‘In 1974 the power of Angmar rose again, and the Witch-king came down upon Arthedain before winter was ended. He captured Fornost, and drove most of the remaining Dúnedain over the Lune; among them were the sons of the king. But King Arvedui held out upon the North Downs until the last, and then fled north with some of his guard; and they escaped by the swiftness of their horses.

‘For a while Arvedui hid in the tunnels of the old dwarf-mines near the far end of the Mountains, but he was driven at last by hunger to seek the help of the Lossoth, the Snowmen of Forochel.

–The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, III – Eriador, Arnor and the Heirs of Isildur (The North-Kingdom and the Dúnedain)

Even with the depth and detail Tolkien delved into, there are mysteries that remain: individuals, creatures, places, events, even whole peoples are shrouded in darkness. So is the case with the Lossoth of the Forodwaith, one of the more enigmatic and unusual of the barbarian peoples of Middle-earth.

The Forodwaith

These are a strange, unfriendly people, remnant of the Forodwaith, Men of far-off days, accustomed to the bitter colds of the realm of Morgoth. Indeed those colds linger still in that region, though they lie hardly more than a hundred leagues north of the Shire. The Lossoth house in the snow, and it is said that they can run on the ice with bones on their feet, and have carts without wheels. They live mostly, inaccessible to their enemies, on the great Cape of Forochel that shuts off to the north-west the immense bay of mat name; but they often camp on the south shores of the bay at the feet of the Mountains.

–The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, III – Eriador, Arnor and the Heirs of Isildur (The North-Kingdom and the Dúnedain)

The origins of the Lossoth are found in the far north of Middle-earth, in a land known as the Forodwaith. The region was named from the original inhabitants, a mysterious race of men of unknown ancestry that appear to date to the First Age. The name Forodwaith is given to pretty much anywhere north of the Grey Mountains, and stretch from the western Blue Mountains to the Iron Hills in the east. Little is said of the geography of the region, save that it is a vast expanse of icy wastes. Not much more is said of the flora and fauna, though both are likely to be scarce; deer, bears, foxes, wolves and other northern fauna seem likely.

Another, more sinister, possible denizen is the Snow-Troll. In “The House of Eorl” in the Appendices, Helm Hammerhand dressed in white to assail Dunlendings, and stalked through the frost “like a snow-troll,” slaying them with his bare hands. Now, it’s possible that this is merely poetic metaphor, that there is no such creature roaming the lands of Arda. However, there are many breeds of troll throughout Middle-earth designated by environment: hill-trolls, stone-trolls, mountain-trolls, the mysterious half-trolls of Far Harad. Angband, and later Angmar, were regions of frost and bitter cold: why shouldn’t there be a race of troll which adapted to a chilly climate? If Snow-Trolls do haunt the colder regions of Middle-earth, then they’d probably come into contact with the men of that region too.

Living in a frozen land, battling the elements and Eru-knows-what else, the men of the Forodwaith would have to be tough, hardy men to survive. However, that hardiness had limits. The sinking of Beleriand would undoubtedly have wrought havoc on the population. Later, another dark lord setting up a base of operations: the Witch-King, whose stronghold Angmar would terrorize the northern lands of Middle-earth throughout the Second Age. The dark sorceries and monstrous hosts of the Black Captain devastated the northerners’ numbers, to the point where a mere remnant of that people remained: that remnant was known as the Lossoth.

The Lossoth are primarily situated around the Icebay of Forochel, about as far away from Carn Dûm as one can get on a northwesterly flight–though I’d wager, not far enough to fully escape the Captain of Despair. Mostly, the Lossoth kept to the northern shore of the bay, though they explored the southern shore too. Their habitations were “snow-huts”: domiciles constructed from snow, perhaps like igloos or quinzhees.

As well as their houses, the Lossoth share other similarities with the boreal peoples of our history: the “bones on their feet” are mostly likely references to ice skates, which have been used by the Finns for over five thousand years. These early skates were made from leg bones from animals–horse, deer, or oxen in the Finns’ case. The mention of “carts without wheels” is surely an allusion to the sleigh: presumably the Lossoth’s vehicle is drawn by local beasts of burden.

