#hild daughter of gram

[anghraine]

Felt like a Tolkien poll:

[ncfan-1]

So, I wanted to share a few thoughts/speculations I have on Fréaláf’s parentage after watching the War of the Rohirrim movie, because I welcome any and all opportunities to flex my speculative muscles. Because it does stand out to me that Fréaláf looks very different from the rest of his family, but looks quite similar in terms of colorings to Wulf, and I’m wondering if that wasn’t an intentional choice on the part of the filmmakers.

First thing’s first, the two details that made me start to speculate:

- One: Fréaláf is introduced in the royal court of Meduseld by a matronym and not a patronym. In the Appendices, Fréaláf is Helm’s nephew by his sister Hild, and in the royal court, Fréaláf is introduced as ‘Fréaláf Hildesson.’ Given the way Freca verbally attacks Héra, this does not seem like the kind of environment where a man would normally be going by his mother’s name and not his father’s, even if his mother was a princess of Rohan. It comes off more like the kind of environment where a man going by his mother’s name would do so because he has no other option, either because his father was unknown, was considered far too lowborn for his mother, or was such an outsider that he wasn’t really acknowledged in such a light. In short, this is the kind of environment where man going by a matronym would be extremely unusual, and quite possibly a mark of shame, and yet Fréaláf doesn’t bear it like it’s shameful.

One and a half: Centuries later, we will meet Éowyn and Éomer, who are also the niece and nephew of a king by his sister. But they are not called by a matronym, but instead by a patronym; they are known as Éomund’s daughter and Éomund’s son, respectively.

- Two: One of the features of the imperialist history of Númenor and its children-kingdoms is this specific detail. Part of the way Gondor justifies their friendship with Rohan to the snobs is to claim that the Rohirrim are distant relatives of the Dúnedain, specifically descendants of the House of Hador. This has no basis in reality. In reality, the Rohirrim are not actually related to the Dúnedain at all. You want to know who are distant relatives of the Dúnedain, though? The Dunlendings, who were treated exceptionally poorly by the Dúnedain and who were the prior inhabitants of Calenardhon, the land that would become Rohan before Gondor turned them out of their homes to give the land to the Rohirrim instead.

So Wulf is a distant relative of the Dúnedain, being a man of Dunlending heritage. The classic Dúnedain “look,” per se, is tall stature (taller than the men of the Rohirrim), dark hair, gray eyes, beardless, and, or it is so implied, darker skin than what is typical of the Rohirrim. Besides them not being of a taller stature than the other Rohirrim men, and Wulf having stubble, both Wulf and Fréaláf fit this look.

Fréaláf’s father is unknown. In the Appendices, he is simply known as being the sister-son of Helm Hammerhand, and his father’s name is unrecorded there, as it is in this film. One option, given his looks in this film, is that his father was a Dunlending, perhaps married to his mother as a political match arranged by Helm’s predecessor, his and Hild’s father Gram. According to canon, during Gram’s reign, the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings were often at war with each other, and a political marriage might have been part of a peace treaty at some point or another. Given the prevailing attitude towards the Dunlendings, Fréaláf’s father might well have been held as being too inferior to his mother for him to stand as his father’s son in the royal court, his maternal line instead being promoted.

The film drawing attention to the fact that political marriages between the royal house of Rohan and the nobility of Gondor are definitely a thing at this point in Rohan’s history points to an alternative theory, in that Hild might have been married to a nobleman of Gondor as part of a political match. However, in that case, I don’t see why he’d be going by the matronym. Gondor is Rohan’s greatest friend and ally, after all, and unless Fréaláf’s father was just an absolute nobody, the match would likely not have been considered beneath Hild at all.

I think I prefer the theory that Fréaláf’s father was a Dunlending, myself. This is not the kind of environment where men go by matronyms if their father is considered anyone worth knowing, and given the state of affairs between Rohan and Dunland, Fréaláf’s father, if a Dunlending, probably wouldn’t be considered worth knowing, especially if his marriage to Hild was part of, say, a failed peace treaty. It also adds another layer to the chip on Wulf’s shoulder, and an interesting layer to the familial dynamics among Héra’s family.

[lesbiansforboromir]

Seeing these promo images for the Rohirrim anime makes me worry yet more that this and RoP will just be Pete Jackson film nostalgia bait that will not be willing to stray too far from his version of the setting. I just really want to see a middle earth on screen that isn’t just his.

Right I'm gonna use this to talk about the War of the Rohirrim since people seemed confused.

So this is an anime film that was announced quite a few months ago now. All we got was the title screen back then and a general synopsis; the film would be centering Helm Hammerhand, the ninth king of Rohan, and his war with the Dunlendings during the fell winter. We also already had confirmation that it was going to be basically a part of the Warner Bros cinematic universe, Phillipa Boyens is writing it in part and visually year it's gonna be the films, which I agree is depressing.

