Economy of Middle Earth - Lord of the Rings Lore DOCUMENTARY

When Marveling upon Middle Earth’s fortresses,  palaces, grand cities and even small burrows,   one can easily wonder how all these grand  places and their material cultures come into   being. What civilizations and cultures from  our own world inspired the great realms and   kingdoms of Tolkien’s middle earth? What kind of  economic activity was taking place that allowed   middle earth to produce such wonders? Tolkien was  a philologist, not an economist, but when reading   between the pages of his works, a semblance of  economic life is present in its various cultures.   Indeed, Tolkien devoted a considerable amount of  thought to the withertos and whyfors of everyday   life in his world, a phenomenon just waiting  to be explored. Many readers of Tolkien’s work   could be forgiven for having the impression that  the lack of details about economic activity meant   Tolkien simply overlooked the subject altogether,  this could not be further from the truth. If the   reader was to peek beneath the surface, they would  find Tolkien not only incorporated a sophisticated   economic system within middle-earth, he also  went a step further often displaying a critique   of socialism, capitalism, totalitarianism  and the functions of a market economy.   But much like the great myth and historic tales  told to us in our own world by various sources,   Tolkien’s work was based much more so upon  culture, locations and experience. Just because   Tolkien did not explicitly state how such economic  activity worked or took place in middle-earth,   it does not mean that it did not occur at all,  for grand cities to be built requires labor and   where there is labor there is wages of some  form. Tolkien, much like ancient sources,   took it for granted most of the time that the  audience would assume certain economic activities   were occurring, albeit in the background. In  Tolkien’s world, contracts, currency, wages,   industrialization, slavery, property rights, the  rule of law, and many other things all exist,   you just have to dig deep or read between the  pages. Each realm or kingdom had its own hand to   play in an intricate economic system that spanned  across all of middle-earth, from the northwestern   shores of Lindon all the way to southeastern far  Harad. The economic activity was not exclusive   to the forces of good nor evil, both played their  part and even made dealings with another. We will   first begin with the community of the smallest  of peoples, the humble burrow dwelling Hobbits. We also wanted to mention that if you’re  into D&D, Magic The Gathering or other   TTRPGs and board games, we’ve got a deal  to offer you from our sponsor Wyrmwood. They manufacture high-quality  wooden gaming accessories,   including basically everything in the world of  tabletop games, from the dice to table itself. 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If you go to wyrmwoodgaming.com/wiz&war and  make an order over $50, you can get free   shipping in the US by using code wizwar and $10  off international shipping with code wizwarint,   and both codes get you a free  set of resin dice thrown in.   Check it all out via the link in the description. Hobbit society traces its origins, fittingly,  back to the 1st Year according to the reckoning   of Shire Folk, when the Halfling brothers Marco  and Cavallo obtained formal permission from the   King of Arthedain, Argeleb II to cross the brown  river Baranduin and settle in the lands beyond.   For this Argeleb II demanded only that  they keep the Great Bridges in repair,   keep the laws of Arthedain, and to  allow him to hunt thrice a year.   “The land into which they had come, though now  long deserted, had been richly tilled in days   of yore, and there the kings had once had many  farms, cornlands, vineyards, and woods. This land   they called the Shire, which in their language  meant an ordered district of government and   business - the business of growing food and eating  it and living in comparative peace and content.”  The Hobbit economy was mostly agricultural in  nature. Life in the Shire during the 3rd age,   as Tolkien put it, “had hardly any  ‘government’. Families for the most   part managed their own affairs. Growing food  and eating it occupied most of their time.   In other matters, they were, as a rule, generous  and not greedy, but contented and moderate, so   that estates, farms, workshops, and small trades  tended to remain unchanged for generations”.   Whenever we think of the Shire it almost  always involves the subject of food.   “I hope there is something left for the  late-comers to eat and drink! What's that? Tea!   No thank you! A little red wine, I think." "And  for me," said Thorin. "And raspberry jam and apple   tart," said Bifur. "And mince-pies and cheese,"  said Bofur. "And pork-pie and salad," said Bombur.   "And more cakes-and ale-and coffee, if you don't  mind," called the other dwarves through the door.   "Put on a few eggs, there's a good fellow!"  Gandalf called after him, as the hobbit stumped   off to the pantries. "And just bring out the cold  chicken and pickles!" By the time he had got all   the bottles and dishes and knives and forks and  glasses and plates and spoons and things piled   up on big trays, he was getting very hot, and  red in the face, and annoyed. Such an impressive   smorgasbord of gourmet dishes requires significant  specialization of labour. Bilbo’s wine,   for example, likely came from vineyards  such as the old Winyards of Southfarthing,   indicating the presence of cork makers and  glass blowers. Meanwhile, his mince-pies   required pig farmers and bakers, while eggs  would require chicken farms and so on. Moreover,   the Baggins’ plates and silverware would require  some form of mining, pottery or perhaps trade.  Another aspect of Shire society to consider  is the daily lives of its denizens.   “Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient  people, more numerous formerly than they are   today; for they love peace and quiet and good  tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed   countryside was their favourite haunt. They do  not and did not understand or like machines more   complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or  a hand-loom, though they were skilful with tools”.   Hobbits chose to live a life unaided by hard  industry or machinery, a sentiment inspired by   Tolkien’s childhood. From the age of four, Tolkien  lived with his family in the village of Sarehole,   which, like the fictional Hobbiton,  had a corn-grinding mill by the water.   “The country in which I lived in childhood  was being shabbily destroyed before I was ten,   in days when motor-cars were rare objects (I  had never seen one) and men were still building   suburban railways. Recently I saw in a paper  a picture of the last decrepitude of the once   thriving corn-mill beside its pool that long  ago seemed to me so important.” Tolkien that   the Shire was “inspired by a few cherished square  miles of actual countryside at Sarehole" and that   Hobbiton was “more or less a Warwickshire village  of about the period of the Diamond Jubilee”   Tolkien lamented how often the natural world and  the simple life was bulldozed by the reckless   march of industrial progress, a turmoil the author  expressed in his description of the scouring of   the Shire. “'Take Sandyman's mill now. Pimple  knocked it down almost as soon as he came to Bag   End. Then he brought in a lot o' dirty-looking Men  to build a bigger one and fill it full o' wheels   and outlandish contraptions. They're always  a-hammering and a-letting out a smoke and a   stench, and there isn't no peace even at night  in Hobbiton. And they pour out filth a purpose;   they've fouled all the lower Water and it's  getting down into Brandywine. If they want to make   the Shire into a desert, they're going the right  way about it”. One needs only look at how Tolkien   depicts the evil powers of Isengard and Mordor to  understand his contempt for unchecked technology,   as both these factions are industrialized  and reliant on machinery with a disregard   for the pollution they cause. Inversely, it  is no secret that Tolkien loved nature and   cherished the idealized English country-side  which we see represented in the Shire.  Having now explored the economy and culture of the  Shire, we will now move on to the most enigmatic   pillar of its society, its government. As  previously mentioned, the Hobbits were originally   subject to King of Arthedain, but when he fell to  the forces of Angmar, the Shire was left without   a ruler. “In that war the North Kingdom ended;  and then the Hobbits took the land for their own,   and they chose from their own chiefs a Thain to  hold the authority.” “The Thain was the master   of the Shire-moot, and captain of the Shire-muster  and the Hobbitry-in-arms; but as muster and moot   were only held in times of emergency, which no  longer occurred, the Thainship had ceased to   be more than a nominal dignity. The Took family  was still, indeed, accorded a special respect,   for it remained both numerous and exceedingly  wealthy, and was liable to produce in every   generation strong characters of peculiar  habits and even adventurous temperament.”   Thus, a basic hierarchy developed, and  continued to do so into the third age.   The existence of an economic system  begets the existence of a class system,   and there does seem to be a subtle one at work  within the Shire. “No one had a more attentive   audience than old Ham Gamgee, commonly known  as the Gaffer. He held forth at The Ivy Bush,   a small inn on the Bywater road; and he spoke  with some authority, for he had tended the garden   at Bag End for forty years, and had helped old  Holman in the same job before that. Now that he   was himself growing old and stiff in the joints,  the job was mainly carried on by his youngest son,   Sam Gamgee. Both father and son were on very  friendly terms with Bilbo and Frodo. They lived   on the Hill itself, in Number 3 Bagshot Row just  below Bag End”. Sam, like his father before him,   was a gardener, a working middle class and servant  to Bilbo and Frodo. Apart from Sam we also see the   farmer/working class Cotton family who became  instrumental during the Scouring of the Shire.   The fact that Sam married Rosie Cotton is  evidence that class among Hobbits was rigid,   and one did not often marry above or below their  station. With that said, upwards mobility seems to   have been possible as well, with Sam being elected  Mayor for 7 consecutive terms in his later life.  While the Gamgees were the salt of the earth,  Bilbo and Frodo descend from rich Aristocrat   lineage. Being Bagginses made both Bilbo and  Frodo upper-class, and as far as we know,   they both did not rely on any source of income,  even before Bilbo received his treasure from the   Smaug adventure. Another aristocratic Halfling  family were the Tooks. Peregrin Took I succeeded   his father Paladin II and became the 32nd Thain  of the Shire and counselor of the North Kingdom.   Consequently, both Meriadoc and Peregrin came from  aristocratic lines, and were heirs to vast land   within the Shire. Tolkien even plays around  somewhat with the concept of nouveau riche.   “You see, your dad, Mr. Peregrin, he’s  never had no truck with this Lotho,   not from the beginning: said that if anyone was  going to play the chief at this time of day,   it would be the right Thain of the Shire and no  upstart.” Lotho Sackville-Baggis contributed to   the Scouring of the Shire by selling Pipe-Weed  and buying up all the real estate within the   shire. “ He wanted to own everything himself,  and then order other folk about. It soon came   out that he already did own a sight more than was  good for him; and he was always grabbing more,   though where he got the money was a mystery:  mills and malt-houses and inns, and farms, and   leaf-plantations. He'd already bought Sandyman's  mill before he came to Bag End, seemingly.”  With all that said, the only government official  in the Shire whose authority and jurisdiction   we learn about in detail is the Mayor of Michel  Delving, who was elected every 7 years at the Free   Fair on the White Downs. The offices of Postmaster  and First Shirriff were attached to his office.   The Shire also had a police force, the  “watch” presided over by 12 Shirriffs and   a postal service, the “messenger service”]. For  these governmental services to exist one would   imagine some form of taxation existed and to  pay for this perhaps pipe-weed was essential.  Speaking of Pipe-Weed, the famous Halfling  leaf was first grown in the year 1050 by Tobias   Hornblower in Southfarthing. This luxury  item exploded the economy of the Shire,   and spread as far as Gondor where it was known  “Hornpipe Twist’ (not ‘Southern Star’); and it is   not said of sweet galenas that the Men of Gondor  ‘esteem it only for the fragrance of its flowers'.   It was also in Bree where Pipe-weed spread  from the Bree-Hobbits to the other races.   