Wild Lands

A term used generally for any region not under the power of a kingdom, but applied especially in Gondor to the regions of southern Enedwaith that lay westward of the Gap of Calenardhon. The early Gondorians built fortresses at either side of the Gap, at Angrenost to the north and Aglarond to the south, to watch for incursions and to guard the Great Road that ran out through the Gap towards the North-kingdom. During the later years of Calenardhon, the western watch began to fail, and Dunlendings came out of the Wild Lands and began to trouble the northern province of Gondor.

When the Rohirrim settled in Calenardhon, the first two Kings of the newly founded Rohan worked to expel the Dunlendings, and succeeded at last in forcing them back beyond the river Isen. Forts at the Fords of Isen guarded the Gap, now known as the Gap of Rohan. Beyond the guarded Fords, the Dunlendings nursed a hatred of the Rohirrim that would persist through the last years of the Third Age, and would result in two major confrontations between the Rohrrim and the Men of the Wild Lands beyond the Gap.