The kingdom of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings has had many noble kings across three bloodlines, solidifying it as one of the more important nations of Middle-earth. When watching the Lord of the Rings movies in order, the kingdom of Rohan is not presented as a prominent area of Middle-earth until the second chapter. Only by the time of The Lord of the Rings: TheTwo Towers’ ending is Rohan solidified as one of the most powerful nations in the land and a great ally of Gondor during The War of the Ring.
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While upcoming Lord of the Rings movies are set to focus on characters from the Fellowship of the Ring, 2024’s War of the Rohirrim centered entirely on the nation of the horsemen. Set hundreds of years before The Lord of the Rings’ timeline, the film tells the story of one of Rohan’s most prominent kings as the history of the land is divulged. Both before and after War of the Rohirrim, Rohan’s many kings led the country to become a renowned ally in the world of Men, begging the question of whom each of its leaders was across Middle-earth’s four Ages.
19 Eorl the Young
Ruled Between TA 2510 – TA 2545
The first king of Rohan was named Eorl the Young, leader of a people called the Éothéod. The Éothéod lived to the north of Middle-earth, beneath the Gray Mountains, but grew too large for their small landmass. Eventually, a rider from Gondor arrived with a message for Eorl, begging for help in a conflict with men from the Middle-earth land of Rhûn.
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Eorl also started the tradition of the Rohirrim by taming a horse named Mansbane that killed his father. From then on, horses became synonymous with the Éothéod.
Eorl and 7000 horsemen rode south, winning the Battle of the Field of Celebrant. As thanks for their aid, the Steward of Gondor at the time provided Eorl and his people with the vast land of Calenardhon, renamed the Mark by Eorl and Rohan by Gondor. As such, Eorl became the first king of Rohan and the founder of the House of Eorl. From then on, the people of Rohan were known as Eorlingas, the sons of Eorl, and a long-lasting alliance between the kingdoms of Men was formed.
18 Brego
Ruled Between TA 2545 – TA 2570
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Brego was the first son of Eorl and succeeded the founder of Rohan. Brego’s reign was mostly uneventful, with the young king simply solidifying Rohan as a new kingdom of Middle-earth. Although this was a mostly peaceful reign, it was not short of significant developments for the fledgling nation. Edoras was named Rohan’s capital, and it was Brego who oversaw the building of the Golden Hall, which would house future kings for generations. After the death of his first son, Baldor, Brego lost the will to live and passed the kingship of Rohan to his second son, Aldor.
Aragorn’s horse in the
Lord of the Rings
trilogy was also named Brego, likely after the Rohan king.
17 Aldor
Ruled Between TA 2570 – TA 2645
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Aldor ruled Rohan after his father for 75 years, making him the longest-reigning king in Rohan’s history. His long-lasting rule saw Aldor dubbed “the Old” by the people of Rohan, bolstered by his age of 101. During this century, Aldor oversaw a prosperous time for the kingdom that involved solidifying what his forebears had built for Rohan as a leading kingdom of Men.
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During Aldor’s reign, small clashes broke out against the enemies of Rohan, the wild men known as the Dunlendings. These men were driven past the Gap of Rohan that exists between the Misty Mountains and the White Mountains, solidifying the country’s borders. This allowed for various areas of Rohan to be colonized by the Eorlingas, leading to a vast increase in the population of both the kingdom’s regular citizens and the warriors known as the Rohirrim.
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16 Fréa
Ruled Between TA 2645 – TA 2659
Given Aldor’s long life, his son Fréa was already elderly himself upon taking the crown of Rohan. This meant that Fréa’s rule of the horse lords was one of the shortest in the nation’s history, lasting only 14 years. This reign was uneventful given the peace ushered in by Aldor and Brego before him, allowing the Rohirrim to become one of The Lord of the Rings’ strongest armies and leading to the crowning of Fréa’s son, Fréawine.
15 Fréawine
Ruled Between TA 2659 – TA 2680
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Taking after his father, Fréawine’s reign as the fifth king of Rohan was mostly unchanging regarding major developments. Fréawine was a grandfather himself when his own grandfather, Aldor, passed the crown of Rohan to Fréa. By the time he became king, Fréawine was over 60 years old. This meant his reign lasted just over two decades as another peaceful era of Rohan endured.
