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There was a time during the second age when this part of Middle-Earth was relatively peaceful. Morgoth had been removed and cast into the void, and Sauron had retreated into hiding for the time being. This is when Rings of Power takes place, when the Easterlings are a divided people and the chaotic Southlands was a lawless and bitter place.

5 The People of Rhûn

In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Easterlings are humans that live in the eastern part of Middle-Earth, a place called Rhûn, and had populated those lands by the Third Age. The people of Bronwyn in Rings of Power are the ancestors of these groups that lived in various places in Middle-Earth during the Second Age, including parts of the Southlands.

4 Ulfang The Black

One of the most notorious and reviled traitors according to the Elven view of Middle-earth history, Ulfang was an Easterling who was partly responsible for one of the greatest tragedies in the history of Arda. This incident was perhaps even more egregious than the destruction of the Two Trees was the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, or the Battle of Unnumbered Tears.

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Six great battles took place over the Silamrils, and Nírnaeth Arnoediad was the second to last one. It did not go well for the Eldar, and the result was Morgoth’s dominance over most of Middle-earth. One of Feanor’s sons, Caranthir, was allied with Ulfang the Black, an Easterling Chieftain, but he was secretly working for Morgoth and betrayed his Eldar allies during the battle. In a moment of irony, he and his equally unfaithful sons were killed in the battle by another Easterling, Bór, who remained loyal to the Elves.

3 Khamûl, King And Ringwraith

By now, most fans of the books or movies can recite the lines of the famous poem. Of these, the one for Men is: “nine for the mortal men doomed to die.” One of the nine Kings of Men that was offered a ring of power was King Khamûl, an Easterling who ruled in Rhûn, and he became the second most powerful of Sauron’s lieutenants.

Khamûl spent a thousand years as the commander of Sauron’s forces in Dol Guldur, but when his Master called in the Third Age, he mounted a dark horse and rode west to the Shire. He was the Ringwraith that asked Farmer Maggot where Frodo was, and pursued the Hobbits to the Buckleberry Ferry. He took over as leader after Emowyn killed the Witch-king of Angmar, and met his final end on the slopes of Mount Doom when trying to apprehend Frodo.

2 The Cult Of Melkor

In episode five of Rings of Power, some mysterious and sinister-looking figures in white arrive to inspect the place where the Stranger landed. They have yet to be identified, but during this period in Middle-Earth, there was a religious cult that worshipped Melkor, the Valar who is also known as Morgoth. Sauron started this cult in Numenor. It involved burnt offerings, a massive temple, and human sacrifices, among other sordid things. Elendil wasn’t just an “elf-friend” but the leader of a group called The Faithful in Numenorean society that opposed the cult.

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These characters are from further east, specifically Rhûn, as producer Lindsey Weber revealed in an interview with TIME. The region that was loyal to Morgoth might also retain a cult loyal to Sauron. It’s possible that they aren’t looking for the Stranger at all, but scouting the parts of the Southlands, the future Mordor, on behalf of another master.

1 Hithlum And The Middle Men

The Easterlings that had served Sauron were relegated to an inhospitable northern region called Hithlum, and were not permitted to leave. When Saruman is making deals with some desperate humans in The Two Towers, these are some of the same people. However, not all the Easterlings that were trapped in Hithlum stayed there.

When the power of Morgoth was gone and Sauron’s influence had faded, plenty of the Easterlings that were previously starving in the frosty hills of Hitlum crossed the Blue Mountains. There, they found homes in southern regions like Harad and Khand. They were known as the Middle Men by other races and were mostly loyal to Sauron, until they were permanently subdued by King Elessar at the end of the Third Age.

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