ELVES
NOLDOR: These are the tallest of the Elves, who came to Middle-Earth. They are usually dark-eyed and dark haired. They are the most gifted of all the Eldar in the use of magic and craft.
SINDAR: Also called the Gray-elves, the Sundar are fair of face and light-skinned. They are famous linguists and shipwrights. They have an undying love for the sea and sea-emblems appear upon their heraldy and decorative motifs.
SYLVAN ELVES: These are the most popular of the Elven groups of Middle-Earth and inhabit forests and woods. They are as tall or smaller than men and have brown hair and tanned complexions. Their communities are usually ruled by Sindarin aristocracy.
MEN
Numenorean: Those inhabitants of the island of Numenor and their descendants in the realms in exile in Middle-Earth ( Arnor and Gondor). Having sided with the Eldar and the Valar in the war against Morgoth, they afterwards occupied a privileged position in being friends and allies of the Elves, from whom they learned much wisdom and craft, and with whom they even occasionally formed marriage unions. Thus some elvish blood ran in their veins, which resulted in their having a taller more noble stature than other men. Like the Noldor they were usually dark eyes and black haired.
Western Men: The most numerous people by far in Middle-Earth, the Western man, constituted most of the subject peoples of the Numernorean realms in exile. Usually brown haired but varying from blond to black, they made up most of the important human sub- groups in Middle-Earth. Amongst the most famous of these sub-groups are the Rohirim ( the horselords of Rohan), the Dunlendings ( the tribal groups of eastern Enedwaith) who were allied to Saruman, The Gramuz ( the woodmen of Mirkwood) and the Rhovanion folk of Laketown.
Easterlings: Inhabitants of the west steppes to the east of Rhovanion, the word Easterling is a generic term for all those nomadic peoples inhabiting the lands between and beyond the Iron Hills and the Sea of Rhun. Recruited in large numbers by Sauron for his two wars in Middle-earth, they are generally small and swarthy and are matchless riders and horse-archers. The most important groupings ( constituting the westernmost of the Easterling peoples), are the Sagath and the Logath.
Haradrim: These are a great desert people inhabiting the great wastelands that lie south of the enclosing mountains of Mordor. Though their populations are small in the northern reaches of their realm, in the far south they have great and populous cities from which the Dark-Lord recruits many of this great armies. They are a dark-skinned and noble people. The fight with scimtars and are fond of bright colored, loose fitting garments.
DWARVES
Like the stone from which they are said to have sprung, the Dwarves are tough and resilient. Their power of endurance is legendary, suffering both battle and deprivation with fortitude and equanimity. They have a great affinity for the rocks and caverns beneath the earth and prefer to live below ground than above. Their great skills are in the mining and fashioning of rock, in the cutting of jewels and the working of precious metals for which not even Elves are their peers. Dwarves are invaribly bearded and wear heavily cowled cloaks. They are shorter in stature than men but compensate for this by their stocky build. Their prefered weapon is the battle-axe, and Dwarven armies are invariably clothed in fine mail and helms of great craftsmanship.
Most famous of all the Dwarven peoples are the descendants of Durin the Deathless, who built both the fabled city of Moria and the kingdom under the mountainat Erebor.
HOBBITS
Peace loving and unwarlike, the Hobbits of Middle-earth live generally quite, unadventurous lives. Since their great migration into Eriador in (??) they have settled in The Shire, which was bestowed upon them by the crown of Arnor, and in which most of them are quite content to live out their simple rustic lives. They are amongst the smallest of Middle-Earth's peoples, both in population and in physical size ( standing anywhere between 2 and 4 feet in height) and isolate themselves as much as possible from the wider world outside the confines of The Shire. Their reluctance to mix amongst the larger races as led them to develope remarkable skills in moving in silence and in the techniques of evasion. Hobbits are generally brown and curly haired with large hairy feet, and prefer greens and browns to brighter colors.
ORCS
The Orcs are probabely the most numerous of all the races of Middle-Earth. Dark-grey in colour with eyes like red coals. The true Orcs are a terrifying parody of the Elves to whose graceful countenance they are a distoring mirror-image. With long arms and claw-like hands they lope rather than walk, with a distinctly simian gait. Chaotic ny nature these creatures or an army by the brute force and cruelty which is their common currency. Almost invariably the largest Orcs become their tribal leaders. They show mercy neither to their enemies nor to their own weaker brethern who they will bullly and brutalise just as stronger Orcs will in turn bully and brutalise them. Like the Haradrim, they fight with scimitars as their principle weapon, but are also skilled with bow and other missle weapons. Their great weakness as fighting troops is their inability to function in sunlight, which as serious debilitating effects upon them. In addition to the true Orcs, there are in the third age two subgroups, the Uruks and the Half-Orcs. The former ar the result of Sauron's selective breeding of those true Orcs possessing the greatest size and intelligence and less aversion to sunlight; the result is a man sized creature who can function in daylight as easily as a man.
The Half-Orcs or Peryrch are the product of Saruman's diabolical experimentation in crossbreeding Uruks with unfortunate Dunlending captives. The Half-Orcs display a virtually human intelligence, while retaining the hardiness of the Orcs. They make superb soldiers and are used extensively by the wizard of Orthanc.
TROLLS
Just as the orcs may be thought of as a grotesque caricature of the Elves, so the Trolls may be considered a similar counterpart to the Ents. Created by Morgoth in the mists of prehistory, the Trolls true nature is closely connected to the stone from whence they come. Like the Balrogs they are a leftover from the hidious creations created by Morgoth in
preparation for His war with the Valar, and like his other progeny survive as an evil remnant in the "third age".
No longer numerous, they can nevertheless still be encountered in the wild lands of Rhudaur and Arnor, and amongst the mountain vastnesses of the North. They are of low intelligence but are dangerous by virtue of their great strength and fondness for cruelty. Their low intelligence quotient means that they lack any real social cohesiveness. Most live in solitude or at most in small family groups. Their weaponry consists of cudgels made from large animal bones, wood or flint.
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