The Downsmen, Forodrim (S. "Northlanders") or Men of the Northern Downs were a Mannish people living in northern Arthedain between the Lhûn in the west and the Emyn Sûl in the east.
They were descendants of the Beregrim, kinsmen of the Dúnedain (especially those of the House of Bëor) who did not leave Middle-earth at the end of the First Age. The Rivermen of Annúriador were actually Forodrim who had abandoned their old ways of life and had moved to the western borderlands of Arthedain.
Some Scholars also considered the Bree-men to be descendants of the Forodrim. Small groups of Forodrim also lived along the borderlands of Rhudaur in the Northern Marches.
Their ancestors in the Second Age, under their King Gothólin, had contacts with the Elves of Lindon and through them met with the Númenóreans at lake Nenuial where the latter acknowledged the dark-haired and grey-eyed men as kinsmen and set the foundation for an alliance and the later Kingdom of Arnor.
In LOTRO[]
In LOTRO there are a few mannish settlements in the North Downs including Esteldin, Trestlebridge, Stoneheight, small farmsteads as Gatson's Farm, Hodge's Farm and Peake's Farm, a Treasure Hunter's Camp at Deadmen's Dike and numerous campsites at Annúndir, Amon Raith, the Greenway, Amlaith's Scar, Mincham's Camp, Ost Crithlanc and in Evendim at Osforod, Barad Tharsír, Cirith Rhîw, Dol Haedír, Even-rills, Gloaming Falls, Haudh Arantar, Haudh Eldacar, Haudh Elendil, Haudh Eärendur, Ost-Heryn, Rantost, Tham Laegamon, Tham Ornen, Tham Sarch and Tham Varan. While the men of the North Downs are depicted as friendly, most of the mannish inhabitants of Evendim are shown as hostile brigands.
In the Lord of the Rings Books[]
In the Lord of the Rings Books it is stated that no men had settled dwellings so far west or within a hundred leagues of the Shire. This might either indicate that if there were still men living in these areas, they may have been either nomads, or at least that their settlements were small, thinly populated or unstable in comparison to Bree-land and the Shire.