14 Goldwine
Ruled Between TA 2680 – TA 2699
Goldwine was the sixth king of Rohan and, like his two immediate ancestors, presided over a peaceful Rohan thanks to the successful reign of Aldor the Old. Goldwine was also in his 60s before becoming king due to the long lives of Aldor and his descendants, overseeing another era of continued tranquility in Rohan. Given Goldwine’s name, it can be assumed that this was a period of wealth for Rohan too, likely due to the lack of war that lasted generations.
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13 Déor
Ruled Between TA 2699 – TA 2718
The son of Goldwine, Déor, was crowned the seventh king of Rohan upon the former’s death in 2718 of Middle-earth’s Third Age timeline. Thanks to the long life of Aldor, Déor’s great-great-grandfather, five generations of Rohan kings lived simultaneously upon Déor’s birth. Eventually, Déor became king, inheriting a peaceful kingdom at the age of 55.
Déor died in TA 2718 with no choice but to accept that a threat to the west of Rohan was rising…
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After generations of peace, Rohan faced some troubles during the reign of Déor. The Dunlendings, previously pushed west by Aldor the Old, began to raid Rohan once more. 11 years after Déor became king, he discovered that the Gondorian fortress of Isengard had been captured by the Dunlendings. Isengard’s strength meant the Rohirrim could not mount a siege, meaning Déor died in TA 2718 with no choice but to accept that a threat to the west of Rohan was rising.
12 Gram
Ruled Between TA 2718 – TA 2741
The raids against Rohan by the Dunlendings that began in Déor’s reign saw the rule of the eighth king of Rohan, Gram, be consumed by war. Gram was tasked with defending Rohan from the various attacks by the wild men, all while still unable to route them from Isengard. Gram’s 23-year-long reign was one filled with bloodshed and the struggle continued into the kingship of his son, Helm Hammerhand.
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11 Helm Hammerhand
Ruled Between TA 2741 – TA 2759
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One of the more prominent kings of Rohan was Helm Hammerhand. Helm inherited the aforementioned struggle against the Dunlendings from his father and grandfather, with this story being outlined by the time of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim‘s ending. Helm’s conflict with the Dunlendings boiled over into a clash with a landowner of Rohan named Freca, who possessed the blood of both wild men and the Rohirrim. After Helm’s unwitting murder of Freca during a brawl, the latter’s son, Wulf, traveled to Isengard and became the leader of the Dunlendings.
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This led to a period of uncertain peace as Wulf raised not only the wildman army against Rohan but also forces from the east and south, complete with war beasts like Mûmakil. Eventually, Wulf and his army laid siege to Rohan, routing Helm Hammerhand and his people from Edoras towards the fortress of the Hornburg. During the siege of Edoras, Helm’s sons, Haleth and Háma, were killed. This left Helm without an heir, leaving him, his daughter Héra, and his nephew Fréaláf to defend the Hornburg from Wulf’s army.
Helm Hammerhand’s actions during the siege of the Hornburg saw the fortress renamed in his honor, becoming
Lord of the Rings’
Helm’s Deep
from then on.
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Overall, Helm Hammerhand’s status as a legendary king of Rohan comes from his legacy during the war against Wulf. Helm, driven mad by grief and rage, committed single-handed raids against Wulf’s army during the siege of the Hornburg that was waged throughout the Long Winter. Helm even became viewed as a wraith by the men of Wulf’s army due to his speed, skill, and ferocity. Eventually, Wulf was found outside the fortress frozen solid, standing defiantly against the oncoming army and giving his successor as Rohan’s king the courage to push back Wulf and the Dunlendings.
10 Fréaláf Hildeson
Ruled Between TA 2759 – TA 2798
After Helm Hammerhand’s death in The War of the Rohirrim, he is succeeded by his nephew, Fréaláf. The deaths of Helm’s sons meant he had no rightful heir, yet his sister, Hild, had a son. Fréaláf was a steadfast ally of Helm Hammerhand and a loyal warrior of Rohan, lifting the siege of the Hornburg after his king’s death. Fréaláf, alongside a host of Rohirrim warriors, stormed Wulf’s army from the Dunharrow fortress high in the mountains and freed Rohan, drawing the attention of a familiar member of the Istari Order.
