House of Haleth

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the House of Haleth or the Haladin (pronounced [ˈhalɛθ], [ˈhaladin]) were the family of Men that ruled over the second of the Three Houses of the Edain. They were the descendants of Haldad, but the house and the people were named after Haldad's daughter Haleth, who led them from East Beleriand to Brethil.

The Folk of Haleth

The Folk of Haleth or the Men of Brethil were dark-haired and dark-eyed, resembling the House of Bëor but "shorter and broader, sterner and less swift. They were less eager for lore, and used few words; for they did not love great concourse of men, and many among them delighted in solitude, wandering free in the greenwoods." They were a reclusive people and kept separate from the Edain of other Houses, for they were unrelated to the Bëorians and Hadorians and spoke a different language. However, they were always accompanied by an emigrant branch of the Drúedain.

The ancestors of the Folk of Haleth travelled from the East of Middle-earth separately from the great people of whom came the Houses of Bëor and Hador. Their first known settling-place was west of the later Gap of Rohan between the Misty Mountains and the White. Some remained there throughout the later ages, becoming the Dunlendings and the folk of Enedwaith and Minhiriath. Around the same time they became acquainted with the ancestors of the Drúedain, and profitable relationship was soon established. Together many of both people journeyed across Eriador.