The Gendhari (Tal."kinsfolk") were a mysterious race from the tales of the Easterlings. They were a poor people of homeless wanderers, usually living only in small groups or families of rarely more than four individuals. They were looked down upon by the Easterlings as thieves and rogues, and as such, they were seldom allowed to stay or settle in one place. It was unknown if the Gendhari were men, as they were of short stature, seldom more than 3 feet tall, but they shared the bronze skin and dark hair of many of the Far-Easterlings, and were usually seen as diminutive men, although some Easterlings believed them to be of dwarven- or elven-kind. The Gendhari's original home was thought to have been the forest and moorland area south of the Wêr Wômaw, before they were driven out by the arrival of the Sûrk Kaelân. Their tales still recalled their ancient home "Ghendari-Wood", or the "Ghendari-Moors".
It was not before the early Fourth Age that tales about the Gendhari became known in the Westlands. It was Beregond of Tuckborough who mentioned them in his "Kuduk-lore", or "the Big Book of the Little Folk", a collection of Hobbit-lore in which he speculated on the origin of Halflings and mentioned the "Lost Kindreds in the South and East". Beregond believed the mythical Gendhari of the Easterling Sagas might have been a lost race akin to the Hobbits' forefathers, but admitted that it was hard to find any reliable sources on them. apart from the biased oral traditions of traders from Rhûn.
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Notes[]
Original name: Kender
The D&D Kender were mentioned in early versions of the Dol Banred setting. This article is an attempt to adjust these more properly into a possible middle-earth background.