Hey guy's it's the Princeofdolalmroth again. I'm here to talk about a conversation I had with the Sapoman yesterday. It was about the Dunedain and their decline in Middle Earth. The Dunedain were a minority in middle earth at the beginning of the Third Age, representing only about 40% of gondor's population and around 60-80% of Arnor's population (this is all speculation, so feel free to debate these facts.) We said that the population in Gondor was not well preserved, intermingling with other, lesser men and dying off from Plagues and war, leading to most of Gondor's population having some base Dunedain blood in them, but having very few actual Dunedain people left. A few examples of Dunedain families or lines in Gondor still present by 3018 TA include the line of the Stewards, the Line of Dol Amroth (which claimed to have a bit of Elvish Blood in them), the Citadel and Fountain Guard, and the Rangers of Ithilien. Arnor's Dunedain Population was very well preserved, and the citizens all had some Dunedain blood in them, but not enough to be considered Dunedain in themselves.
Yet the people still inherited some of the traits Dunedain possess, such as enhanced strength and a slightly extended life. That being said, when Arnor fell in 1974 TA, the best chance of a Dunedain recovery from Numenor (a Kingdom where the majority were Dunedain People, or had a majority of Edain blood in them) was lost. Yet the Dunedain population in the north slowly recovered, and by the events of The MOS mod, The north kingdom had mostly recovered from the war with Angmar when it came to the pure Dunedain populace, but the overall gene pool of the north was reduced and diluted from intermingling with Middle-men, though the Rangers of the North avoided them for the most part.
Tying this arguement back to the point of the blog, the reason why the population of Eriador is so small but has many settlements, is threefold. Reason #1 being that people haven't populated Eriador in large amounts since 1974 TA, when Arnor fell. The reason for the massive amount of settlements is because the old cities and castles of Arnor were never truly abandoned by men, and the majority of the population of those settlements are of a mixed Middle-men/Edain blood. The population is so small because of constant warfare with orc raiding parties and invasions from Gundabad and the Ettenmoors. So when players start as Eriador their general's bodyguards are always of Dunedain descent and are nortoriously hard to kill (maybe for gameplay purposes). The reason for this is twofold; the Individual Dunedain in the Bodyguard units have been fighting orcs and trolls since their twenties. The reason the Bodyguards are of Dunedain descent is because they protect the royal line of kings extending as far back as the First Edain of Numenor and regular men, like those of Rohan, simply aren't cut out for the job.
Another point I'd like to make is that Dunedain units, besides the Elvish units and the dwarvish units, are the most powerful units in the game. In the 3.2 mod they tie with the Bardians in skill with the bow, and with the Sindar in fighting skill. Not to mention they look absolutely amazing in battle. A full stack of Dunedain units is as terrifying to fight against as a stack of trolls (maybe not as terrifying, but still pretty scary). Hope you liked the read! if you want more information on the Dunedain people, check this link
lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Dúnedain
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