| Boromir: "Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing? So small a thing!" - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring II:10 |
The Bairgathiuda (Rh. "Hill-People") were the descendants of Eriadorian and Gondorian settlers and Northron mercenaries who had originally been stationed along the eastern border of Gondor's province of Dór-Rhûnen and had later retreated to the highlands of the Eastern Hills after Rhûn had been overrun by the Easterlings.[citation needed]