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appendix a 1395
and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all
the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after,
and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.
‘Here ends this tale, as it has come to us from the South; and
with the passing of Evenstar no more is said in this book of the
days of old.’
II
THE HOUSE OF EORL
‘Eorl the Young was lord of the Men of Éothéod. That land lay
near the sources of Anduin, between the furthest ranges of the
Misty Mountains and the northernmost parts of Mirkwood. The
Éothéod had moved to those regions in the days of King Eärnil
II from lands in the vales of Anduin between the Carrock and
the Gladden, and they were in origin close akin to the Beornings
and the men of the west-eaves of the forest. The forefathers of
Eorl claimed descent from kings of Rhovanion, whose realm lay
beyond Mirkwood before the invasions of the Wainriders, and
thus they accounted themselves kinsmen of the kings of Gondor
descended from Eldacar. They loved best the plains, and
delighted in horses and in all feats of horsemanship, but there
were many men in the middle vales of Anduin in those days,
and moreover the shadow of Dol Guldur was lengthening; when
therefore they heard of the overthrow of the Witch-king, they
sought more room in the North, and drove away the remnants
of the people of Angmar on the east side of the Mountains. But
in the days of Léod, father of Eorl, they had grown to be a
numerous people and were again somewhat straitened in the
land of their home.
‘In the two thousand five hundred and tenth year of the Third
Age a new peril threatened Gondor. A great host of wild men
from the North-east swept over Rhovanion and coming down
out of the Brown Lands crossed the Anduin on rafts. At the same
time by chance or design the Orcs (who at that time before their
war with the Dwarves were in great strength) made a descent from
the Mountains. The invaders overran Calenardhon, and Cirion,
Steward of Gondor, sent north for help; for there had been long