Bree was an important trading outpost, sat on  the intersection of the Great East-West Road and   the Great North-South Road, a place where Men and  Hobbit dwelt together and a perfect location for   commerce. Unfortunately, Bree’s Pipe-weed trade  would be abused by Lotho and Saruman during the   scouring of the Shire which greatly disturbed Real  Estate throughout the Halfling realm. “He liked   to extend his power, especially into Gandalf’s  province, and he found that the money he could   provide for the purchase of ‘leaf’ was giving him  power, and was corrupting some of the Hobbits,   especially the Bracegirdles, who owned many  plantations, and so also the Sackville-Bagginses”  Overall, from everything we have analyzed,  we can conclude that during the 3rd age,   the Shire was a non-industrialized agrarian  society with a small government and a small   internal economy with limited external trade.  They were focused primarily with food production   and had a loose and subtle class system with  very little administration. In summary, the   Shire represented an idealistic world where the  best things in life are truly the little things. The hobbits live in a non-industrialized  agrarian society reminiscent of the English   countryside that Tolkien had fallen in love  with during his youth, but some of his other   creations were based more so upon myth. Tolkien’s  Dwarves are strongly akin to the Dwarves of Norse   mythology and those depicted in the Germanic  works of the brothers Grimm. Unlike the Hobbits,   the Dwarves do not spend the majority of their  time cultivating food, though they certainly   consume a lot of it, no instead they look to  exploring the grand mountains of middle earth for   their riches. They are a proud race with a strong  affinity for mining, metalworking and crafting.   The history of Tolkien’s dwarves is a tale  of diaspora and hardship, reminiscent of   the history of the Jewish people. Tolkien  based his Dwarves somewhat on medieval texts   regarding Jewish people and their history. Take  for example the Dwarves losing their homeland of   Erebor and being forced to live amongst other  groups of peoples trying to retain their culture.   The Dwarvish language of Khazdul was influenced  by Hebrew phonology and Tolkien himself said “the   Dwarves of course are quite obviously, wouldn’t  you say that in many ways they remind you of Jews?   Their words are Semitic, obviously, constructed  to be Semitic”. In 1938, Tolkien was in talks with   the German publisher Rütten & Leoning to publish  the Hobbit in German and they demanded to know   if he himself was of Aryan descent. Tolkien  responded “that Aryans are of Indo-Iranian   ‘extraction,’ correcting the incorrect Nazi  aumption that Aryans come from northern Europe”   and then Tolkien cut to the chase by saying that  he was not Jewish but holds them in high regard.   “I regret that I appear to have no ancestors  of that gifted people," Tolkien wrote. The   tale of the Dwarves is that of a people who  built some of the most wondrous halls and   crafts ever seen in middle earth. The Dwarves  also built the very roads linking the other   peoples of middle-earth and thus provided the  necessary links for a world economy to flow.   Where there is building, mining or craftwork  there must of course also be trade. We will   now explore the lives of the stout, bearded  children of Durin who dwell under the mountains. It is common knowledge that the Dwarf is, by  nature, an industrious creature. When the vala   Aulë created the Dwarves, Yavanna said of them:  “They will love first the things made by their   own hands, as doth their father. They will delve  in the earth, and the things that grow and live   upon the earth they will not heed. Many a tree  shall feel the bite of their iron without pity”.   Indeed, when picturing the Dwarves of Middle  Earth, mining is undoubtedly the first thing that   comes to mind. The Dwarves seem to practically  only reside underground, obsessed with digging   up all the riches that the world can provide.  Consequently, they are also renowned for their   craftsmanship, responsible for incredible feats  of metalwork, such as Mythril Ring mail. Moreover,   some of the greatest cities of Middle-Earth, such  as Khazad-Dum, are the result of Dwarven masonry.   All of this, however, begs a simple question. If  Durin’s folk spent almost all their time devoted   to such work, how then did they feed themselves? Dwarves, like the other races of Middle-Earth,   require food to survive, and quite a lot of it  at that. Take for example the rotund Bombur,   who could not have grown so enormous if his  people were bereft of vittles. Food reaches   the stone tables of Dwarven feasting halls in  various ways. Foraging was one, evidenced by the   value Mim the petty dwarf placed in a wild root  known as Earth-Bread: “They are of great worth,’   he said. ‘More than gold in the hungry winter, for  they may be hoarded like the nuts of a squirrel,   and already we were building our store from  the first that are ripe”. We also know Dwarves   practised agriculture, which “in early times they  practised when isolated and unable to buy grain   etc. by barter. They had invented a “plough” of  some sort – which they dragged as well as steered   themselves: they were tough and strong – but they  did not delight in such labour of necessity.”.   Given this evident reticence to till and grow, it  comes as no surprise that some Dwarves disregarded   foraging and cultivation altogether in favour  of their much preferred method of acquiring   necessities: trade. By the third age, Thorin  Oakenshield emphasises this when speaking of his   peoples’ relationship with the men of Dale: “They  built the merry town of Dale there in those days.   Kings used to send for our smiths, and reward even  the least skilful most richly. Fathers would beg   us to take their sons as apprentices, and pay  us handsomely, especially in food-supplies,   which we never bothered to grow or find for  ourselves. Altogether those were good days for us,   and the poorest of us had money to spend and  to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things   just for the fun of it, not to speak of the most  marvellous and magical toys, the like of which is   not to be found in the world now-a-days.  So my grandfather's halls became full of   armour and jewels and carvings and cups, and the  toy-market of Dale was the wonder of the North.”.   Indeed, commerce seemed to be the main method  for Dwarves to feed themselves, and thus be   able to devote the majority of their time to  their mining and craftsmanship. Let us use this   as a segue to provide a more in-depth picture of  how, and with whom, Dwarven trade was conducted.  During the first age, before the dawning of  Men, Elves were the primary trading partner   of the Dwarves. “The Sindar (E. Sindar) not under  the rule of Thingol dwelt and practised not only   cattle-rearing and sheep-farming, but also  grain-growing and other food crops; on which   they prospered because both Doriath west and the  Dwarves east were ready to buy what they could”.   Indeed, like the men of Dale later would, the  Elves traded their food, and in return received   the skilled labour of Dwarven craftsmen, which we  see in the construction of Menegroth - the city   built for the Elven king of the First Age Thingol.  “Therefore the Naugrim laboured long and gladly   for Thingol, and devised for him mansions after  the fashion of their people, delved deep in the   earth. Where the Esgalduin flowed down, and parted  Neldoreth from Region, there rose in the midst of   the forest a rocky hill, and the river ran at its  feet. There they made the gates of the hall of   Thingol, and they built a bridge of stone over the  river, by which alone the gates could be entered.   Beyond the gates wide passages ran down to high  halls and chambers far below that were hewn in   the living stone, so many and so great that that  dwelling was named Menegroth, the Thousand Caves”.   Alongside Menegroth, the Dwarves also helped  build the Elven stronghold of Nargothrond,   a feat for which they were compensated handsomely. Being so heavily reliant on trade, it should be no   surprise that the Dwarves invested heavily in  the infrastructure required for the efficient   transport of goods, of which included  the construction of a grand road network.   “The Dwarf Road, Menn-i-Naugrim had been made with  great labour by the Longbeard Dwarves of Moria   and their kin in the Iron Hills”. “The Dwarves  trafficked into Beleriand, and they made a great   road that passed under the shoulders of Mount  Dolmed and followed the course of the River Ascar,   crossing Gelion at Sarn Athrad, the Ford of  Stones, where battle after befell. Ever cool was   the friendship between the Naugrim and the Eldar,  though much profit they had one of the other”.   The construction of the Menn-i-Naugrim spanned the  first and second age, but the eventual end result   was a massive road network upon which trade  could be conducted at an unprecedented scale.  At the height of their relationship, a great  number of Dwarves were hired to work in the Elven   smithies. This would have required much economic  activity from both parties: “They traveled the   ancient road to Doriath; for their skill in  the working of metal and stone was very great,   and there was much need of their craft in the  halls of Menegroth. But they came now no longer in   small parties as aforetime, but in great companies  well armed for their protection in the perilous   lands between Aros and Gelion; and they dwelt in  Menegroth at such times in chambers and smithies   set apart for them”. Through trade, Dwarves and  Elves created many great halls, including one   of the most beautiful creations in all of Arda:  that of the Nauglamír imbued with a Silmaril.   This, however, would ultimately result in the  enduring blood feud between Dwarves and Elves.   Yet, as Durin’s folk turned their back to the  Elves, their relationship with new partners,   namely the race of men, began to grow. When the dwarves first came into contact with Men   they established the same symbiotic trade-based  relationship they once had with the Elves.   By this point in time, the Elves were not as  forgoing with trade, and the bearded-folk needed   new partners to support their cave-dwelling  lifestyle. To that end, the Dwarves traded   their knowledge, labour and crafts with men who  provided them with much-needed food in return.   “Men held them in awe and were eager to learn from  them; and the Longbeards were very willing to use   Men for their own purposes. Thus there grew up in  those regions the economy, later characteristic   of the dealings of Dwarves and Men (including  Hobbits): Men became the chief providers of food,   as herdsmen, shepherds, and land-tillers, which  the Dwarves exchanged for work as builders,   roadmakers, miners, and the makers of things of  craft, from useful tools to weapons and arms and   many other things of great cost and skill. To  the great profit of the Dwarves. Not only to   be reckoned in hours of labour, though in early  times the Dwarves must have obtained goods that   were the product of greater and longer toil  than the things or services that they gave in   exchange - before Men became wiser and developed  skills of their own.”. This prosperous commercial   relationship between Dwarves and men allowed  Durin’s folk to continue to devote themselves   to their jewellers, smithies and stonemasons,  but soon, it would blossom into something much   more. It is here we will explore the place of  diplomacy and alliance in the Dwarven world.  Before long, what began as a utilitarian  partnership for the sake of acquiring provisions   became an alliance of necessity for defence  against the dark forces of Morgoth all about Arda.   “No Dwarf would ever mount a horse willingly, nor  did any ever harbour animals, not even dogs. But   Men were glad of the alliance, for they were more  vulnerable to the attacks of the Orks: they dwelt   largely in scattered homesteads and villages,  and if they drew together into small townships   they were poorly defended, at best by dikes and  wooden fences. Also they were lightly armed,   chiefly with bows, for they had little metal and  the few smiths among them had no great skill.   These things the Dwarves amended in return for  one great service that Men could offer. They were   tamers of beasts and had learned the mastery of  horses, and many were skilled and fearless riders.   These would often ride far afield as scouts  and keep watch on movements of their enemies;   and if the Orks dared to assemble  in the open for some great raid,   they would gather a great force of horsed  archers to surround them and destroy them.   In these ways the Alliance of Dwarves and Men in  the North came early in the Second Age to command   great strength, swift in attack and valiant and  well-protected in defence, and there grew up in   that region between Dwarves and Men respect  and esteem, and sometimes warm friendship”].   It seems that, in repelling the Orks, the Dwarves  provided weaponry, and Men, the means to use it.   This symbiotic relationship between Dwarves and  Men would continue be tested throughout the ages.  