House Chalet

The people of Haleth, or the Men of Brethil, were dark-haired and dark-eyed, resembling the people of the House of Beor , but being at the same time

... lower and wider, harsher and slower. They were less inclined to knowledge and did not use many words, because they did not like large gatherings of people, and many of them found joy in solitude, freely roaming through green forests.

- The War of the Gems, “Late Quenta the Silmarillion,” pp. 215-229

They were an unsociable people and kept separate from the edain of other Houses, not being like neither the people of Beor , nor the people of Hador , and speaking their own language. However, they were always accompanied by the wandering branch of the Druedain .

The ancestors of the people of Haleth came from the east of Middle-earth, regardless of the Great People who were represented on this journey by the Houses of Beor and Hador. Their first settlement was west of the future Rohan Gate between the Misty and White Mountains. Some remained there for future centuries, becoming Dunlands and the people of Enedwaite and Minhiriat . Around the same time, they met with the ancestors of the Druedine, with whom they soon established mutually beneficial relations. Many people of these two nations traveled together through Eriador ^[1] .

The people of the Second House first appeared in Beleriand in 312 P.E. crossing the Ered Lwin in small groups and hiding in the forests of Targelion (because they did not want to settle in Estolad with the people of Beor and Marah ). They had no leaders, and they lived on separate farms , which periodically clashed with each other ^[1] . They led such a life for a long time, and neither other people nor the elves bothered them.

But in 375 P.E. Morgoth sent a detachment of orcs , which went east of Ered Lwin and entered Targelion along the Dwarf road. The people of the Second House were taken by surprise, and many of them were destroyed. The remains of the people were gathered by a man named Khaldad and his children - daughter Khalet and son Khaldar ; for five days they defended themselves behind the stockade, until they were rescued by the ripened Noldor from the subjects of the sons of Feanor. Impressed by their courage, Vladyka Noldor Quarantir invited them to live under protection in his lands, but Halet (her father and brother died in the battle, and she led the people) refused. The following year, Halet led her people first to Estolad (which by that time had already been abandoned by the majority of the Edain), and after a while - further west, through Nan Dungorteb to the Talat Dirnen forests. Later, many moved to the forest of Brethil , which was part of Doriath outside the Veil of Melian , but was given to people for settlement by Thingol at the request of the Noldor and for the promise to fight with the minions of Morgoth at the Teiglinsky intersection.

For the next century, the People of Brethil mostly kept aloof from wars. The units of soldiers that they sent to the battles that took place outside the borders of their country were small, although they consisted of sophisticated fighters. They stayed

... a small nation, mainly concerned only with protecting their forests, so they succeeded in the art of forest war.

- Peoples of Middle-earth, "On the Dwarves and Men" , pp. 306-316

The people of Brethil were more a voluntary alliance of clans than a strong nation (like the rest of the Adain) and were ruled by the leader, or " Chalad ." In the forests south of the Teiglin River, these people lived on separate farms, where they

... there were no lords, and they lived by hunting and farming, holding pigs and feeding them with fruits, and plowing the forest glades, which they enclosed for protection from the wild forest.

- Tolkien J.R. R. Unfinished Tales: Narn and Hin Hurin

The people of Brethil successfully managed to defend their borders before the fall of Tol Sirion , but this relative world ended completely soon after the Nirnaet Arnoediad . At first, the number of people living south of Teiglin was reduced by the attacks of the orcs, and the few survivors became more cautious from that time on.

... around the houses there were moats and palisades, and paths passed between the farmsteads, and people could call for help, if required, by blowing a horn.

- Tolkien J.R. R. Unfinished Tales: Narn and Hin Hurin

Their settlements were finally devastated by orcs in 485 P.E., while most of the men were killed in battle, but women and children managed to escape to Brethil.

The people of Brethil themselves were seriously attacked in 495 by P.E., and their leader, Handir, was killed. After that, they went deep into the forest and, according to some legends ^[2] , "lived mostly secretly inside the stockade on Amon Obel (also called Obel Halad )." Finally, Brethil was destroyed by the Curse of Morgoth, when, as a result of the acts of Turin Turambar and Hurin Talion, the last descendants of Haldad were destroyed. Moreover, in 501 P.E. Khurin caused a civil war , during which the majority of the Halet people were killed or "returned to a state more characteristic of their relatives in the wild forests", and their strength significantly decreased ^[3] .

