civilizations (Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader States) as Rhun does with Gondor and the men of Dale. The brief Gondorian control of Rhun isn't all that different from when the Romans briefly controlled Mesopotamia (under Trajan, partly Septimius Severus) and of course under Alexander the Great for the Greeks.

[@Kylejohn33]

Rhun is one of the things of Tolkien that fascinates me as there is so much unknown about to and I want to know more.

[@upschutt4842]

RIP King Théoden. Hail the victorious dead

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

In a 1948 note on his General Map of Middle-earth, Tolkien drew an arrow from the River Running with the direction to the end of the map, and carries the note: "To Sea of Runaer. Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull suggest that Runaer is likely an alternative name of Rhun. Also in these early draft maps for The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien indicated that Neldoreth was the name of the forest bordering the Sea of Rhun's north-eaatern shore. This forest went unnamed in later maps.

[@crowverra5343]

Note that in the oldest text bilbo mentions going east of east to the last desert of the hindu kush to fight the wild Wire-Worms of the chinese, wire worm refers to click beetles irl, which are east asian, but the change to Were-Worms and the use of Worm to mean dragon, and the mention of china, makes me think of the Blood of the Dragons myth in chinese royal dynasties, they could be seen as men who change into Wyrms.

[@Idk-ys7rt]

I think Rhûn is very interesting in the Middle-Earth because we have little information about the East compared to the lands of Western Middle-Earth. The mystery of Rhûn is much the allure of it for me in the Lord of the Rings series.

[@quillogist2875]

Great video. An area i did not know about

[@MontserratStewart]

I imagine some people in Rhun were descended from escapees from the west coast back when Numenor was oppressive towards them. That would give them definite anti-Gondor attitude.

[@ketanhein]

RIP King Theoden

[@TarMody]

From the perspective of Western societies, the reflection of Eastern mysticism on these regions of the Middle-earth geography finds its place in his works through Tolkien, a Western person.

[@InsertNameHere644]

Rip Bernard Hill, Theoden king.

[@shard5519]

you should do a video on the History of Khand and the Variags and a video on the history of Rhudaur

[@elagabalusrex390]

A tragically underdeveloped region in Tolkien's world. Pity he never elaborated as much on it as he did on the lands to the west and south in Middle Earth. Ran out of time, perhaps.

[@Idk-ys7rt]

Men of the West making a video about the Men of the East lol

[@shanenolan5625]

Thanks

[@origami83]

If only we had a tv show about middle earth that could fill in the blanks about these far away lands, alas it isnt so.

[@Tye_silvertenor]

Where can we find the song a sweet feeling??

[@gandalf4751]

😍😍✅✅

[@bethmarriott9292]

GNU Bernard Hill ❤️⚔️

[@MarvinT0606]

Tolkien didn't need to write a sequel to LOTR- he needed to explore the Far East for a new saga, but sadly he wanted us to write on his behalf as old age took him.

[@olefredrikskjegstad5972]

Ah yes, Rhûn, the Australia of Middle Earth. When you play their respective RISK versions, that's the region you secure first, and that gets you through the rest of the game.

[@trikyy7238]

Wereworms... sand... sandworms... Shai Hulud...

[@rileycord1248]

Westu hál. Ferðu, Théoden, Ferðu.

[@CrookedRosePOD]

Free Assyria ❤

[@tsuchan]

Why world the Easterlings be disadvantage by Sauron's downfall? They will have retained all their abilities to grow crops, mine minerals, manufacture goods, without them having to pay tributes to Mordor.

[@Idk-ys7rt]

After Saudon's downfall, Gondorian and Rohirrim attacks become more frequent.

[@istari0]

Sauron's fall created a massive power vacuum. Many groups would have been fighting for power and/or independence.

[@Didymus20X6]

This is what's sad to me: the Amazon show had the potential to explore a lot of these places that are relatively unknown, and help flesh out a compelling history and culture for them. Instead, they trash the actual lore to give us political BS. I hope Amazon goes bankrupt. (I don't even buy their cheap Chinese knockoff products anymore).

[@SmokeyMountainSuccubus]

I mean Amazon is bad because it's abusing humans and art for petty profit, not because of "political BS" or Chinese products. I agree with your statement but your reasoning is concerning lmao

[@keyboarddancers7751]

The Sea of Rhûn is an illogical geographic anomaly: discuss.

[@johnlastname8752]

Why are you using AI images? It's honestly very off-putting and distracting.

[@MenoftheWest]

Since so much of Rhûn is outside the scope of the story, I can’t find a lot of great art that really depict the lands as they seem to be in the lore. Creating some of these images really helps with that, and gets us closer to what some of these places would seem to be like than just using other art or images that aren’t as close to it.

[@RebelNair92]

Hey I made a LOTR Oc if you check him out. He is a prince of Rhûn.

[@kennkoala]

"-where the stars are strange." Best argument for a flat earth. World doesn't move, sky doesn't move.

[@istari0]

The world had been made into a sphere by Ilúvatar over 3000 years before Aragorn said that line.

[@Mallarkey]

But the sky does move. Also, travel from the northern hemisphere (of a globe obviously) to the southern hemisphere and you will view a different sky, with constellations you couldn't see previously.

[@rasnac]

As a Western Asian, Tolkien's colonialist orientalist world view disgust me.

[@lewakar]

You're Turk? Istanbul not Constantinople

[@glennross85]

Rhun=Rüs=Russia?

[@yodaslovetoy]

Wish we had more (cannon) information about the east lands

[@titanscerw]

RIP Bernard Hill