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Easterlings2

Pultic Raiders (MERP)

The Balchoth (S. "Fierce-horde") were a confederation of Easterling tribes, close relatives to the Wainriders but usually considered to have been more primitive. Like their relatives the Wainriders, the Balchoth were known to live and travel in large covered wagons or wains.

Known Balchoth Lords[]

The Balchoth in MERP[]

In contrast to their relatives the Wainriders, who are descendants of the Ulgath, the Balchoth are usually seen as tribes of Ioriag descent. Especially the Asdriags are identified with the Balchoth, or are at least regarded as their early predecessors or forerunners of the later Balchoth. Original home to the tribes that later became the Balchoth was a region east of the known lands of Near Rhûn called the Kykurian Kyn, but later the Balchoth moved westwards to the Sea of Rhûn and settled down in the Talath Harroch, lands east of Mirkwood once home to Northron tribes such as the Éothraim, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. The principal head of the Balchoth is the Bôm, an elder presiding over a council of patriarchs (two from each tribe).

After the deafeat of the Balchoth in T.A. 2510, two tribes, the Manvul and Hurgung, remained with the Asdriags, Odhriags, and Magriags, as remnants of the Balchoth-federation in eastern Rhovanion.

The Balchoth in LOTRO[]

In LOTRO the Adventurers have to face Easterling tribes known as the Khundolar and Jangovar. These are considered descendants of the Balchoth, the old enemies of Eorl and Gondor.

Alternate views[]

Other Hands Magazine[]

In Other Hands magazine issue 12, Luke Potter gives an alternative origin of the Balchoth: he assumes that the alliance was known as the Pult and originally consisted of twenty-three tribes (later all at all sixty) of whom the Pultai were the most prominent, although other easterling tribes such as the Asdriags and Odhriags were absorbed by the Balchoth. They fell under the sway of Sauron, who revealed himself as their ancient War-God Maladûm. Orginally they also worshiped other deities such as Arud (a goddess of fertility, maybe a name for Yavanna or Vana), Kol (Goddess of the river Talathrant), and Pael (a god of the hunt opposed to Maladûm - probably a name for Orome or Eonwe) but their worshipers were discredited by the priests of Maladûm. The capital of the Balchoth was the town of Kravod, formerly the Gondorian border-fortress of Tirith Thoron.

Middle Earth: Total War[]

The Middle Earth: Total War Mod describes the Balchoth as remnants of the Wainriders, which had evolved into the Balchoth Horde and formed a Khanate in Rhûn about T.A. 2460. With the failure of the Balchoth empire, scattered Balchoth clans were pushed back into the foothills along the Sea of Rhûn, while others still inhabit the lands to the southeast of Mirkwood. They were called on as mercenaries by the Lôke-Khan by T.A. 2950 and in the War of the Ring.

Other Minds Magazine[]

In the Other Minds Magazine, Thomas Morwinsky describes the Balchoth as the Bozorgana, a new Easterling people that followed the Mardumhesta (Wainriders). After a civil war in T.A. 2766 the Balchoth Empire fell and three successor realms appeared: Rostamush, Narimanush, and Bozorganush. The Warriors of the later Golden Army who fought in the War of the Ring hailed largely from the Realm of Bozorganush on the southern shores of the Rhûnaer.

References[]

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