During the 3rd age when Smaug descended upon the  Lonely Mountain, both the Men of Dale and Dwarves   of Erebor were caught off guard. Their warriors  were both called to arms, but were destroyed by   the great Dragon. Both groups shouldered the  loss together and would soon do so again,   for when Sauron's armies besieged Minas Tirith, he  also sent armies to threaten the borders of King   Brand of Dale. Sauron's forces crossed the River  of Carnen King, driving King Brand back to Dale   where, with the help of the Dwarves of Erebor,  he made a stand and fought the Easterling army:   “There was a great battle at the Mountain's  feet. It lasted three days, but in the end,   both King Brand and King Dáin Ironfoot were  slain, and the Easterlings had the victory.   But they could not take the Gate. and many, both  Dwarves and Men, took refuge in Erebor, and there   withstood a siege. When news came of the great  victories in the South, then Sauron's northern   army was filled with dismay; and the besieged  came forth and routed them, and the remnant   fled into the East and troubled Dale no more.  Then Bard II, Brand's son, became King in Dale,   and Thorin III Stonehelm, Dáin's son, became King  under the Mountain.”]. Indeed, the shared history   of the Dwarves of Erebor and men of Dale is a  good example of how often both peoples fought and   died alongside another, a relationship that was  originally kindled by the transactions of goods.  Dwarves and Men, and to a lesser extent  Elves, all benefited from an interdependent   trade network based on specialised labour. The  Dwarves had their mining and craftsmanship,   the Men their agricultural cultivation,  and the Elves, a mixture of all.   Through trade, the three races began  a relationship that would eventually   allow them to cleanse the marring  of Arda by the dark lord Melkor. The Dwarves were a crucial component to  middle-earth, much like a glue holding many   parts together. Through their mighty works,  halls were built to shelter many, roads were   built to bring people closer together and crafts  were created to bring joy to countless peoples.   Tolkien's Dwarves were inspired by a blend  of norse mythology and judaic history, and   they would have a counterpart made from similar  influences. The word “Elf” is derived from ælf,   and the Elves of Tolkien’s works are a unique  blend of various Germanic mythology such as   Anglo-Saxon, Middle-English, Norse and  of course the fairies of Celtic myth.   They are a beautiful race, more intune with  nature and magic compared to the other races.   They live lives of longevity, a type of  immortality built upon reincarnation, but   at the cost of being bound to Arda, unable to ever  escape it. Much like the Dwarves, the Elves built   grand fortresses and palaces for their realms and  to create such works they like any others had to   trade. Of all the races living in middle-earth,  the Elves dealt the least with others and did   not have as large a need for goods and services,  but this did not stop them from seeking out such   things from far away lands. One could be forgiven  to believe Elves managed solely using magic and   their close connection to nature, for even they  needed a helping hand from time to time. We will   now explore the lives of the immortal, first  and eldest children of Ilúvatar, the Elves. Elves were not subject to age nor illness,  and consequently are regarded as the fairest   and wisest of the races living in Arda,  often depicted as ethereal and magical   beings that operate outside the normal  range of the other races in Middle-Earth.   However, despite their immortality, the Elves  were still corporeal creatures who sought food,   shelter, happiness, comfort, and other  such things that drive economic activity.  In the undying lands of Aman, the Valar allow  the elves to live in eternal bliss, free from   the burdens of mortal want. As such, we will focus  on the Elves who lived among the mortal races on   Middle-Earth. To that end, examining the early  Sindar, a subgroup of the Teleri who chose to   stay in Beleriand and not journey to Aman, gives  us some insight. “The Sindar did not practice   agriculture until long after the departure of  the other Eldar. Of the ‘economics’ of Valinor   we know nothing except that initially good was  provided for the Eldar, not without all labour,   in which they delighted and made it the occasion  of song and festivals. But the grain was self-sown   and only needed gathering and scattering of 1/10th  the tithe of Yavanna of the seed on the field”.  Despite being an ostensibly isolationist  people, it was not uncommon for the elves   of Middle Earth to extend a hand of commerce out  to their neighbours. As we have seen previously,   the Dwarves, dwelling in mountain homes of stone,  participated little in agrarian food production,   that created an economic need which facilitated  trade with Elves such as the Sindar. “The Kingdom   of Doriath was a woodland realm, and had only a  little open ground, except on its eastern borders   where they kept some small kine and sheep. Beyond  the Girdle of Melian (eastward) there was much   open land - prairie of wide extent. The Sindar,  not under the rule of Thingol dwelt and practiced   not only cattle-rearing and sheep-farming, but  also grain-growing and other food crops; on which   they prospered because both Doriath west and the  Dwarves east were ready to buy what they could.”   Thus some Elves traded crops and livestock, while  gaining in return the riches and skilled labour of   the Dwarves. “Flax was grown in Doriath; and  the Sindar there were adepts in spinning and   weaving it. They knew some metallurgy and had good  weapons on the Great Journey owing to the teaching   of Oromë. For long on the Great Journey they had  depended on the arms and swords, spears, bows,   etc. made in their first home; or during  their sojourns – if they could then find   metals. In Beleriand they were  eventually aided by the Dwarves,   who assisted (very willingly!) in search for  metals. Iron was found in the Gorgoroth!”   Oromë was the Vala responsible for hunting  who aided the Elves greatly upon their   Great Journey to Aman, while Gorgoroth is the  northwestern part of Mordor south of Mount Doom.  The trade relations between the Elves and Dwarves  led to some of the greatest works of Middle-Earth   such as the construction of Menegroth, a the  city built for the Elven king of the First Age,   Thingol. “Therefore the Naugrim laboured long and  gladly for Thingol, and devised for him mansions   after the fashion of their people, delved deep in  the earth. Where the Esgalduin flowed down, and   parted Neldoreth from Region, there rose in the  midst of the forest a rocky hill, and the river   ran at its feet. There they made the gates of the  hall of Thingol”. Moreover, even after building   the city of Menegroth, Dwarves continued to travel  to the Elven city for work quite frequently.   “They traveled the ancient road to Doriath; for  their skill in the working of metal and stone   was very great, and there was much need of their  craft in the halls of Menegroth. But they came   now no longer in small parties as aforetime,  but in great companies well armed for their   protection in the perilous lands between Aros and  Gelion; and they dwelt in Menegroth at such times   in chambers and smithies set apart for them”.  Ultimately, what began as a relationship built   upon trade flourished into a symbiotic partnership  involving the exchanging of knowledge and skills.   This relationship would be damaged by the battle  of a thousand caves, when the Dwarves of Nogrod   fought the Elves of Menegroth for possession of  the Nauglamir. This resulted in the subsequent   blood feud between Elves and Dwarves. It is on  this sombre note that we should move on towards   the third age, and how the Elven economies evolved  in the era leading up to the War of the Ring.  During the third age there emerged four  great realms of the Elves: Rivendell,   Lothlórien, Lindon and the Woodland Realm.  These realms were isolated, self-sustainable,   and for the most part, lived off the land  with little need for cultivation of farmland.   As a rule, Elves do not require as much sustenance  as the other races, and produce light fare.   This is exemplified when Frodo encounters  the company of Gildor Inglorion, who shares   with the hobbits “bread, surpassing the savour  of a fair white loaf to one who is starving;   and fruits sweet as wildberries and  richer than the tended fruits of gardens”.   Moreover, Elven crafts in the third era appeared  to be as light and ascetic as their foods.   Galadriel’s gifts, bequeathed upon the fellowship  of the ring, are examples of such crafts:   “To Legolas she gave a bow such as the  Galadhrim used, longer and stouter than   the bows of Mirkwood, and strung with a string  of elf-hair. With it went a quiver of arrows.”   The Galadhrim bow alongside other crafts like  Lothlorien ropes made out of hithlain and the   famous lembas bread indicate Elves craft goods  minimally, using only what nature provides.   Yet as small as Elven populations are, such  minimal cultivation could not possibly cover   all their basic needs, so how did they survive? Amongst the Elven realms of the third age,   Rivendell, Lothlórien and Lindon] held something  the Woodland Realm did not, rings of power.   Elrond held Vilya, Galadriel Nenya and Cirdan  Narya. The power of these three rings was   explained by Elrond: “they were not made as  weapons of war or conquest: that is not their   power. Those who made them did not desire  strength or domination or hoarded wealth,   but understanding, making, and healing, to  preserve all things unstained”. The Silmarillion   likewise tells us the nature of these artifacts,  claiming that they “ward off the decays of time   and postpone the weariness of the world”. As such,  realms that held a ring of power were magically   preserved and their produce was so bountiful it  sustained their small elven populations. Galadriel   admits to this reliance when she speaks to Frodo  of her ring “If you succeed then our power is   diminished and Lothlorien will fade and the tides  of time will sweep it away. We must depart into   the west or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell  and cave, slowly to forget and to be forgotten”.   Galadriel also emphasises the power of this magic  when she gives Sam a farewell gift in Lothlorien   “For you little gardener and lover of trees,’  she said to Sam, ‘I have only a small gift.’   She put into his hand a little box of plain grey  wood, unadorned save for a single silver rune   upon the lid. In this box, there is earth from  my orchard, and such blessing as Galadriel has   still to bestow is upon it. It will not keep you  on your road, nor defend you against any peril;   but if you keep it and see your home again  at last, then perhaps it may reward you.   Though you should find all barren and  laid waste, there will be few gardens   in Middle-earth that will bloom like your  garden, if you sprinkle this earth there.”   Thus these three realms were blessed by the  rings of power and had magically enhanced   harvests to support them, allowing them to live  a minimalist, self-sustaining lifestyle. This,   however, leaves us with a follow-up question. What  of the Elven realm that did not hold such power?  In the Woodland Realm lies the Elvenking’s Hall,  which during the third age was presided over by   Thranduil. The Silvan elves were more akin to the  elves of Doriath before Beleriand sunk under the   sea as a result of the War between Morgoth and  the Host of the West during the War of Wrath.   In the Hobbit we learn a  bit about their lifestyle.   “The subjects of the king mostly lived and hunted  in the open woods, and had houses or huts on the   ground and in the branches. The beeches were their  favourite trees. The king's cave was his palace,   and the strong place of his treasure, and the  fortress of his people against their enemies.   Companies of the Wood-elves, sometimes with the  king at their head, would from time to time ride   out to hunt, or to other business in the woods  and in the lands to the East”. From this passage,   we can discern that the wood elves hunted often,  and ate wild meat. Further information is provided   by Beorn, the skin-changing Beorning Chieftain,  who tells us what food is foragable in Mirkwood   “Water is not easy to find there, nor food. The  time is not yet come for nuts , and nuts are about   all that grows there fit for food; in there  the wild things are dark, queer, and savage”.   Perhaps the Elves of the Woodland realm were able  to sustain their own minimalistic lifestyle by   foraging and hunting, but there was more to  it than that, for the production and import   of liquor also factored into their society. When Bilbo rescued the Dwarves from Elvenking’s   Hall he ran into some Elven guards who were  drinking wine “ It must be potent wine to   make a wood-elf drowsy; but this wine, it would  seem, was the heady vintage of the great gardens   of Dorwinion, not meant for his soldiers or  his servants, but for the king's feasts only”.   