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|
Lord of the Rings Wizards/Istari |
Maiar/Valar Name |
Color |
|---|---|---|
|
Gandalf |
Olórin |
The Gray |
|
Saruman |
Curumo |
The White |
|
Radagast |
Aiwendil |
The Brown |
|
Unknown |
Alatar |
The Blue |
|
Unknown |
Pallando |
The Blue |
Fréaláf’s ascension to the throne of Rohan ushered in the second line of kings for the kingdom, considering it spawned from Hild rather than Helm himself. The remainder of Fréaláf’s rule was relatively peaceful yet no less important, with the king overseeing the rebuilding of Rohan. This, alongside his alliance with Gondor and The Lord of the Rings‘ Saruman the White who became lord of Isengard, saw Rohan enter a new age.
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9 Brytta Léofa
Ruled Between TA 2798 – TA 2842
Fréaláf’s son, Brytta, became the second ruler in Rohan’s second line of kings. Brytta’s rule was somewhat tumultuous, given that it fell to him to complete Rohan’s restoration after the war with the Dunlendings. This was mostly successful, with Brytta’s generosity earning him the title of Léofa, which means “beloved” in the Rohanese language. Beyond this, however, Brytta Léofa found himself reckoning with the aftermath of another war between the dwarves and orcs who dwelled in the Misty Mountains.
After the orcs were routed from their homes, they settled in the White Mountains to the south of Rohan. These orcs began raiding Rohan, leaving Brytta to organize the kingdom’s defense. This proved successful, with many believing that not a single orc was left in Rohan after Brytta’s reign.
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8 Walda
Ruled Between TA 2842 – TA 2851
Walda, the son of Brytta, has the shortest reign of any recorded kings of Rohan. Walda succeeded his father at the age of 62 and had a relatively peaceful beginning to his rule. Although it was believed that no orcs remained after Brytta’s reign, this was proved false as some orcs remained in the mountains near Dunharrow. These orcs assassinated Walda only nine years after he became the third king of Rohan’s second line, leaving his son to carry on the fight.
7 Folca
Ruled Between TA 2851 – TA 2864
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Walda’s son, Folca, was a passionate hunter of Rohan during the reign of his father and grandfather. After Walda’s death, Folca swore an oath that he would never hunt another animal until all orcs were driven from Rohan, avenging his father and Rohan’s former king. After 13 years, Folca routed the last orc from Rohan and vowed to hunt a great boar in honor of fulfilling his oath. Unfortunately, Folca succumbed to the wounds he sustained from his hunt, passing Rohan to his son.
6 Folcwine
Ruled Between TA 2864 – TA 2903
Folcwine’s early reign was relatively peaceful, with the king taking back the West-march from the Dunlendings and essentially reuniting the kingdom. Around 20 years later, Folcwine received word that a group of southern men called the Haradrim were seeking to conquer Gondor. Folcwine wished to aid Gondor as the leader of the Rohirrim himself, yet was counseled against it. Therefore, his oldest sons went in his stead, aiding their allies and honoring the Oath of Eorl which is symbolized in Lord of the Rings by the lighting of the Beacons and even referenced in The War of the Rohirrim.
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Sadly, Folcwine’s two sons were killed during the war. This left only Fengel, Folcwine’s youngest son, alive. Despite allowing Folcwine’s second line of Rohan kings to continue, Fengel was largely considered to be an unpromising prospect as the kingdom’s ruler. Nonetheless, Folcwine died in TA 2903, with Fengel taking his place as the leader of the Golden Hall.
5 Fengel
Ruled Between TA 2903 – TA 2953
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The primary source of Fengel’s unpromising nature as a king of Rohan came from his personality. Overall, Fengel was described as highly greedy and gluttonous, which caused many clashes between the king, his family, and the commanders of the Rohirrim. Fengel’s character defects were so extreme that his son, Thengel, left Rohan. Fengel’s reign was long, despite his unfavorable character, and his death in 2953 of the Third Age forced Thengel to reluctantly return to Edoras.