With such similarities, one could say that what the Rohirrim are to the Anglo-Saxons, the Lossoth are to the Finns. Perhaps it isn’t as strict as that: the Lossoth could share elements of the Sami, Nenets, Inuits, and other people of the far north, as evidenced by the snow-houses, ice-skates and sleighs. Tolkien was certainly acquainted with the Finns: he learned Finnish for the express purpose to read the Kalevala in its original language! The tale of Kullervo was a profound influence on the tale of Túrin Turambar, and Finnish mythology and language affected the creation of Arda.

Does Howard have a counterpart to the Lossoth in the Hyborian Age? He may well. In the famous 10th March 1936 letter to P.S. Miller, from which we learn much of Conan’s life, there is this intriguing segment:

I was much interested in your remarks concerning findings on the Yamal Peninsula, the first time I had heard anything about that. Doubtless Conan had first-hand acquaintance with the people who evolved the culture described, or their ancestors, at least.

–Letter from Robert E. Howard to P. S. Miller

Those denizens of what would become the Nenets of the Yamal Peninsula will be the subject of a future Hyborian Age Gazetteer.

It is in the Kalevala that we find yet another Tolkien-Howard connection: Ilmarinen. The original Ilmarinen, the Eternal Hammerer, was a blacksmith and artificer of Finnish Mythology. Tolkien’s Feanor has many similarities to Ilmarinen: both were black-haired and handsome, bothforged objects of incredible power, and much of the narrative is based around men and gods’ attempts to claim them for themselves. Howard’s counterpart is Il-Marinen of “The Children of the Night”: here he is a god of the Sword People, a worker in metals and weapons, who was one of the original Aryan (i.e. Indo-European) deities in Howard’s fictional account of the dawn of modern humanity. It’s yet another case of both Howard and Tolkien drawing from the rich mythological background of Northern Europe.

The Snowmen and the Last-King

“Arvedui you shall call him, for he will be the last in Arthedain. Though a choice will come to the Dúnedain, and if they take the one that seems less hopeful, then your son will change his name and become king of a great realm. If not, then much sorrow and many lives of men shall pass, until the Dúnedain arise and are united again.”

–The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, III – Eriador, Arnor and the Heirs of Isildur (The North-Kingdom and the Dúnedain)

For much of history, the Lossoth are absent, keeping out of the way of other men regardless of alignment. However, history would come to them in 1974 of the Second Age.

For years, the northern Kingdom of Arthedain had been struggling with Cardolan and Rhudaur, fellow Diadochi of the ancient kingdom of Arnor. The story of those kingdoms is complex and tragic, and beyond the scope of this article: suffice to say, the return of the Witch-King marked the beginning of the end. King Arvedui appealed to Gondor for aid against the mounting menace of Angmar, but though a fleet was sent northwards, it was too late: the Witch-King’s forces roared through Arthedain like a hurricane, and came to the capital, Fornost. Seeing that there was no hope, Arvedui fled Fornost with his sons–save for Aranarth, who fled to Lindon–and rode northward while the hosts of Angmar rampaged into the city, breaking the kingdom’s power forever.

Arvedui and his kin went into hiding from the Witch-King’s forces, descending into the abandoned tunnels of the Blue Mountain mines–grim echoes of Khazad-dûm come to mind–before starvation forces them to venture north. There, they come upon the Lossoth. After untold millenia of isolation, and likely battling the forces of darkness yet haunting the ruins of Beleriand, the Lossoth are somewhat insular, and appear aloof to the Arthedain exiles. Arvedui has nothing to offer them in exchange for food and shelter: his jewels and treasures were meaningless are worthless to the Snowmen, who had no use for such civilized trinkets.

In addition, the Lossoth were understandable afraid of the Witch-King’s sorcerous might. They believed he held the power to freeze and to thaw at will, and given the terror the Witch-King wrought, it’s difficult to imagine that as mere exaggeration. Why should the Lossoth further endanger themselves by aiding Angmar’s foes, inviting the wrath of the Witch-King? Arvedui and his men were forced to survive out on the ice alone: their horses had long since perished, and his men were succumbing to exposure and hypothermia fast.