Dorwinion is a land in the north-western  shores of the Sea of Rhûn quite a long   way from Mirkwood. We also hear of other  goods imported into the Elvenking’s Halls.   “Among them were several others which had been  used for bringing other stuffs,butter, apples,   and all sorts of things, to the king's palace”.  It seems that trade brought a wide variety of   luxuries to the Woodland realm. As described  by Bilbo, Elvenking’s Hall had a watergate.   “There stood barrels, and barrels, and barrels;  for the Wood-elves, and especially their king,   were very fond of wine, though no vines grew  in those parts. The wine, and other goods,   were brought from far away, from their kinsfolk  in the South, or from the vineyards of Men in   distant lands. Bilbo discovered the trapdoors  and their use, and lurking there, listening   to the talk of the king's servants, he learned  how the wine and other goods came up the rivers,   or over land, to the Long Lake. From Lake-town  the barrels were brought up the Forest River.   Often they were just tied together like  big rafts and poled or rowed up the stream;   sometimes they were loaded onto flatboats”.  We do not know exactly what the Elves traded   in return for such goods, but when we meet the  Master of Lake-Town we are given some hints.   “The Master hesitated and looked from one to  the other. The Elvenking was very powerful in   those parts and the Master wished for no enmity  with him, nor did he think much of old songs,   giving his mind to trade and tolls, to cargoes  and gold, to which habit he owed his position”.   This implies the Elves were perhaps trading  in gold. When Thranduil learns about Thorin’s   quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain, he  states “no treasure will come back through   Mirkwood without my having something to say in  the matter”. Perhaps revenue from river-tolls   allowed the Elves to trade for goods they could  not acquire from gathering or hunting in Mirkwood.  The Elves had minimalist lifestyles using what  Ilúvatar had already created for them, Arda.   They traded when they needed things,  but for the most part, they did only   what they had to survive long enough to  one day make the great journey to Aman. The realms of the Elves existed in a large part  because of their special relationship with magic   and nature, but like all the other races in middle  earth, even they required trade from time to time.   Readers can be forgiven to believe  the Elves simply lived their lives in   solitude and grandeur, living off the land  and requiring no aid from the other races.   One has to look quite closely to see the instances  when the Elves extend their hand towards others,   seeking out those goods and services that make  their long lives easier and more comfortable.   While the Dwarves and Elves were  heavily based upon Germanic mythology,   another race in middle-earth was based more so  on world history. Tolkien’s realms of Men, while   also built from mythology, were blended with the  rich history of many civilizations from our world.   One only has to look at certain towns,  great cities or the realms themselves   to see the influence some of our historic  civilizations instilled upon Tolkien's work.   Take for example the western and eastern Roman  empire and how their histories resemble that of   the kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor. Much like how  the mythical founding of Rome came about from the   fall of Troy, so did the founding of Arnor and  Gondor from the fall of Numenor. Arnor’s tale   was that of the fallen western roman empire and  Gondor was that of the declining Byzantine empire.   The Men of Tolkien's work come in all  sorts, representing various cultures   and histories and much like in our world, they  required trade to amass such grand kingdoms.   We will now explore the lives of realms  in exile, that of Arnor and Gondor. When Men emerged in Arda, they encountered other  races, such as the Dwarves, with whom they built   an economic and symbiotic relationship with.  “Men held them in awe and were eager to learn   from them; and the Longbeards were very willing to  use Men for their own purposes. Thus there grew up   in those regions the economy, later characteristic  of the dealings of Dwarves and Men. Men became the   chief providers of food, as herdsmen, shephards,  and land-tiller, which the Dwarves exchanged for   work as builders, roadmakers, miners, and the  makers of things of craft, from useful tools to   weapons and arms and many other things of great  cost and skill”. Eventually, this relationship   between man and dwarf, which had originated  upon the exchange of goods, evolved into a   military alliance to fend off the dark forces  which threatened their respective homelands.   An arrangement that benefited both races’  war efforts against the infamous Orcs.   “No Dwarf would ever mount a horse willingly, nor  did any ever harbour animals, not even dogs. But   Men were glad of the alliance, for they were more  vulnerable to the attacks of the Orks: they dwelt   largely in scattered homesteads and villages, and  if they drew together into small townships they   were poorly defended, at best by dikes and wooden  fences. Also they were lightly armed, chiefly with   bows, for they had little metal and the few smiths  among them had no great skill. These things the   Dwarves amended in return for one great service  that Men could offer. They were tamers of beasts   and had learned the mastery of horses, and many  were skilled and fearless riders. These would   often ride far afield as scouts and keep watch  on movements of their enemies; and if the Orks   dared to assemble in the open for some great  raid, they would gather great force of horsed   archers to surround them and destroy them.”. The  symbiotic relationship between Men and Dwarves   would serve certain groups throughout the ages,  though Men would venture on their lonesome also.  After the downfall of Numenor in S.A 3319, the  faithful such as Elendil and his sons Isildur and   Anarion sailed from port Romenna to the shores of  Middle earth. From there they would establish two   great kingdoms. Elendil and his folk landed in  Lindon and spread across Eriador, founding the   great cities of Fornost and Annuminas, the  latter of which became the capital of the   kingdom of Arnor in S.A 3320. Meanwhile, Elendil’s  sons Isildur and Anarion landed at the Mouths of   Anduin, and ascended the great river until they  came to Pelargir. In that region, they founded   the southern Kingdom of Gondor and built the  cities of Osgiliath, Minas Ithil and Minas Anor.   Elendil, Isildur and Aranion each held a  palantiri allowing them to communicate.   From Numenor came extraordinary knowledge of  stonework that was put to good use erecting mighty   works within Gondor such as the Crown of Gondor,  the Argonath, the great stone city of Minas Arnor.  As these two great Kingdoms grew, many roads were  built that aided trade and development between   them, such as the Great East Road and the Great  West Road. The Great North-South Road was built   by Numenoreans during the second age, linking the  kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor at the bustling port   of Tharbad. “though it was still long before they  had the need or sufficient men to undertake the   great works of drainage and dyke-building that  made a great port on the site where Tharbad   stood in the days of the two Kingdoms. Both  kingdoms shared an interest in this region,   and together built and maintained the Bridge  of Tharbad and the long causeways that carried   the road to it on either side of the Gwathlo and  Mitheithel. A considerable garrison of soldiers,   mariners and engineers had been kept there  until the 17th century of the 3rd age”.   Tharbad acted as the literal bridge between the  two kingdoms and one of its most predominant   centers of trade for both land and sea,  bringing prosperity to both domains. However,   in the centuries that followed, the relationship  between both kingdoms would undergo great strain   as they went through respective hardships, such  as Arnor’s with Angmar, and Gondor’s struggle with   Sauron during the War of the Ring. Eventually,  however, the two realms were reunited under King   Elessar ushering in the 4th age, and restoring  the interconnected and prosperous networks of   commerce that had once existed between them. For the most part, the exact economic life of   everyday people in the Kingdom of Arnor is  shrouded in mystery, especially during its   eras of strife. An exception to this rule lies  in the village of Bree, where thanks to its role   in the story of a quartet of fateful Hobbits, we  receive instances of an economic network at work   within its walls. For example, when all the horses  and ponies are stolen from Barliman Butterbur’s   stable in Bree, the Hobbits and the ranger Strider  ask Mr. Butterbur if he could acquire some more   for them. “Bill Ferny’s price was twelve silver  pennies; and that was indeed at least three times   the pony’s value in those parts. It proved to be a  bony, underfed, and dispirited animal; but it did   not look like dying just yet. Mr. Butterbur paid  for it himself, and offered Merry another eighteen   pence as some compensation for the lost animals.  He was an honest man, and well-off as things were   reckoned in Bree; but thirty silver pennies was a  sore blow to him, and being cheated by Bill Ferny   made it harder to bear”. Thus from this we know  the worth of a pony in silver pennies, and if Bree   is any indication of the greater trading network  of Arnor, then silver pennies must have been the   standard currency of the whole kingdom. Silver  pennies are shown elsewhere in Arnor such as   when Gandalf is unloading his cargo of fireworks  when visiting the Shire for Bilbo’s birthday “When   the old man, helped by Bilbo and some dwarves, had  finished unloading, Bilbo gave a few pennies away;   but not a single squib or cracker was forthcoming,  to the disappointment of the onlookers”.   Pennies seem to be the lowest form of currency  in the Arnorish economy. The silver pennies   likewise may have been part of an even larger  trade network going as far south as Gondor.   “The Hobbit word tharni was an old word for  ‘quarter’ seldom used in ordinary language,   where the word for ‘quarter’ was tharantin ‘fourth  part’. In Gondor tharni was used for a silver   coin, the fourth part of the castar (in Noldorin  the canath or fourth part of the mirian)”.   This seems to indicate the silver pennies  of Arnor and Tharni could be one in the same   if not equivalent. Likewise it shows  us Elves had words for such currency,   indicating they also partook in this economy. The reasons why the two separate kingdoms   of Gondor and Arnor had a similar if not  shared currency was self-evident: for trade.   Infact, we know of one item that was traded  back and forth: pipe-weed. “ the weed itself   is not native to our parts of the world, but came  northward from the lower Anduin, whither it was,   I suspect, originally brought over Sea by the Men  of Westernesse. It grows abundantly in Gondor,   and there is richer and larger than in the North,  where it is never found wild, and flourishes only   in warm sheltered places like Longbottom. The Men  of Gondor call it sweet galenas, and esteem it   only for the fragrance of its flowers. From that  land it must have been carried up the Greenway   during the long centuries between the coming of  Elendil and our own days. But even the Dúnedain   of Gondor allow us this credit: Hobbits first put  it into pipes”. While pipeweed may have originated   in Numenor and before being imported to Gondor,  its use for smoking originated in the Shire.   Thus, being so close to the lands of the Hobbits,  the village of Bree would be where pipe-weed as   a smoking commodity would spread throughout the  land. “ certainly it was from Bree that the art   of smoking the genuine weed spread in the recent  centuries among Dwarves and such other folk,   Rangers, Wizards, or wanderers, as still  passed to and fro through that ancient   road-meeting. The home and centre of the art  is thus to be found in the old inn of Bree,   The Prancing Pony, that has been kept by the  family of Butterbur from time beyond record”.   The fact that pipeweed could be spread so  quickly and to so many diverse peoples is a   testament to the intricate road networks  built by the men of Arnor and Gondor,   and this most likely meant many other  goods also traveled these roads.  Thus far, we have focused our analysis  mostly on the Kingdom of Arnor, which,   sandwiched between the Blue Mountains and the  Iron Hills, thrived off a bountiful trading   relationship with the neighbouring dwarves.  However, this advantageous geography was   not shared by Gondor, which, situated much  farther south, was a degree more isolated.   Let us then examine how the economy of the men of  Gondor differed from their Arnorian siblings. The   Kingdom of Gondor was divided into regions known  as fiefs, each under the rule of a lord who owed   their allegiance to a King, or later Stewards,  of Gondor. At the pinnacle of Gondor’s history,   she held numerous fiefs all of whom provided her  with a population and a military. Men of war were   not all the fiefs provided, take for example,  the contributions of the fief of Lossarnach.   “Its upper valleys were renowned for their  flowers, and below them there were great orchards,   from which at the time of the War of the Ring much  of the fruit needed in Minas Tirith still came.   It goes without saying Gondor required agriculture  to sustain its populace and Lossarnach was one of   many fiefs that provided foodstuff. Beyond it,  many other Gondorian fiefs provided different   types of vittles, “The hardiest of the people  were engaged in fishing: fish were abundant,   and at all times one of the chief sources of  food for Númenor”. Indeed, fishing was a practice   with a long history in the region of Gondor,  predating even the arrival of the Numenorians.   “they went in the course of years seeking a  place for lives of their own, and at last they   settled at the mouth of the Morthond. There was  already a primitive harbour there of fisherfolk,   but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the  mountains”. This aforementioned Morthond existed   in the fief of Anflas, which appears to have  been the primary fishery of the Gondorian realm.  Granted, they were not the only ones. The fief  of Ethir Anduin likely also dealt in the trade   of fish. There was also the great port city of  Pelargir where it seems the export of seafood   would continue into the fourth age, as we hear  about the story of Saelon of Pelargir during “the   New Shadow”.“We get too few real sailors these  days. Fish are more profitable. But at least   all know that the west coasts are not safe for  the unskilled.” The men were not unskilled; they   were sons of fishermen. And there have been no  storms off the coasts for a long time”. Pelargir   was the main harbor of Gondor and host to its  grand navy, which regularly did battle with   the realm of Umbar, whose legendary Corsairs  would become a menace to Gondor and its fiefs.   “In T.A 1634 learning through spies that Minardil  was at Pelargir, Angomaite and Sangahyanda,   leaders of the Corsairs of Umbar, great-grandsons  of Castamir, made a raid up Anduin, slew the king,   ravaged Pelargir and escape with great booty”.  Here, we can see that the Seaborne wealth of   the Gondorians had become attractive enough  that it had become subject to piracy at the   hands of foreigners, not just of the corsairs, but  also by the Haradrim and other forces of Sauron.  Let us now take a look at Gondor’s iconic,  multi-tiered capital: Minas Tirith.   Here, we can see a complex structure that must  have taken intensive economic activity to build.   Take for example the first level of Minas Tirith,  “Lampwrights' Street, a broadway running towards   the Great Gate. In it he found the Old Guesthouse,  a large building of grey weathered stone with two   wings running back from the street, and between  them, a narrow greensward, behind which was the   many-windowed house, fronted along its whole  width by a pillared porch and a flight of steps   down on to the grass”. Paved roads, stonework, a  grand inn, streets lit by lamplight showcased the   first level of the grand city. The splendors  of the guarded city only continued as one   ascended. “ into the high circles of the City,  and in the light of morning they went their way   towards the Houses of Healing; and these were  fair houses set apart, for the care of those who   were grievously sick, but now they were prepared  for the tending of men hurt in battle or dying”.  Trade of all sorts could be found in Minas Tirith  proving it to be a robust and magnificent city.   Perhaps a good real-world parallel would be the  city of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern   Roman Empire, and the most prosperous  city in Europe during the middle-ages.   Tolkien himself leaned into this parallel.  Therefore, it is no coincidence that,   just like the Western Roman Empire collapsed  long before its Eastern counterpart in our world,   the western kingdom of Arnor declined  before the eastern kingdom of Gondor. The great realms in exile of Arnor and Gondor  are akin to our own world's historic western and   eastern roman empire. Much like how the western  Romans and eastern Byzantines were threatened by   powerful eastern and southern enemies such as  the Turks and Goths, likewise Arnor and Gondor   were threatened by the Easterlings and Southrons.  During the third age, these two kingdoms were the   pinnacle civilizations of Men though both were  in decline. Their prowess of state building,   metallurgy, agriculture, fishery and of course  trade allowed them to flourish for centuries.   However they were certainly not alone for other  great realms of Men existed. Tolkien drew from   our world history and its mythologies to create  unique groups of peoples to populate middle earth.   While Arnor and Gondor were founded by the  Numenoreans who resemble a people similar to   that of the Romans, the Northmen were more akin  to that of northern Europeans also referred to   as Norsemen. Not only do they resemble them,  the language of the Northmen is derived from   old norse. The Northmen diverge into two  major groups of people, one closer to that   of northern Scandinavians and the other more  akin to Ostrogoths and medieval Anglo-Saxons.   These hardy folk dispersed from the north of  Middle earth founded great cities and realms   of their own and in order to do so required  trade of course. We will now explore the lives   of the descendants of the Northmen, that of the  merchants of Dale and the horse lords of Rohan. “When the invasions of the Wainriders began, the  Northmen bore the brunt of the first assault.   King Narmacill II took a great army north into the  plans south of Mirkwood, and gathered all that he   could of the scattered remnants of the Northmen,  but he was defeated, and himself fell in battle.   As for the Northmen, a few, it is said, fled  over the Celduin and were merged with the   folk of Dale under Erebor, some took refuge  in Gondor, where they were joined by many   fugitives who came through the Forest.  This was the beginning of the Eotheod”.   During the third age, the descendents of  the Northmen would found two great kingdoms:   Dale and Rohan. Those that made the journey  northeast to Dale did so because they were drawn   towards the great wealth of the Dwarf-Kings of  Erebor. “It was told under the year TA. 2590 that   Thror founded the realm of Erebor and became King  under the Mountain”, and as Thorin Oakenshield   told Bilbo “my grandfather was King under the  Mountain again and treated with great reverence by   the mortal men, who lived to the south, and were  gradually spreading up the Running River as far   as the valley overshadowed by the Mountain. They  built the merry town of Dale there in those days.”  The economic relationship between Dwarves and Men  began from the offset with the trade of food-stuff   by Men for the goods and services of Dwarves and  it would be no different in the case of Dale.   “Kings used to send for our smiths, and reward  even the least skilful most richly. Fathers would   beg us to take their sons as apprentices, and  pay us handsomely, especially in food-supplies,   which we never bothered to grow or find for  ourselves. Altogether those were good days for us,   and the poorest of us had money to spend and  to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things   just for the fun of it, not to speak of the most  marvelous and magical toys, the like of which is   not to be found in the world now-a-days.  So my grandfather's halls became full of   armour and jewels and carvings and cups, and the  toy-market of Dale was the wonder of the North.”   By and large, the interconnected cities of  Erebor and Dale prospered with the exchange   of goods and services, which was likely exported  all over middle-earth, earning great renown.  Unfortunately the prosperity and wealth of  these two nations brought forth the Dragon   Smaug who slew Man and Dwarf alike during his  desolation. “After that there were no dwarves left   alive inside, and he took all their wealth for  himself. Probably, for that is the dragon's way,   he has piled it all up in a great heap far inside,  and sleeps on it for a bed”. While the Dwarves   made their sad journey out of Erebor, the Men of  Dale gradually built Esgaroth, better known as   Lake-Town. While Smaug slumbered upon the wealth  of the mountain, Lake-Town was forced to make ends   meet by means of meager trade. When Bilbo was  in the Elven King’s halls cellar he came across   a network of commerce that existed between the  Woodland Elves and the Men of Lake-Town. “There   stood barrels, and barrels, and barrels; for the  Wood-elves, and especially their king, were very   fond of wine, though no vines grew in those parts.  The wine, and other goods, were brought from far   away, from their kinsfolk in the South, or from  the vineyards of Men in distant lands. Listening   to the talk of the king's servants, he learned  how the wine and other goods came up the rivers,   or over land, to the Long Lake. From Lake-town  the barrels were brought up the Forest River.]”   Some of that wine was from Dorwinion, a far away  land to the northwest of the Sea of Rhûn which   would have been traded to the Men of Lake-Town  who in turn traded with the Woodland Elves.   We are given further hints as to what the Men  of Lake-Town exported when Biblo examines some   barrels in the Elven King Halls cellar: “among  them were several others which had been used for   bringing other stuffs, butter, apples, and  all sorts of things, to the king's palace”   Moreover, we are also given clues as to what  the Men of Lake-Town imported for when we   are introduced to the Master of Lake-Town. “ The  Master hesitated and looked from one to the other.   The Elvenking was very powerful in those parts  and the Master wished for no enmity with him,   nor did he think much of old songs, giving his  mind to trade and tolls, to cargoes and gold,   to which habit he owed his position”. It seems  the Woodland Elves traded gold earned from their   river tolls to get goods from the people of  Laketown that they could not obtain themselves.  While the men of the north founded Dale, TA 2590,  some decades earlier in 2510, some of their kin,   the Éothéod were called to arms. “A great  host of Orcs, with Easterlings as allies,   assail the northern borders of Gondor, and occupy  a great part of Calenardon. Gondor sends for help.   Eorl the Young leads his people, the Éothéod or  Rohirrim, out of the North from the sources of   Anduin, and rides to the help of Cirion, Steward  of Gondor. With his aid the great victory of the   Field of Celebrant is won. Elladan and Elrohir  rode also in that battle. From that time forth   the brethren never cease from war with the Orcs  because of Celebrían. Eorl and his people are   given the plains of Calenardon to dwell in, and  that land is now called Rochann (Rohan). There the   Rohirrim live as free men under their own kings,  but in perpetual alliance with Minas Tirith.”   Thus Rohan emerged as an independent  kingdom with allegiance to Gondor.  The Rohirrim were skilled horsemen, both master  and breeders of the finest horses such as the   famed Mearas. It is plausible they traded  in horses as well, though as we learn during   the meeting of the fellowship when Gandalf  speaks about his conversation with Gwaihir,   they did not often give them away. “Gandalf  asked ‘Are the Men of Rohan still to be trusted,   do you think?’ Gwaihir replied ‘They pay a tribute  of horses, and send many yearly to Mordor, or so   it is said; but they are not yet under the yoke.  But if Saruman has become evil, as you say,   then their doom cannot be long delayed.’ ‘Not this  at least,’ said Boromir, ‘that they will buy their   lives with horses. They love their horses  next to their kin. And not without reason.”  If the Rohirrim did not often trade horses, they  most certainly traded riches, of which they seemed   to have plenty. For, before they became the  Rohirrim, certain Éothéod earned great fame   and fortune. “Frumgar, they say, was the name  of the chieftain who led his people to Éothéod.   Of his son, Fram, they tell that he slew  Scatha, the great dragon of Ered Mithrin,   and the land had peace from the long-worms  afterwards. Thus Fram won great wealth,   but was at feud with the Dwarves, who claimed  the hoard of Scatha. Fram would not yield them   a penny, and sent to them instead the  teeth of Scatha made into a necklace,   saying: "Jewels such as these you will not match  in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by”.   The great hoard of Scatha would make another  appearance by the end of the War of the Ring.   “Éowyn gave to Merry an ancient horn, small  but cunningly wrought all of fair silver with a   baldric of green; and wrights had engraven upon it  swift horsemen riding in a line that wound about   it from the tip to the mouth; and there were set  runes of great virtue. 'This is an heirloom of our   house,' said Éowyn. 'It was made by the Dwarves,  and came from the hoard of Scatha the Worm”.   