Marshal of the East-mark

The Marshals of the Riddermark were the three most senior military commanders of the Rohirrim. Of these, one held command over the Muster of the East-mark, the Riders who defended the lands between Entwash and Anduin in the eastern part of Rohan.

Historically, though one of the three Marshals would have held command of the Eastern Muster, that commander would not have been known as the 'Marshal of the East-mark'. Rather, this would have been either the Second or the Third Marshal, depending on the military needs of the time. As the War of the Ring approached, the gravest threat to the Rohirrim came from Saruman and his allies in the west. For that reason, the western lands were under the command of the Second Marshal, Théoden's heir Théodred. The East-mark, which was under less immediate threat, was commanded by the Third Marshal, the King's nephew Éomer.

The threat from the west was indeed great, but Saruman was an insidious enemy, and he placed his spy Gríma in Edoras to subvert the rule of Rohan. Through Gríma's machinations, the Third Marshal Éomer was forbidden to lead any Riders away from Edoras. When a force of Orcs crossed into the East-mark,² Éomer disregarded these orders and led his personal éored out against the Orcs. After defeating them, he returned to Edoras, where he was briefly imprisoned for his disobedience, leaving the East-mark with no Marshal to command its Riders.

Éomer's imprisonment was brief. Soon afterward Théoden was freed from Gríma's influence and Éomer was in turn released, but he did not resume his duties as Marshal. Instead he was appointed counsellor to the King. His former command of the East-mark was given instead to Elfhelm, who led the Muster of the East-mark to battle in Gondor and beyond.

Théoden fell in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and, because his only son Théodred had himself been slain in an earlier battle, his nephew Éomer succeeded as King of Rohan. After the War of the Ring, Éomer reorganised the military of Rohan, and created a permanent Marshal of the East-mark, replacing the previous system whereby a Marshal was appointed as events dictated. The first to hold this new command was Elfhelm, who had led the Riders of the East-mark through the War of the Ring.