Culture of Arthedain

These High Men, the purest by blood of the Dúnadan race, are the guardians of a noble and mystical culture, a way of life which dominates the north of Eriador. If there is a single people strong enough to face unflinchingly the treachery of Angmar and to battle the Darkness spreading like a plague from the East, it is the Arthedain. No history of Men is at once so uplifting and so sad as theirs, for, now exiled from the Land of the Gift, the island of Númenor, they are doomed to sorrow and loss and a diminution of power throughout the Third Age. Yet never do the Arthedain consider surrender to or accommodation with the ever-growing evil that has been threatening them for the last three hundred years. To the Arthedain, the realm of nature is also the province of Men. Their fundamental belief, reaching back before the founding of Númenor to the First Age kingdoms of the Edain, is that the world is not an "It but a "We." Bonded with the sky and earth and sea, the Edain and their Dúnadan descendants feel a close kinship with the world; it is a very personal place for them, indistinguishable from themselves. The Exiles of Númenor brought that sense of kinship with them to Middle-earth, and, like their reverence for their ancient ancestors and friendship with the Elves, it has passed down undiluted through Arthedain's many generations. The myths of the Arthedain were not created solely for entertainment or propaganda-value; they explain the world, proclaim truths, and confirm Man's share of the earth and its bounties. Thus, the Arthedain do not resent or curse the rocky soil or the long and cold winters of their adopted homeland, for its very Essence serves to justify their presence. Arthedain's windy highlands take on individual spirits of their own and are valued because they are distinct and unusual, because they suggest the rocky landscape of central Númenor, and because they embody the soul of the Adan kindreds. The memory of the past, particularly of the "Land-of-the-Gift," has never left the people of Arthedain. To the Arthedain, the elaborate stone burial mounds at the Barrow-downs stand as symbols of Man's triumph over material forces and mortality itself; they stand as well to remind the northern Dúnedain of their great past and to point the way toward present cultural survival and a future reemergence into health and power. For the Arthedain more so than for any other people, upholding the traditions of the state is equivalent to upholding the continuation of the world itself and maintaining its Balance. Their traditions encourage faith in the ultimate triumph of Good over Evil. For their convictions, the Arthedain have paid, and will pay, a very dear price.