Variags: Difference between revisions

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(There is nothing in the text or lore anywhere to support this assumption that Khand supplied Mordors horses or that they were a people of riders. If there is one, it has never once been sourced.)
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==Etymology==
==Etymology==
''Variag'' is a word of a [[Harad]] language<ref>{{HM|PM}}, [[The Appendix on Languages]]</ref>, but its meaning is unknown.
The meaning of ''Variag'' is unknown; it is, along with ''[[mûmak]]'' and ''[[Khand]]'', one of the few known words from the languages of the Men of the East and allies of Sauron.<ref>{{PM|II}}, p. 79.</ref>


==Inspiration==
==Inspiration==

Revision as of 00:06, 6 May 2016

Variags
People
John Howe - Variag.jpg
Physical Description
Lifespanshorter than Númenórean
DistinctionsAlliance with Sauron
Average heightshorter than Númenóreans
GalleryImages of Variags

The Variags were a little-known people who dwelt in the land of Khand.

History

They were allies of both Rhûn and Harad, to neither of which they belonged.

Khand was southeast of Mordor at the time of the War of the Ring.[1] The Variags were allied to Sauron or under the influence of Mordor, and twice came into the history of Gondor: first in T.A. 1944 when the Variags together with the Wainriders attacked Gondor,[2] and later during the War of the Ring when they fought at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. They were held in reserve in Osgiliath and were sent onto the battlefield by Gothmog after the death of the Witch-king. They were described as tall and ferocious warriors, wielding large battle-axes in combat and descending on their foes with great wrath.[3]

Etymology

The meaning of Variag is unknown; it is, along with mûmak and Khand, one of the few known words from the languages of the Men of the East and allies of Sauron.[4]

Inspiration

Variag is a Slavic word derived from Norse Varingar "mercenary people" (vár "contract"). The Varamgoa Guard were Norse body-guards of the Byzantine Emperor.

It has been suggested that Tolkien adopted the Slavic term to indicate that the Variags were possibly mercenaries serving a possible Lord of Khand.[5]

Portrayal in adaptations

Variags of Khand in MECCG

1982-97: Middle-earth Role Playing:

Variags, who speak the tongue Varadja, share ties with both Easterlings and Haradrim.[6][7]

1995-8: Middle-earth Collectible Card Game:

Variags of Khand is a Man Faction.

See also

References