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Old 02-14-2017, 08:52 PM   #5
Zigūr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Galadriel55 View Post
I find it curious that so many people associate the Variags with Russian people, not just on this thread. From the perspective of a Russian person, they're Scandinavian.

I haven't really thought much about who these people are in ME terms, but I suppose I subconsciously pictured them as sellsword Vikings, which sums up my knowledge of Varangians at that point. The Russian word for Varangian is literally Variag, so it was hard not to make the association.
I hope I haven't seemed too boorish for living up to that stereotype! I think your insight probably tells us something very definitive that might otherwise be lost on a primarily English-speaking audience. It seems very likely to me that Professor Tolkien would have seen it the way you do given his wide knowledge. As the article says, there is more than one instance in which Professor Tolkien seems to be "reusing a historically significant term in a way that most of his readers would not be expected to understand." I think this lends further credence to the idea of the Variags being related to the Northmen, who are the equivalents, I would say, of Scandinavians in Middle-earth.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mithadan View Post
I never considered the distinction between the Easterlings and the Variags.
I think it can be observed in things like the fact that the Wainriders "made alliance with men of Khand and of Near Harad", which suggests that its people were distinct from the various groups of Easterlings, and the fact that at the Pelennor we are told "Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand. Southrons in scarlet..." This suggests to me that Khand is seen as being distinct from Rhūn and Harad. It also shows, quite clearly I think, that the Men of Khand were not the "Easterlings with axes". I don't know where that blurring-together of ideas has come from but I've seen it a lot.

Judging by the article and Galadriel's comments, perhaps there is also a difference between the "Variags of Khand" and the "Men of Khand", the locals as it were. Perhaps there were two populations, one descended from the same branch of the tree of Men as the Easterlings and Haradrim and one descended from the Edain. I can imagine, for instance, a small "Northmen-descended" population which has survived over the centuries in a foreign place by working as "Variags" for Khand's ruler or rulers.

I know it's just speculation but I can't help but feel that this is a good example of how Professor Tolkien's work reveals the strengths of a very considered and judicious use of language; the received wisdom is that we know almost nothing about the Variags, but perhaps Professor Tolkien told us more than we realised with a single word.
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