The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Mercenaries in the third age(and middle earth more generally)

Huinesoron · 12-12-2017, 09:30 AM

Hmm. Well, the first thought that springs to mind is 'if they're willing to work for the Dark Lord for pay, the Free People ain't gonna want them'.

But there could be neutral parties in various wars who would neverthless join up with the Good side under the right circumstances.

The obvious example is Mablung and Beleg, who went along to the Nirnaeth despite that being 'the Noldor's war'. Though, of course, they weren't paid. And House Feanor's pet mortals in the Nirnaeth were basically working for land - oh, and did flip side because they were promised better pay, so they're fairly classic mercenaries.

In the later Second Age, I imagine Numenor could have acted along Roman/American Colonial lines in Middle-earth, giving gifts to some of the tribes to get them on-side against their less bribe-able neighbours. It's hard to imagine the Eldar acting as mercenaries for the Edain, but Durin's folk might have come to a similar arrangement as long as they thought it was for a good cause.

On to the Third Age... well, Gondor and Arnor were bound by treaty, and Angmar preferred to conquer (ie, Rhudaur) than buy in. I think the Riders were treaty-partners with Gondor, too - though before that, they may have been expert cavalry for hire.

Beyond that... we know Gondor did a lot of messing about in Harad, and it seems very likely that they would be open to offers like 'if you pay us, we'll attack them in the next valley'. They may have been the 'nice' Numenoreans, but they were still as arrogant as... well... Elves. ^_^

I think that's probably your best bet, if you want to look for evidence: scour the accounts of Gondor's wars in the south and see if you can find any hint of mercenary or client-kingdom behaviour.

12-12-2017, 09:30 AM	#2
Huinesoron Overshadowed Eagle Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea Posts: 3,780	Hmm. Well, the first thought that springs to mind is 'if they're willing to work for the Dark Lord for pay, the Free People ain't gonna want them'. But there could be neutral parties in various wars who would neverthless join up with the Good side under the right circumstances. The obvious example is Mablung and Beleg, who went along to the Nirnaeth despite that being 'the Noldor's war'. Though, of course, they weren't paid. And House Feanor's pet mortals in the Nirnaeth were basically working for land - oh, and did flip side because they were promised better pay, so they're fairly classic mercenaries. In the later Second Age, I imagine Numenor could have acted along Roman/American Colonial lines in Middle-earth, giving gifts to some of the tribes to get them on-side against their less bribe-able neighbours. It's hard to imagine the Eldar acting as mercenaries for the Edain, but Durin's folk might have come to a similar arrangement as long as they thought it was for a good cause. On to the Third Age... well, Gondor and Arnor were bound by treaty, and Angmar preferred to conquer (ie, Rhudaur) than buy in. I think the Riders were treaty-partners with Gondor, too - though before that, they may have been expert cavalry for hire. Beyond that... we know Gondor did a lot of messing about in Harad, and it seems very likely that they would be open to offers like 'if you pay us, we'll attack them in the next valley'. They may have been the 'nice' Numenoreans, but they were still as arrogant as... well... Elves. ^_^ I think that's probably your best bet, if you want to look for evidence: scour the accounts of Gondor's wars in the south and see if you can find any hint of mercenary or client-kingdom behaviour.