So by all accounts it seems this hoard was large  enough to last centuries, which would have come in   handy for the Rohirrim who were in great need of  goods to help them fend off the forces of Sauron.  By and large, metallurgy was abundant in Rohan, as  we see in Theoden’s offer to Aragorn, Legolas and   Gimli before setting off to Dunharrow “And to you  my other guests I will offer such things as may be   found in my armoury. Swords you do not need, but  there are helms and coats of mail of cunning work,   gifts to my fathers out of Gondor. Choose from  these ere we go, and may they serve you well!'”   The smithies of Gondor it seems produced much for  the Rohirrim and they would have much need for it,   for one of their greatest enemies were the  Dunlendings whom sought the Calenardhon   for themselves. “But for all their hatred  the Dunlendings were still afraid of the   Rohirrim if they met face to face, and they  were also less skilled in warfare and less   well armed. 11 The shieldwall still  held, They were without body-armour,   having only among them a few hauberks gained by  theft or in loot. The Rohirrim had the advantage   in being supplied by the metal-workers of Gondor:  The alliance between Gondor and Rohan would last   for centuries, and it certainly involved much  economic activity often as a result of war.   “In 2885 Turin fought a battle with the Haradrim  in South Ithilien and defeated them with aid from   Rohan; but the sons of King Folcwine of Rohan,  Folcred and Fastred, fell in this battle. Turin   paid Folcwine a rich weregild of gold.” The  military alliance between the 2 kingdoms was   of vital importance and Gondor made sure to  compensate the Rohirrim for their loyalty.  Because the military assistance to Gondor was  so vital, the Rohirrim developed a professional   military that consisted almost exclusively of  cavalry. The “King’s Host”, as they were called,   were divided into units called Éoreds, “a full  Éored, in a battle order was reckoned to contain   not less than 120 men, including the Captain, and  was one hundredth part of the “Full Muster” of the   Riders of the Mark. If the King were to ride out  with his Éored, this was called a King’s Company.   The Marshal of the Mark was the highest military  rank and the title of the King’s Lieutenants,   commanders of the royal forces of  fully equipped and trained Riders.”  We have already mentioned that Tolkien admitted  to taking certain inspirations for his works from   our world, such as Gondor. In a letter Tolkien  wrote to Milton Waldman in 1951 he explained,   “Half-ruinous Byzantine City of Minas Tirith.  Its history fades slowly to decayed Middle-Age,   a kind of proud, venerable, but  increasingly important Byzantium”.   Then again in 1955 Tolkien wrote a letter  to Jennifer Brookes-Smith identifying   Gondor as Italy and “Pelargir as  Venice and Lossarnach as Assisi”.   When you take this into consideration you can see  how the people of Rohan and Dale may have also   been inspired by certain pieces of our world.  For example Tolkien represents the Rohirrim   with Anglo-Saxon culture and language, while  their ancestors were given Gothic attributes.  An example of this can be seen in the Golden Hall  of Meduseld built by Brego son of Eorl in T.A   2569. In the past, Tolkien had worked extensively  on translating the old English epic Beowulf,   and Meduseld shares a striking similarity  to the mead-hall Heorot, better known as the   “golden hall” of King Hrothgar, which is present  in the Beowulf poem. As pointed out by Elizabeth   Solopova, Tolkien had a particular fascination  with the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields,   where the Western Romans and their Germanic  allies fended off the hordes of Atilla the Hun,   and as such, the battle of Pelennor fields shares  major parallels with that historical battle.   In the Catalaunian fields, the Visigoth  King Theodoric is thrown off his horse,   as was Theoden in Pelennor, and both are  trampled by their horses while rallying their   men and later are carried from the battlefield  with their forces weeping and singing for them.   Furthermore, after slaying the Witch King of  Angmar during the battle of Pelennor fields,   “Éowyn also won renown, for she fought in that  battle, riding in disguise; and was known after   in the Mark as the Lady of the Shield-arm”. It  does seem like Tolkien took inspiration for Éowyn   from our world as indicated in the passage when  she speaks with Faramir “I stand in Minas Anor,   the Tower of the Sun, she said; and behold the  Shadow has departed! I will be a shieldmaiden   no longer, nor vie with the great Riders,  nor take joy only in the songs of slaying”.   The Rohirrim take a lot of inspiration  from the Germanic Goths who held stories   of shieldmaidens in their sagas. Looking deeper,  many names of the early kings and princes of the   Northmen are of Gothic origin], and much like the  Ostrogoths, the Rohirrim were a mounted culture.  The stark parallels between our world and  middle earth are not exclusive to Rohan,   and they can also apply to the Kingdom of Dale. In  a letter to Naomi Mitchison on April 25th of 1954,   Tolkien explained that the common Speech of  Middle-Earth during the third age was “Westron”   and that the language of the Rohirrim was a  modified version of old English while the language   of Dale and Esgaroth was a modified Scandinavian.  Furthermore, according to John D. Rateliff,   Bard the Bowman has a strong similarity to Wiglaf  of Beowulf, whom both face a dragon and their   weapons both perish after achieving their goal. The Rohirrim, Men of Dale and Esgaroth shared a   common ancestry through the Northmen and went  on to become integral parts of the economies   of the north and south. They also held rich  language and cultures that displayed the depth   of Tolkien’s work and what in our own world  may have possibly inspired their creation. The realms of Men are richly built from mythology  and history of our own world. Their great cities   are reminiscent of some of our own such as Minas  Tirith and Constantinople and the Golden Hall of   Meduseld and the Mead-hall of Heorot. Even  events such as the battle of Pelennor field   were influenced by the battle of Catalaunian  field. Tolkien was greatly influenced by the   beauty and wonder of our own world and its rich  history, and this was extended even towards the   darker parts of his world. Tolkien was heavily  influenced by the industrialization he saw in   the English midlands and the horrors of  the western front during the Great War.   Themes from both of these would be used for the  creation of the realms of Isengard and Mordor,   places where nature is being destroyed by industry  and machines of war are destroying life itself.   The evil of Tolkien’s world uses industry,  corruption and slavery, but it must also use trade   in order to sustain such vast territorial control.  The Men working alongside the dark lords did not   do so for free and would be rewarded for their  cruel efforts. Even the Orcs who seem bent into   thralldom out of sheer fear and domination, took  part in the economy of middle-earth. We will now   venture beyond the pale of good, and explore how,  simply or not, one survives in the land of Mordor. The Dark Lord Sauron was the greatest subversive  Maia and most trusted lieutenant to Morgoth. Thus,   when Morgoth fell, Sauron found himself in control  of his erstwhile master’s great host of thralls:   the Orcs. Morgoth held the Orcs in dire thraldom;  for in their corruption they had lost almost all   possibility of resisting the domination of his  will. When Morgoth was at last removed from Arda,   the Orcs that survived in the West were scattered,  leaderless and almost witless, and were for a long   time without control or purpose. This servitude  to a central will that reduced the Orcs almost to   an ant-like life was seen even more plainly in the  Second and Third Ages under the tyranny of Sauron,   Morgoth's chief lieutenant. Sauron indeed achieved  even greater control over his Orcs than Morgoth   had done. He was, of course, operating on a  smaller scale, and he had no enemies so great   and so fell as were the Noldor in their might in  the Elder Days. But he had also inherited from   those days difficulties, such as the diversity  of the Orcs in breed and language, and the feuds   among them; the Orcs recovering from their  helplessness had set up petty realms of their   own. Morgoth created the Orcs, but it was Sauron  who inherited them. Yet, despite appearances,   he did not have full control over them. During the Third Age, Sauron re-established his   dominion in Mordor, whereupon he started to breed  armies and build war machines with the purpose of   conquering all of middle-earth. Yet despite his  infernal realm being quite unlike the rest of the   world in many ways, Mordor was not unique in that  it required food production, labor and trade in   order to sustain a prolonged war. Throughout  Tolkien’s various works, we receive various   tidbits which relate to us the nature of economic  activity in Mordor, and that of Orcs in general.   For example, in 2790 TA, Dwarf-King Thror  revisited the lost Dwarven city Moria,   seeking to restore the abandoned realm of  Khazad-dum, but was attacked by the orc war-chief:   Azog the Defiler. Azog killed and beheaded Thror,  proclaiming himself king over Moria. After this   defeat, Thror’s companion, Nar, waited 3 days  to retrieve the King’s body, until Azog decided   to use him as a messenger, resulting in this  passage: 'Drop it! Be off! Here's your fee,   beggar-beard.' A small bag struck him. It held a  few coins of little worth. While this mockery of   wergild does not necessarily indicate a fully  structured Orc economy, it does show us Orc's   understood the value of currency. This also gives  us some evidence as to why Orc’s plunder such   items as gold, perhaps it was used for trade. We  also hear another instance when Pippin and Merry   are captured by Orcs and they are bickering over  their orders. 'I am Ugluk. I command. I return   to Isengard by the shortest road.' 'Is Saruman the  master or the Great Eye?' said the evil voice. 'We   should go back at once to Lugburz.' 'Maybe, maybe!  Then you'll fly off with our prisoners, and get   all the pay and praise in Lugburz, and leave us to  foot it as best we can through the Horse-country.   This indicates a reward system for Orcs from  Sauron, though we have no way of knowing if   it's monetary. Perhaps the payment an  Orc could receive was food or prestige.  One thing we do know is that not all  Orcs were always enthralled to Sauron,   with the Orcs of Gundabad and the Misty Mountains  ostensibly having no ties to the fallen Maiar.   Take for example Goblin-town, which had its own  semi-independent ruler the Goblin King. We get   some instances of what Orcish independence was  like from conversations between Shagrat and Gorbag   `We'll see. But anyway, if it does go well, there  should be a lot more room. What d'you say? - if   we get a chance, you and me'll slip off and set  up somewhere on our own with a few trusty lads,   somewhere where there's good loot nice and  handy, and no big bosses.' 'Ah! ' said Shagrat.   `Like old times.' During times when Sauron was  concealing himself, the Orcs became accustomed   to independence and formed petty realms  of their own such as Gundabad and Moria,   the latter existing in the husk of a Dwarven  city. Taking this into account it would seem   that in order to maintain his dominion over Orc’s,  Sauron had to provide something aside from fear to   keep them in thraldom, that thing may have been  the most basic need of sentient beings: food.  Like Elves, Dwarves and Men, Orcs need sustenance,  and Tolkien’s works provide us with plenty of   references to the dietary habits of Orcs. As Ugluk  mentioned to Snaga “How do you folk like being   called swine by the muck-rakers of a dirty little  wizard? It's orc-flesh they eat, I'll warrant.'   'I know,' growled Ugluk. 'The cursed horse-boys  have got wind of us. But that's all your fault,   Snaga. You and the other scouts ought to have  your ears cut off. But we are the fighters. We'll   feast on horseflesh yet, or something better.'  But for us you'd all have run away. We are the   fighting Uruk-hai! We slew the great warrior.  We took the prisoners. We are the servants of   Saruman the Wise, the White Hand: the Hand that  gives us man's-flesh to eat’. Well, just about   any reader of Tolkien knows the most popular item  on the menu for Orc’s is meat and just about any   kind at that. Yet, just as there is a common  misconception that all elves are vegetarians,   so too is there a misconception that all Orcs  are exclusively carnivores. When Pippin and   Merry are captured by the Orcs they see more than  flesh being devoured. “An Orc stooped over him,   and flung him some bread and a strip of raw dried  flesh. He ate the stale grey bread hungrily,”.   The presence of the grey bread would also indicate  somewhere there was an Orc bakery of sorts,   a rather odd image. But for there to be bread, it  begs the question, where are they obtaining grain?  