4 Thengel
Ruled Between TA 2953 – TA 2980
The sixteenth king of Rohan, and the seventh of the second line started by Fréaláf, was Thengel. Thengel only returned to Rohan after his father’s death and was initially hesitant to succeed Fengel as king. Nevertheless, Thengel did so and returned to Edoras with his Gondorian wife, Morwen. Thengel’s reign was mostly peaceful aside from raids by westerlings. Unbeknownst to Thengel and only revealed during the War of the Ring, these raids were conducted on the orders of one of Lord of the Rings’ Istari, Saruman.
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Thengel succeeded in repelling these raids while raising his five children. Four of these were daughters, one of whom sired children of her own: Éomer and Éowyn of The Lord of the Rings’ cast. Thengel’s second child, his only son, was Théoden. During his life, Thengel was served by Aragorn, who fought under the alias Thorongil as a Dúnedain ranger. After almost 30 years as king, Thengel passed away and was buried alongside his ancestors in the hills around Edoras.
3 Théoden
Ruled Between TA 2980 – TA 3019
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Aside from Helm Hammerhand, King Théoden is perhaps Rohan’s most famous ruler due to his role in The War of the Ring. Théoden’s reign saw the continuation of raids by a concealed Saruman in Isengard, as well as the rise in influence of Grima Wormtongue. Grima, a servant of Saruman, rose to prominence as an advisor to Théoden. Théoden eventually fell under a spell of subservience due to Grima’s – and, by extension, Saruman’s – manipulation of the king.
Théoden became an integral commander during The War of the Ring, from organizing the defense of Helm’s Deep to lifting the Siege of Gondor…
This saw Rohan plagued with raids by orcs, wild men, and Uruk-hai during Théoden’s reign, as outlined in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was only upon the visit of Gandalf the White, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli that Saruman’s hold over Théoden was broken and Grima was exiled from Edoras. After this, Théoden became an integral commander during The War of the Ring, from organizing the defense of Helm’s Deep to lifting the Siege of Gondor during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Théoden fell during the latter, ending the second line of Rohan kings.
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2 Éomer
Ruled Between TA 3019 – FA 63
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The reason behind Théoden being the last of the second line of Rohan kings was the death of his son, Théodred, when the former was under the influence of Saruman and Wormtongue. Théodred was killed defending Rohan from Saurman’s forces, leaving Théoden without an heir. Upon the king’s death, his nephew, Éomer, was crowned king of Rohan and the start of the kingdom’s third line of rulers.
Éomer was also instrumental in The War of the Ring as he lifted the Siege of Helm’s Deep, fought in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and fought in the climactic Battle of the Morannon. Éomer’s survival made him the rightful heir of Rohan, with his reign becoming one of widespread peace and prosperity. Rohan and Gondor became the Reunited Kingdoms, led by the relationship between Éomer and Elessar (Aragorn) and lasting long after their respective deaths.
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1 Elfwine
Ruled From FA 63 Onwards
Éomer’s rule as king was taken over by his son, Elfwine. Elfwine continued to lead Rohan into prosperity after The War of the Ring, maintaining the strengthened alliance between the kingdom and Gondor. Given the lack of information concerning what happened after Lord of the Rings, little of Elfwine’s reign is known, including when it ended. What is known, however, is that Elfwine is the 19th king of Rohan and the second ruler of the third line, proving just how integral the kingdom is to The Lord of the Rings.
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8.6/10 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a Fantasy film by director Peter Jackson and is based on The Two Towers book by author J. R. R. Tolkien. A sequel to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, this installment continues Frodo’s journey to take the One Ring to Mount Doom to destroy it.
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*Availability in US Release Date January 15, 2002 Runtime 179 Minutes Cast Elijah Wood , Ian McKellen , Viggo Mortensen , Orlando Bloom , Bruce Allpress , Sean Astin , John Bach , Sala Baker , Cate Blanchett , Andy Serkis Director Peter Jackson Writers Peter Jackson