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Léod

Meaning: prince

Location(s):
Éothéod (near the sources of Anduin)

Race/Species: Man

Type/Kind: Rohirrim

Title(s):
Lord of the Éothéod

Dates:
III 2459 - 2501

Parents:
descended from Vidugavia, King of Rhovanion

Children:
Eorl the Young

Description:

Léod, a descendant of Vidugavia, King of Rhovanion, is the father of Eorl the Young, the first King of Rohan:
Eorl the Young was lord of the Men of Éothéod [land] 1.... The Éothéod [people] had moved to those regions in the days of King Eärnil II..., and they were in origin close akin to the Beornings.... The forefathers of Eorl claimed descent from kings of Rhovanion 2..., and thus they accounted themselves kinsmen of the kings of Gondor descended from Eldacar. They loved best the plains, and delighted in horses and in all feats of horsemanship.... But in the days of Léod, father of Eorl, they had grown to be a numerous people and were again somewhat straitened in the land of their home.

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The House of Eorl

Léod was the name of Eorl's father. He was a tamer of wild horses; for there were many at that time in the land. He captured a white foal and it grew quickly to a horse strong, and fair, and proud. No man could tame it. When Léod dared to mount it, it bore him away, and at last threw him, and Léod's head struck a rock, and so he died. He was then only two and forty years old, and his son a youth of sixteen.

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The House of Eorl


Notes
Léod's birth and death dates were established by the combination of Eorl's birthdate and their relative ages at the time of Léod's death:

2485-2545
1. Eorl the Young. He was so named because he succeeded his father in youth...

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The House of Eorl

1That land lay near the sources of Anduin, between the furthest ranges of the Misty Mountains and the northernmost parts of Mirkwood.

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The House of Eorl

2It is told in Appendix A (I, iv) to The Lord of the Rings that Vidugavia, who called himself King of Rhovanion 3, was the most powerful of the princes of the Northmen; he was shown favour by Rómendacil II King of Gondor (died 1366), whom he had aided in war against the Easterlings, and the marriage of Rómendacil's son Valacar to Vidugavia's daughter Vidumavi led to the destructive Kin-strife in Gondor in the fifteenth century.

Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 2, Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan: Notes, Note 5

3[The] realm [of the Kings of Rhovanion] lay beyond Mirkwood before the invasions of the Wainriders.

The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The House of Eorl

Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 8Oct05, 25Aug07

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