When Frodo and Sam gazed over the dark lands of  Gorgoroth they “They wondered how the Lord of   this realm maintained and fed his slaves and his  armies. Yet armies he had. As far as their eyes   could reach, along the skirts of the Morgai and  away southward, there were camps, some of tents,   some ordered like small towns”. Gorgoroth was  devoid of life, a literal wasteland where only   tangled brambles grew. Sam asked Frodo “Don't orcs  eat, and don't they drink? Or do they just live   on foul air and poison?' Frodo replied “No, they  eat and drink, Sam. The Shadow that bred them can   only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of  its own. I don't think it gave life to the orcs,   it only ruined them and twisted them; and if  they are to live at all, they have to live like   other living creatures. Foul waters and foul  meats they'll take, if they can get no better,   but not poison. They've fed me, and so I'm  better off than you. There must be food and   water somewhere in this place.'” Of course, we  know Orcs eat and drink, but if Gorgoroth was   full of Sauron’s armies and slaves without any  sustainable agriculture, how was he feeding them?   Neither Sam nor Frodo knew anything of the great  slave-worked fields away south in this wide realm,   beyond the fumes of the Mountain by the dark  sad waters of Lake Núrnen”. Indeed, Lake Nurnen   provided lands fertile enough to require slaves  to work it. Perhaps it was in Nurn where grain   was harvested to make bread. The lands of Nurn had  to be exceedingly productive, because they would   become a large reward for those who underwent  the horrors of slavery at the hands of Sauron.   During the end of the Return of the King it  is said that after Aragorn was crowned as   King Elassar “embassies came from many lands  and peoples, from the East and the South,   and from the borders of Mirkwood, and from Dunland  in the west. And the King pardoned the Easterlings   that had given themselves up, and sent them away  free, and he made peace with the peoples of Harad;   and the slaves of Mordor he released and gave to  them all the lands about Lake Núrnen to be their   own. And there were brought before him many to  receive his praise and reward for their valour;   and last the captain of the Guard brought to  him Beregond to be judged. So from this we   can gather the fertility of Nurn was abundant,  and with the need for slaves to be brought in,   Nurn must have been capable of sustaining  most if not all of Saurons Mordor forces.  Speaking of slaves, we know that during the  War of the Ring, Sauron’s armies attacked   the realms of men often, such as when the  Wainriders assaulted Gondor slaying King   Narmacill II in 1856 TA and enslaved the  peoples of eastern and southern Rhovanion.   In order for Mordor to receive their bounty of  goods and slaves from reaches as far as Rhovanion,   a tributary ally with a navy was crucial.  This ally was of course the Corsairs of   Umbar who enjoyed more independence from  Sauron than the Easterlings or Haradrim.   The Corsairs assailed Gondor and its Fiefdoms for  ages to horrifying effect. During the Return of   the King Aragorn attacked the Corsairs and rescued  many slaves. “And then to each of the great ships   that remained Aragorn sent one of the Dúnedain,  and they comforted the captives that were aboard,   and bade them put aside fear and be free. That  night we rested while others laboured. For there   were many captives set free, and many slaves  released who had been folk of Gondor taken in   raids; and soon also there was a great gathering  of men out of Lebennin and the Ethir, and Angbor   of Lamedon came up with all the horsemen that  he could muster”. The Corsairs were a crucial   component of Mordors military and logistical  network. With their formidable navy, Umbar allowed   Sauron to extract countless slaves and booty back  to Mordor from the far reaches of middle-earth.  Other than enslaving their enemies, Mordor  acquired a vast amount of slaves and goods   from their tributary allies such as the  Southrons and the Easterlings. As told to   us in the Return of the King “ the great roads  that ran away east and south to tributary lands,   from which the soldiers of the Tower brought long  waggon-trains of goods and booty and fresh slaves.   Here in the northward regions were the mines and  forges, and the musterings of long-planned war;   and here the Dark Power, moving its armies like  pieces on the board, was gathering them together”.   The tributaries of Mordor paid homage to Mordor  not only in goods, but in the vast amounts of   slaves who worked the fields of Nurn. We also see  that in Gorgoroth, there were mines and forges,   making war machines and weapons which could have  been traded back to Mordors’ tributary allies.   Perhaps Mordor supported its tributaries  with weapons and equipment much like how   Gondor did so for Rohan. We also know from  the historic relationship between Men and   Dwarves that the dominant economic activity  of Men was that of agriculture, so it is to   be expected the tributary lands also provided some  foodstuff to help Sauron feed hungry Orc mouths.   Thus, it seems as if slavery and tributary  goods perhaps were enough to meet Mordor’s   needs. However, it did not stop Mordor from  also attempting trade to make ends meet.  In the Two Towers, we hear many rumors about Rohan  paying tribute to Mordor. 'Then you do not pay   tribute to Sauron?' said Gimli. 'We do not and we  never have.' said Eomer with a flash of his eyes;   'though it comes to my ears that that lie has  been told. Some years ago the Lord of the Black   Land wished to purchase horses of us at great  price, but we refused him. for he puts beasts   to evil use. Then he sent plundering Orcs, and  they carried off what they can, choosing always   the black horses: few of these are now left. For  that reason our feud with the Orcs is bitter”.   Thus it seems Mordor at least attempted to trade,  most likely by offering riches from their mines in   Gorgoroth, but it was ultimately to no avail. When  push came to shove, Sauron opted to simply steal   the black horses, whether it was for cavalry or  perhaps just for meat. We also know Mordor had a   particular need for riches outside its territory  as seen with the raids of other Orc groups.   ‘No one knows,’ said Gandalf. ‘None have dared  to seek for the armouries and treasure chambers   down in the deep places since the dwarves fled.  Unless it be plundering orcs.‘They came here   because of Mithril,’ said Gandalf. ‘It was for  that that Moria was of old chiefly renowned,   and it was the foundation of the wealth and  power of Durin: only in Moria was mithril   found save rarely and scantily.‘They give it in  tribute to Sauron, who has long been gathering   and hoarding all that he can find. It is not known  why: not for beauty, but for some secret purpose   in the making of weapons of war.’ The Orcs  plundered places like Moria for its weaponry,   treasures and most importantly for Mithril which  Sauron coveted for some secret weapon? Being the   craftsman of the One Ring, whatever purpose he had  for Mithril, it must have been terrible indeed.  Sauron’s Mordor was a slavery-dominated economy.  It seems Sauron maintained order within Mordor and   his loyal forces outside it using a system of  reward, and by providing necessary sustenance   to his minions. We may never know the fine details  of how Sauron administered his domain over groups   such as the Orcs, trolls and so forth, but we  do know for a military to march it has to eat.   While it can be argued Sauron controlled Orcs  through fear, fear alone did not keep them alive   to help him conquer Middle Earth. Sauron like  any ruler had to deal with the logistics of   empire building and Mordor was not easy by any  means to support. Through his evil cunning he   was able to build a sophisticated system that used  slavery, pillaging and tribute to make ends meet. The lands of Mordor were sustained by the  hardship and misery of a slave labor force   which was provided mostly by their eastern and  southern allies. Many readers have pointing out   parallels to our own world, seeing Mordor akin  to Nazi Germany. Tolkien would have argued his   inspiration for Mordor was better found in the  works of Beowulf such as seen in the wilderness   that Grendel dwelled. And of course there was the  large influence of the industrialized English west   midlands and the trenches of the Great war that  aided in creating the horror of Mordor. Yet Mordor   was not alone, there were two towers afterall.  Saruman emulated much of what Sauron did with   Mordor to make his own version of the industrial  version of hell that was Isengard. If Mordor is   to be seen as Nazi Germany, than Isengard would be  a closer fit to that of Vichy France. To take this   allegory a step further one can consider the Mouth  of Sauron to be reminiscent of Vidkun Quisling.   During World War Two, Quisling became a nefarious  term for that of a traitorous collaborator.   Much like the treaty imposed upon  Vichy France, the Mouth of Sauron   was promised Isengard as a reward as soon  as Gondor and her allies surrendered.   Isengard alongside the lands of the Easterlings  and Southrons provided Mordor with the additional   forces it required to maintain dominance over  Middle-Earth, but armies do not march on empty   stomachs. Trade was the key to empire building  and now we will explore the lives of the Men of   the East, who chose to live their lives and build  their society under the shadow of a dark lord. During the first age, while many of the first  ancestors of men chose to befriend the ancient and   immortal Elves, there were those who feared them  and fled east. “dissensions awoke among the Edain,   in which the shadow of Morgoth may be discerned,  for certain it is that he knew of the coming of   Men into Beleriand and of their growing friendship  with the Elves”. Indeed after the Dagor Bragolach,   the swarthy Easterlings appeared secretly  under the dominion of Morgoth and invaded   the people of Hador, “and they oppressed  them, and took their lands and their goods,   and enslaved their children”. After Morgoth fell,  the Easterlings would go masterless for a while,   but as the second age began, the dark  lord Sauron continued Morgoth’s work,   corrupting the men of the east. During  the third age, the Easterlings of Rhun,   the southeastern people of Khand and the southern  Haradrim formed a confederacy which attacked the   west in T.A 1851“The Wainriders were a people,  or a confederacy of many peoples that came from   the east; but they were stronger and better armed  than any that had appeared before. They journeyed   in great wains, and their chieftains fought in  chariots. Stirred up, as was afterwards seen,   by the emissaries of Sauron, they made a sudden  assault upon Gondor, and King Narmacil II was   slain in battle with them beyond Anduin in 1856.  The people of eastern and southern Rhovanion   were enslaved; and the frontiers of Gondor were  for that time withdrawn to the Anduin and the   Emyn Muil”. Much like how the Mongolian horde  came suddenly out of the steppe in our world,   the Wainriders continued to pour fourth, pillaging  and capturing the western peoples of Middle earth   to work as slaves in Sauron’s great fields of  Nurn. In return for being provided with said   slaves, Sauron repaid the Easterlings with forged  goods and foodstuffs, while installing titles   upon them and deceiving them into believing  they would soon rule the lands to the west.  Alongside the men of the east were the men of the  south. The aforementioned Haradrim, or Southrons,   were an independent people mostly isolated from  the rest of middle earth until the second age.   During the age of King Tar-Ciryatan the  shipbuilder, the men of Numenor exacted   tribute and oppressed the Haradrim, often killing  and enslaving them. Sauron also had influence   among the southrons during this time, but he was  not strong enough to challenge the Numenoreans.   However, after Numenor’s downfall, Sauron  returned to the south to assert his control there.   “With the aid and counsel of Sauron  they multiplied then: possessions,   and they devised engines, and they built  ever greater ships. And they sailed now   with power and armoury to Middle-earth, and  they came no longer as bringers of gifts,   nor even as rulers, but as fierce men of  war. And they hunted the men of Middle-earth   and took their goods and enslaved them, and  many they slew cruelly upon their altars”.   Much like the how Easterlings raided the  north, the Haradrim would invade the south,   procuring slaves for Sauron who would reward  them greatly with engines, armoury and titles.  One of the mightiest of Sauron’s allies were the  corsairs of Umbar, which had once been one of the   great seafaring colonies of the Numenorians.  In S.A 2280, after the downfall of Numenor,   Umbar was made into a great fortress, where it  would become a refuge for Numenorian refugees who   chose to cast their allegiance to Sauron, known  henceforth as Black Númenóreans. “The rebels   of Umbar had never ceased to make war on Gondor  since the death of Kastamir, attacking its ships   and raiding its coast at every opportunity.  ... Learning through spies that Minardil was   at Pelargir, suspecting no peril since the  crushing of Harad and Umbar by his father,   Angomaite and Sangahyanda, leaders of the Corsairs  of Umbar, great-grandsons of Kastamir, made a   raid up Anduin, slew the king, ravaged Pelargir  and the coasts, and escaped with great booty”.   Much like the great Ottoman Corsairs of our world,  the Corsairs of Umbar pillaged and enslaved great   numbers of peoples, especially from Gondor and  Rohan. “Four years later (2758) great troubles   came to Rohan, and no help could be sent from  Gondor, for three fleets of the Corsairs attacked   it and there was war on all its coasts. At the  same time Rohan was again invaded from the East,   and the Dunlendings, seeing their chance,  came over the Isen and down from Isengard.   It was soon known that Wulf was their leader.  The were in great force, for they were joined   by enemies of Gondor that landed in the mouths  of Lefnui and Isen”. The Corsairs of Umbar,   Easterlings and Southrons all benefited from a  system of tribute to the dark lord of Mordor. By   sending Sauron shipments of booty and slaves, they  benefited from the services of Gorgoroths forges.   “Here in the northward regions were the mines and  forges, and the musterings of long-planned war;   and here the Dark Power, moving its armies like  pieces on the board, was gathering them together”.   Sauron's metallurgy kept his allies well equipmed,  allowing them to pursue their lust for pillage,   resulting in a mutually beneficial system  of trade. The invasions of the Easterlings   and Southrons would menace the free  peoples of Middle Earth for centuries,   allowing further groups like the Dunlendings  to grab the opportunity for their own benefit.  The Dunlendings, or wild hill men, were rough  analogue to the Celtic Britons of our world,   and held a centuries old  grievance against the Rohirrim.   The seeds of that Dunlendings hatred lay  in an ancient dispute over the rich land   of Calenardhon which the Rohirrim had been  granted by Gondor. Whenever the Dunlendings   saw an opportunity to seize territory or goods  from the Rohirrim they were quick to set upon it.   “But under Brego and Aldor, the Dunlendings were  rooted out again and driven away beyond the Isen,   and the Fords of Isen were guarded. Thus the  Rohirrim earned the hatred of the Dunlendings,   which was not appeased until the return of the  King, then far off in the future. Whenever the   Rohirrim were weak or in trouble the Dunlendings  renewed their attacks”. Because of this, the white   wizard Saruman did not have very far too look when  he required allies for his cause. However, it was   not merely their hatred of the Rohirrim that  brought the Dunlendings into Saruman's service.   “But for all their hatred the Dunlendings were  still afraid of the Rohirrim if they met face to   face, and they were also less skilled in warfare  and less well armed. 11 The shieldwall still held,   They were without body-armour, having only  among them a few hauberks gained by theft   or in loot. The Rohirrim had the advantage in  being supplied by the metal-workers of Gondor.   As we had seen before, the forces of Rohan  were well armed by Gondorian smiths. Thus,   something of great value that Saruman could offer  to the Dunlendings was in weaponry and armory.   As a weary Rohirrhim soldier reported  “All Isengard must be emptied;   and Saruman has armed the wild hillmen and  herd-folk of Dunland beyond the rivers,   and these also he loosed upon us. We were  overmastered. The shield-wall was broken.”.   During the climactic battle of Helm’s Deep, we see  the Dunlendings side by side with the Orcs, armed   and armoured with the metal panoply of Saruman’s  forges. “The enemy surged forward, some against   the Deeping Wall, others towards the causeway  and the ramp that led up to the Hornburg-gates.   There the hugest Orcs were mustered, and the wild  men of the Dunland fells. A moment they hesitated   and then on they came. The lightning flashed, and  blazoned upon every helm and shield the ghastly   hand of Isengard was seen. They reached the  summit of the rock; they drove towards the gates.”   Much like how Sauron used his forges in Gorgoroth  to feed the needs of his neighbours in return   for slaves, the forges of Isengard likewise did  the same to employ the wild hillmen of Dunland,   who may also have procured slaves. “Beneath  the walls of Isengard there still were acres   tilled by the slaves of Saruman; Thousands  could dwell there, workers, servants, slaves,   and warriors with great store of arms; wolves  were fed and stabled in deep dens beneath”.   Saruman imitated Sauron in most things,  which is why see the two towers emerge,   both of which required an abundance of slaves.  For Saruman’s tower, these were most likely   captured by the Uruk-hai and Dunlendings. While  Saruman's forges provided the vast amount of   payment for the Dunlendings war effort, it may  have not been the wildlings source of bounty.   When Erkenbrand captured some Dunlendings  during the War of the Ring, he said to them   “For you have been deluded by Saruman. Many of you  have got death as the reward of your trust in him;   but had you conquered, little better would  your wages have been”. While pillaging suited   the Dunlendings, payment in wages perhaps  was a better means to barter for such wild   people who had dealings as far as the shire. Indeed, the Dunlendings dealt in commerce with   the Halflings. When the Hobbits met Strider  in Bree Frodo noticed a squint-eyed southerner   who “looks more than half like a goblin”.  This man was a Dunlending agent of Saruman,   sent to procure pipeweed and information. Saruman  had employed Dunlendings for war, but he also   hired them for other services. “Saruman had long  taken an interest in the Shire. He liked to extend   his power, especially into Gandalf’s province,  and he found that the money he could provide for   the purchase of ‘leaf’ was giving him power, and  was corrupting some of the Hobbits, especially the   Bracegirdles, who owned many plantations, and  so also the Sackville-Bagginses. He therefore   began to collect detailed information about the  Shire, its chief persons and families, its roads,   and other matters. For this he used Hobbits  within the Shire, in the pay of the Bracegirdles   and the Sackville-Bagginses, but his agents were  Men, of Dunlendish origin. A ruffianly fellow,   an outlaw driven from Dunland, had returned  from the borders of the Shire, where he had   been negotiating for the purchase of ‘leaf’ and  other supplies. This man was now on his way back   to continue the business, and to arrange for the  transport of many goods before autumn failed”.   It seems Saruman used some form of money, perhaps  a similar coinage to that of Eriador and Gondor,   to procure pipeweed, and hired Dunlendings  and Hobbits alike for this venture.  Another key actor hired by Saruman was Grima  Wormtongue, who was to receive a hefty payment   for his dealings as a spy and to weaken the  ailing Theoden using deceit and poisons. Gandalf,   however, exposed Grima “Down on your belly! How  long is it since Saruman bought you? What was the   promised price? When all the men were dead, you  were to pick your share of the treasure, and take   the woman you desire? Too long have you watched  her under your eyelids and haunted her steps”.   Grima would never receive payment  for his dubious services, and would   ultimately share the same sad fate as  Saruman, becoming a beggar in Dunland.   When the fellowship ran into Saruman in Dunland,  he said to them “You don’t care what a beggar   lacks, do you? For you have all you want, food and  fine clothes, and the best weed for your pipes. Oh   yes, I know! I know where it comes from. You would  not give a pipeful to a beggar, would you?’ ‘You   can have what I have got left,’ said Merry. He  handed Saruman a leather pouch. ‘Take what there   is,’ he said. ‘You are welcome to it; it came  from the flotsam of Isengard.’ ‘Mine, mine, yes   and dearly bought!’ cried Saruman, clutching at  the pouch. ‘This is only a repayment in token!”.   Though Saruman had fallen on economic  hard times, the scouring of the shire   proved to be an incredibly lucrative investment.  “though where he got the money was a mystery:   mills and malt-houses and inns, and farms, and  leaf-plantations. He’d already bought Sandyman’s   mill before he came to Bag End, seemingly. A lot  of Men, ruffians mostly, came with great wagons,   some to carry off the goods south-away, and  others to the scouring of the shire. And   more came. And before we knew where we were they  were planted here and there all over the Shire”.   To procure so much pipeweed and property would  have cost much indeed, this perhaps is what   drove Saruman to require more and more slaves  to keep the great forges of Isengard running.  The dark allies to Sauron were bound by  middle-earth's vast economic systems.   Many sought weaponry and armory to help their  raiding and pillaging which in turn allowed   them to pay for such goods. Slaves were a  crucial component both to be procured and   in turn work fields for sustenance in the  dark lands of Nurn. Saruman, like Sauron,   utilized a slavery system to produce goods that  could be traded. In this manner, the allies of   Sauron all contributed economically, for armies  do not march on empty stomachs nor empty-handed. One of Tolkien’s more famous quotes was,  "I cordially dislike allegory in all its   manifestations, and always have done so since I  grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.   I much prefer history – true or feigned– with  its varied applicability to the thought and   experience of readers. I think that many confuse  applicability with allegory, but the one resides   in the freedom of the reader, and the other  in the purposed domination of the author."   Although Tolkien hated allegories, ever since  the publication of his work, many readers have   found countless allegories, such as Lord of the  Rings and that of the Great War. Tolkien prefered   his work to be applicable to the real world  rather than having to be held up by allegory.   He spent a considerable amount of thought to the  withertos and whyfors of everyday life in his   world, and this leads many to believe he simply  forgot to include mention of economic activity.   As the reader peels back the many layers of  his works, you can see this to not be the case.   While it is true Tolkien was a philologist, and  not an economist, this does not mean he did not   have a deep understanding of such matters. His  works incorporated economic activity as a matter   of fact, something that is always there in the  background. When we read many myths or stories   of our own world’s history, do the authors of  such tales always delve deeply on the economic   activity of our past? In order for the grand  civilizations to maintain themselves within   Arda they all required trade in some form.  The Hobbits led a non-industrialized agrarian   society with a small government and a small  internal economy with limited external trade.   The Dwarves benefited from an interdependent  trade network based on specialised labour,   further aiding the economies between Men and  Elves. Elves lived mostly off the land, utilizing   magic and trade to fill the gaps of their needs.  Men were the great cultivators of foodstuffs and a   sort of harmony was met through the trade amongst  all the children of Iluvatar. Even the forces of   Evil succumbed to the necessities of trade as  seen with Sauron and his copycat Saruman, in   their slave based economies, trading forged goods  for slaves to work their fields and smithies.   While at the surface it looks like there  was not too much thought placed upon the   dealings of trade, upon a closer look there  is always more to this than meets the eye.  We are planning to cover the lore of many other  fantasy, sci-fi, and space opera universes,   so make sure you have subscribed and pressed the  bell button! Please, consider liking and sharing,   as it helps immensely, and don’t forget to  comment - we will try to read and respond to   every comment as we want to know what you think  about this video and which videos you hope to see   in the future! This is the Wizards and Warriors  channel and we’ll catch you on the next one!

Channel: Wizards and Warriors

Views: 561,738

Keywords: hobbiton, bywater, shire, scouring, aftermath, Black Gate, pelargir, pelennor, fields, aragorn, imrahil, gandalf, theoden, eomer, osgiliath, rammas echor, faramir, gondor, Helm's deep, saruman, battles, fords, of, isen, arnor, rohan, Kings and Generals, Lord of the Rings, Elrond, Elendil, Isildur, Sauron, elf, dwarves, humans, men, war of the last alliance, battle, documentary, middle earth, Middle-Earth, animated, fantasy, sci-fi, wizards, warriors, hobbits, decisive battles, history, lore, sauron, orks, rings, pelennor fields

Id: B86jAx_gPPU

Length: 110min 56sec (6656 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 23 2022