Rhûn, Khand, & the Unknown East of Middle-earth

Is anywhere more mysterious than the enigmatic East of Middle-earth?

0:00 - Intro
0:47 - Avari & the Elves of the East
6:02 - The First Men
8:27 - Dwarves of the East
12:02 - The Mystery of Dorwinion
14:35 - The Lost Colony of Gondor
18:48 - The Shadow in the East
21:01 - What is Rhûn?
22:23 - Khamûl the Easterling
23:17 - The Dark Years
25:21 - The War of the Wainriders
27:36 - The Balchoth
29:50 - Variags of Khand
33:07 - The Blue Wizards in the East

#Lordoftherings
#Lore
#Tolkien
#Middleearth

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Art credits:

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Much love and many thanks to the music makers!

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Sad Dramatic Emotional Epic Music - My Spirit Is Free [Royalty Free]

[tolkienuntangled]

31:30 - CORRECTION
At the time, the eastern Roman Empire was NOT called the Byzantine Empire; that name was applied much later by historians. My bad. I will not be releasing a spinoff channel called 'Byzantines Untangled' any time soon!

It's super annoying too. If you turn on the subtitles, you'll see, my mistake wasn't even in the original script. I just wrote, "the eastern Roman Empire - called the Byzantine Empire." But then I just had to go and improvise while recording. Whoops.

[joatandimas]

"The beacons are lit, the beacons are lit. Dave has release his new video"

[triamberonilla]

Just got home from long hours at the office, cooked a nice Friday night meal, sat on the table to eat, and then opened YouTube to see a new Tolkien Untangled video. What a treat! You are awesome as always, Dave! 😊

[dawahaddict]

Whoever wants to do a Tolkien adaptation best should hire you as advisor. Not only are you deeply knowledgeable, you are able to think so creatively within the scope of the lore. Thank you for your videos and reflections. 😊

[dwyerm]

3 videos in a month... lucky us! Thank you!

[verity]

Haven’t finished the video yet, but I have to say I love the idea of Dorwinion being an Avari place and Thranduil trading with them. It makes sense that he, being a Sindar instead of a Noldor and whose subjects and perhaps even family are Silvan elves who have never seen the light of Aman and are very much connected to Middle Earth, would be the one to have contact and connection of some kind with the Avari. The elves of Greenwood, I think, would have a better understanding of the Avari and may have a sense of kinship or connection to them more so than the elves of Lothlorien or Rivendell.

[presidenthobi]

I’m so glad that Tolkien gave us a revised version of the Blue Wizards’ fate in the East. I’d much rather imagine them aiding resistance movements than founding dark cults 💪🏻

[danielchambers]

Can't even explain the joy I feel when rewatching old Rainbow Dave videos and a brand new one pops up!!

[mintkit]

Fascinating video as always! I love how you continue to bring in Tolkien‘s real world influences to explain his world of Arda.

[TheGoodesBrothers]

Hell yes, what a great topic to cover! Can’t wait to watch this later 🙌 you’re too good to us, Dave ❤

[calebwilliams]

One of the interesting tidbits that I heard on another channel was that it might make sense that of the Nazgul, Khamul is the only one from Rhun, or more generically the East, as in he is Khamul THE Easterling. The emphasis would imply his geographic origin is singularly unique among the nine.

[paulemge]

Awesome as always.
There is so much fertile ground in the east if someone wanted to write original stories set in Middle Earth.

[ianmacdiarmid]

Always a good Friday when we get a Tolkien Untangled video.

[Insider]

In my personal headcanon the Blue Wizards, ( Alatar and Pallando being their maiar names in Valinor as servants of
Oromë, while Morinehtar and Rómestámo were the names they went by in Middle Earth) arrived with Glorfindel during the Second Age and traveled east. There they helped to free most of the eastern dwarfs from the shadow as well as the few men of that land who rebelled against Sauron. Thanks to that Sauron's allies and influence were diminished in the east preventing him from outnumbering the west during the War of the Last Aliance. After Sauron's defeat in the war they pursued him east for a time, but as they chased him to the darkest corners of the world they were tricked and ended up perishing with no one in the west knowing what happened.

[starkilr]

If someone gave you a Disney-sized budget, you could make an animated series of the East and make it grand!

[danwillburn]

Dude I’m obsessed with east lore currently.

[bretrohde]

Glad to see you’re making new content! Thanks as always!

[GenuinelyCurious]

The drawings of the Kings of Gondor are done in a very Byzantine style. That's really interesting 🤔
Tolkien is responsible for my intense interest in real world history.

[GenuinelyCurious]

In Istanbul, at the Hagia Sophia, there is a balcony overlooking the main chapel. On the railing there are runes carved into it by Varangian Guard who were watching over the emperor while he was a church.

[vojtechhoracek]

I actually can't say how much appreciated your video essays are to me. You got me through my worst and you got me still. As I said, you are such a great teachers it hurts. Keep it real bro