There are
Minor Characters in Tolkien's works???
Seriously, though.... I cannot think of many that I could narrow it down sufficiently.
Obviously... my Namesake (Marhwini), Marhari, and Vidugavia, Vidumani, Vidumavi, etc.
I just realized that I misspelled my own damned User Name... It should be Marhwini... I wonder if I can correct that. How embarrassing.
But the Northmen of Rhovanion (Foradan or Adanforodh) would be among those I would like further details regarding.
I am doing a sort of Fictional Historical account of the Wars of Gondor and the Wainriders in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries of the
Third Age, beginning with the Wainriders invasion of Rhovanion in 1850, just after Narmacil II's ascension to the Throne from Telumehtar Umbardacil's death that year (the First Attacks were not until 1851, but they would have had to crossed into Rhovanion in late 1850).
And I would not be unhappy to have more information concerning both the Easterlings (of the
First Age, and the
Second Age or
Third Age) of all types.
During the
First Age, we have names for the 'Easterlings' taken directly from Viking names (or, more specifically, Jomsviking names).
The Anglo-Saxons of England even called the Viking Invaders of the 9th - 11th Centuries "Easterlings."
And even among the Norse and Scandinavians themselves the Jomsvikings (And Rus) were "Easterlings."
Later in the
Second and
Third Ages, the Easterlings seem to have characteristics similar to the Hunnic, Bulgar, Magyar, or other "Steppe Nomads" that invaded Christian Europe, not the least the Mongols, Timurids, or Khurasanis, Kwarismians.
And one of the characteristics of some of these groups is that they carries their houses (yurts) around on Great Huge Wagons (Wains).
And the Chinese of this period still used large Chariots, which Tolkien even mentions (which he would have known of) the Easterlings using. The Mongols even had such Chinese Troops in their armies at times.
Even though that is just speculation, it is curious that there are a small smattering of suggestions that Tolkien was thinking of these peoples when thinking of Easterlings...
And I would
LOVE to have seen him take more consideration of these peoples.
The Southrons/Haradrim, and Khandirim would likewise have provided a rich tapestry of peoples to enrich Middle-earth.
Tolkien at least gives us a word for the people of Khand: Variags, which is another spelling of Varyag.
Some people have erroneously attributed this word to mean "Vikings."
What it
IS is a description by the Byzantines of the Pagans they would hire as the Royal Guard: Varangians, whom were referred to also as "Varyags."
Varyag is a term to refer to the Kievan Rus employed by the Byzantines. They have an appearance that is similar to that Tolkien used for the people's of Khand (shortish Men, with broad shoulders, and dark beards similar to those of dwarves). But it can also apply to the peoples of the Magyars, Pechengs, and Khazar Khanate also employed by the Byzantines for the Varangian Guard.
That is an awful lot of speculation for just one word. But Tolkien did often use single words for just such indications.
As for the Haradrim, we have just the suggestion of the "Far-Haradrim," described as "Troll-Men." They are described as great Black-skinned Warriors, with Red Tongues. This sounds very much like the description of a Sub-Saharan Black African. The Sub-Saharan Africans lived in the "Far-South" of Africa (at least compared to the Mediterranean regions of Africa). And in "Near-Africa" we have living the Islamic Maghreb. Where during the Middle Ages (8th century - present) the Muslims conquered the Christian remnants of the Roman Empire.
In Middle-earth, Harad represents the regions of the world where Sauron corrupted the inhabitants, who previously had been ruled by the Númenóreans.
So... We have only slight evidence, but there does seem to be an eerily similar context to the histories involved.
And while Tolkien did not do "Allegory" (at least not intentionally), this isn't an allegorical comparison (it isn't making an outright moral statement). But it does seem to be somewhat derivative, rather than Allegorical.
But one does wonder, given that the languages Tolkien invented are themselves derived from real-world languages (Saxon, Gothic, Norse, Finnish, Hebrew, Hurrian, Akkadian, etc.) that perhaps the civilizations themselves were derived from real-world counterparts?
It would be interesting to explore the Dwarves in that context as well. But it would have been nicer if Tolkien had left something more explicit than linguistic clues, as helpful as those are.
MB