A reprieve came from an unexpected source: Cirdan of Lindon heard of Arvedui’s flight into Forochel, and duly sent an Elven ship to the Bay of Forochel. The seafarers saw the dim light of Arvedui’s campfire, but the great sheet of ice prevented the ship from reaching them. Upon seeing this vast alien craft, the Lossoth were frightened, much as any hunter-gatherer society would likely be afraid of a grand construction beyond their understanding. However, the Lossoth’s compassion started to overcome their fear of the Dúnedain: taking sleighs, they met with the exiles, and transported them across the ice to a position close enough for the ship to collect them.

However, the Lossoth were strangely disturbed. They claimed to smell danger in the air, and with a chillingly familiar warning, the Chieftain pleaded with Arvedui not to alight the ship:

“Do not mount on this sea-monster! If they have them, let the seamen bring us food and other things that we need, and you may stay here till the Witchking goes home. For in summer his power wanes; but now his breath is deadly, and his cold arm is long.”

Arvedui did not heed the Chieftain’s warnings, but he was thankful for the Lossoth’s assistance, and in return, he bequeathed upon their chieftain his ring. Though this is not made explicit, this could only be the Ring of Barahir–an heirloom with a storied history throughout the annals of Arda. Though he knew that the Lossoth had no need or conception of jewelry, Arvedui pledged that whenever the Lossoth’s need was most dire, they could ransom the ring to the Dúnedain, who would assist them in any way they could.

Arvedui departed, but the Chieftain’s grim prophecy came to pass:

‘Yet the counsel of the Lossoth was good, by chance or by foresight; for the ship had not reached the open sea when a great storm of wind arose, and came with blinding snow out of the North; and it drove the ship back upon the ice and piled ice up against it. Even the mariners of Círdan were helpless, and in the night the ice crushed the hull, and the ship foundered. So perished Arvedui Last-king…’

“His breath is deadly, and his cold arm is long…” One wonders if the Witch-King himself may have been responsible for the demise of the last king of Arthedain.

The Third Age

After the doom of Arvedui, the Lossoth once again disappear from the annals of Middle-earth history, never to be mentioned again. What happened to them? It’s possible the Witch-King wiped them out, but there’s a chance they survived. Only a year after he claimed the throne of Fornost, the forces of Gondor and a myriad host of allies from Eriador marched north. In the ensuing Battle of Fornost, the Witch-King was cast from the region, and fled eastward over the Misty Mountains. The power of the Witch-King was sundered, and would not rise again until the return of Sauron.

The Ring of Barahir offers another clue. We do not know the circumstances, but the ring comes into the hands of Rivendell, where it is kept with the other heirloom of the Dúnedain: the Shards of Narsil. The next we see of the ring, it is given to Aragorn by Elrond. Evidently, the Lossoth did indeed ransom the ring to the Dúnedain, or even the elves of Rivendell present at the battle. It might be the Lossoth gave the ring in return for assistance against whatever scattered orcs, trolls and beasts of Angmar yet ravaged the countryside. They may even have simply given it back to their rightful owners as a gesture of appreciation for ending the Witch-King’s reign over the region.

Whatever the reason, the return of the Ring was the last loose end, and the Lossoth once again fade away into the mysterious north. Whether they enjoyed the peace and solitude of the centuries preceding the encounter Arvedui, or were forced to defend themselves from the renewed threat at the end of the Third Age, it is not recounted in the history of Middle-earth. Still, if even the Hobbits could rise beyond their parochialism and actively defend their home and friends, it would be heartening to know that the Lossoth did the same.

The Lossoth have made appearances in other Tolkien-inspired media: The Lord of the Rings Online’s Book 13 – “Doom of the Last-king” allows players to explore the whole region of Forochel. Most of the names are taken from Finnish, with a slight twist–one non-playable character is named Kalervo, for example–and many of the monsters are inspired by Finnish mythology and prehistory.

As hunter-gatherers with no evidence of agriculture, smithery, or advanced architecture, it’s clear that the Lossoth are barbarians. Though they don’t have the same amount of text dedicated to them as, say, the Dunlendings or Easterlings, they are a unique and interesting people unlike any throughout Middle-earth. Fellow blogger Brian Murphy talked of the North permeating Tolkien’s work: the Lossoth, they who dwell in the ultimate reaches beyond the north wind, are about as “Northern” as you can get–by any definition of the word.

Other installments of “The Barbarians of Middle-earth”:

The Haradrim

The Dúnedain

Introduction