A quick recap for you all is that the Dunlendings had held Isengard for a long while by the time he became king, (Saruman not yet set up there) and there had been a lot of warring between them. Gram, Helm's father, had been killed in battle. Freca was the leader of these Dunlendings at the time, but he also claimed royal rohirric ancestry and made a bid to marry his son, Wulf, to Helm's daughter.

Negotiations started off very badly and ended with Helm punching Freca SO HARD he just DIED so. More war after that. Though it was four years before Wulf began his assault upon Rohan. Now! Admittedly I had forgotten they had in fact gained the direct support of the Corsairs AND the Easterlings whilst ALSO engaging the Haradrim to attack Gondor. So Rohan and Gondor were both doubly beleaguered at the same time as the Long Winter came down upon them (probably orchestrated by Sauron). Hence, Gondor could not immediately come to Rohan's aid. Haleth, (helms son) was killed defending Edoras and Helm's army was defeated at the crossings of the isen river, forcing him to retreat into Helms Deep (originally called Suthburg, renamed after Helm in honour of this whole debacle). He held out there under siege for? Many months, can't remember how many. Essentially just... blowing his horn, wandering into the enemy camp, killing a bunch of them and then leaving again. He became a kind of horror story to the dunlendings. His other son Hama was also killed, leaving only his nephew, Frealaf, son of his sister Hild.

Essentially, as soon as the snows died down, Beregond (son of Steward Beren) came to Frealaf's aid and drove out the last of the Dunlendings after winning his own war against the corsairs and haradrim. But Helm died before that, literally just freezing stiff in the middle of battle, left standing like a terrifying corpse warrior. LIKE... The story is depressing as all hell. But like... honestly I'm more interested in this period of history than I am in the second age, especially because Beregond's one of my favourite Stewards, I love this guy.

But so getting back to the point, recently we got some concept art for the film.

So these are both obviously here to portray the attack at Edoras, where Haleth dies. Originally I was very confused by the lack of snow and abundance of Mumakil. I'm still thoroughly confused by the Mumakil, the only reason the Corsairs got up there was because they sailed over and marched up the the isen fords. Can you bring Oliphants on ships?? Idk! I GUESS.meme!! But I dont think the long winter set in until later on in their... siege... or did it? My refusal to look this up is just because I am sleepy uwu ANYWAY! Yes you can easily see it's just PJ's lotr edoras with brown lands and rustic utterly unadorned base architecture. And the dunlendings all look miserably 'uncivilised' and 'barbaric' which is even more depressing. But it's a good expectation setter and I just... hope that perhaps... when/if I see Beregond I will not be made too sad. ;v;

[arofili]

men of middle-earth ♞ house of éorl ♞ headcanon disclaimer

          Hild was the daughter of Gram and the younger sister of Helm. She was a mighty shieldmaiden, riding into battle alongside her brother against the enemies of Rohan; she was also a falconer, and hunted always with a bird of prey at her side. She wed the warrior Wulfstan and bore him a son, Ethelward, who grew into a soldier as great as his parents.           When Rohan was invaded by Dunlendings, Hild and her family fought along Crown Prince Haleth to defend Edoras from their enemies. As the battle turned ill, Haleth ordered his aunt and cousin to retreat with as many folk as they could gather. Though they were loath to abandon Meduseld, Hild and Ethelward obeyed his command, fleeing to Dunharrow. Wulfstan remained by the side of Haleth his prince, and both were slain when Wulf, leader of the Dunlendings, at last broke through into the Golden Hall and usurped the throne.           Hild and Ethelward endured the siege of Dunharrow through the Long Winter, entirely cut off from the other Rohirric refugees led by Helm in Súthburg. Wulf focused his siege upon the Deep, starving out Prince Háma and luring Helm out into the cold to his death, leaving Hild and Ethelward to plot for revenge.           Early in the spring, Hild and her son led a daring surprise raid against the Dunlendings in Edoras. Hild fell in the battle, wounding Wulf with her last blow and giving Ethelward the chance to slay the usurper. As the last remaining heir of the Kings of Rohan, Ethelward leaned upon the support of his cousin Saulwyn to earn the trust of the people, and was soon thereafter crowned King Fréaláf Hildeson, first of the second line of Kings.

[arofili]

men of middle-earth ♞ house of éorl ♞ headcanon disclaimer

         Gram was the son of Déor, and the eighth King of Rohan. Throughout his reign, the Rohirrim fought against the Dunlendings who had occupied the tower of Isengard in his father’s time and continued their raids on Rohan’s herds and horses. Like Déor, Gram was unable to drive his enemies out, but he held the defense of his lands and protected his people.           The wife of Gram was Cwendar, an herbalist who worked as a healer in Meduseld. She tended to the injuries of both her children, her son Helm and her daughter Hild, who were both mighty warriors in the service of their father the king.