After the fall of Doriath, the people of Brethil were almost completely destroyed, or at least ceased to exist as a separate people. The last of them, including some Druedains, fled to the mouths of Sirion , and later to the island of Balar . After the destruction of Beleriand, they either sailed to Numenor , or returned to Eriador. Among the Numenoreans (for the most part - the descendants of the House of Hador), it was known that there were communities of people from the House of Beor and the Druedain, but there was no information about the descendants of the people of Brethil.

Chaladins

The people of the Second House were first united by Khaldad (315–375 P.E.) ^[4] , "imperious and fearless," who gathered them in a picket fence between the Askar and Helion rivers during an orc attack. He himself was killed during a sortie, as was his son Haldar , who was trying to protect his father's body from desecration by orcs. Haldad’s twin sister, Chalet , was then elected leader, being “great in heart” and “no less valiant” than her fellow tribesmen.

Since that time, the Second House was led by the Leaders , or Khaladin (in the Russian translation - chaladins , unit part - “chalad”), who were elected by the full National Assembly. By tradition, they were elected from the Halet family - the descendants of her nephew Khaldan, usually the oldest man from the older male line.

• Chalet (341-420) - brought her people to Brethil from Targelion .
• Khaldan (366–451) - the son of Khaldar, brother of Halet.
• Halmir (390-471) - the son of Haldan. Together with the Syndar of Doriath, under the command of Beleg, he defeated a large detachment of orcs who came from the Passage of Sirion , and after that the orcs did not dare to approach Brethil for many years. When the Maedhros Union was created, Halmir prepared his people for war, but died before the battle began.
• Haldir (414-472) is the eldest son of Halmir. He commanded a small detachment of Brethil warriors in Nirnaet Arnoediad , but almost all of them died in the rearguard of Fingon .
• Handir (441-495) - son of Haldir. Shortly before the destruction of Nargothrond, the orcs invaded Brethil again, and the people of Haleth were driven into the woods, and their leader Handir fell in battle with the orcs.
• Brandir (465-499), nicknamed Lame - the son of Handir. His reign as a leader was held in the shadow of the glory of Turin Turambar , who briefly managed to raise the spirit of the people of Brethil, but later he killed Brandir and committed suicide.
• Hardang (470-501) is the grandson of Khundar, the second son of Halmir. He did not rule long after the childless Brandir until he was killed in the civil war provoked by Khurin ^[3] .

All the descendants of Khaldan were killed during the civil war, and subsequently Avrank, the son of Dorlas, was elected leader of the majority of the people, since he opposed Khurin from the very beginning, who provoked fratricide. Avrank, however, did not have such authority as the previous chaladins, and some of the Chalet people refused to recognize his authority and left Brethil ^[5] . About the subsequent leaders of the Men of Brethil, even if they were, nothing is known.

Family Tree House Chalet

Three Edain Houses

In accordance with Tolkien’s early works, the names of the descendants of the Chalet Hunters were given in Sindarin , and each had a specific meaning: Hundor (“king of the heart”), Handir (“smart man”), Brandir (“noble man”), and Haldir (the "hidden hero"), although at this stage of the development of the legendary Haldir was called the son of Orodreth . Later, however, Tolkien concluded that the names were given to the Chaladins in their own language, and their meanings remained unknown to later historians. He also noted that the root " hal (a) - " means "guard, guard." The word "Chalad" meant "guardian," and the name Khaldad meant "guard dog." Soon he changed the meaning of this root: “ hal ” in the ancient language of this people began to mean “head, leader,” and also proposed introducing the word “Halbar” into the narrative both as a term denoting a leader and as the name of Haldar previously described, but this the idea remained unrealized.

Names whose meanings are known for certain are Khiril (“mistress”) and Melet (“love”), since these are the only names of chaladins given on Sindarin. The name Haret may also mean "mistress", but in the language of the people (the grave of Haleth , daughter of Khaldad , is also called "Mound of Mistress" ( English Ladybarrow ), and Tour Hareta ( English Tûr Haretha )). Thus, Halmir gave a name to both his daughters, meaning “mistress,” but in various modern languages.

• Tolkien J.R. R. Silmarillion (any edition).
• Tolkien J.R. R. (edited by K. Tolkien). The Gems War. - Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994 .-- ISBN 0-395-71041-3
• Tolkien J.R. R. (edited by K. Tolkien). The peoples of Middle-earth. - Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. - ISBN 0-395-82760-4
• Tolkien J.R. R. (edited by K. Tolkien). Unfinished tales. - Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980. - ISBN 0-395-29917-9