Riders of Westfold

One of the three military divisions of the Rohirrim, the Riders of Westfold were drawn from the people of Rohan who dwelt westward of the river Entwash, and especially from the western vales of the White Mountains. These horsemen were also known as the Riders of West-mark or, more formally, the Riders of the Western Muster. Their chief stronghold was at the Hornburg with Helm's Deep running into the Mountains behind, though they also maintained forts guarding the Crossings of Isen. Their military purpose was to protect Rohan against threats from the west.

The Dunlending Threat

The chief of these western threats came from the Dunlendings, a people who, in the early days of Rohan, had ranged across the western parts of the new land. Aldor, third of the Kings of Rohan, sent his Riders to drive the Dunlendings back into their homeland, Dunland beyond the Gap of Rohan, and the Rohirrim even raided into Dunland itself. From this time on, the Dunlendings nursed a bitter hatred against the Rohirrim that would last at least until the end of the Third Age.

The danger from the west increased during the reign of Déor, Rohan's seventh King. In his time, the old line of hereditary Gondorian captains who had commanded Isengard failed. The impenetrable fortress then fell into the hands of a commander friendly to the Dunlendings, who were now able to pass through the Gap of Rohan and raid into Rohan from a secure base of operations.

The Riders of Westfold fought against this threat, but it became overwhelming in the time of Déor's grandson Helm Hammerhand. Helm's slaying of his vassal Freca, who had Dunlending blood, triggered a full-scale invasion of Rohan from the west. Rohan was at this time also beset from the east, and the Riders who could be spared to defend Westfold were unable hold back the tide of Dunlendings, who reached Edoras and drove King Helm into hiding. Helm died in the Long Winter that followed, while Freca's son Wulf briefly held the throne of Rohan. As the terrible winter receded, Helm's nephew Fréaláf surprised the invaders and slew Wulf. With the aid of Gondor, the Dunlendings were driven back and Isengard retaken, and the surviving Riders of Westfold finally knew a period of relative peace.

Saruman in Isengard

As Helm's sole surviving heir, Fréaláf became the King of Rohan, the first of the Second Line, and it was at his coronation that the Wizard Saruman first appeared in Rohan. The Wizard persuaded Steward Beren of Gondor, who was present at Fréaláf's coronation, to give him the Key of Orthanc and allow him to settle in the Tower. At this time, two hundred and sixty years before the War of the Ring, Saruman was a great friend to Rohan, freely offering his aid to the recovering Rohirrim. The fact that Isengard was now held by an allied force meant that Rohan's western borders were once again fully defended, bringing a time of peace for the Riders of Westfold.

This peace lasted for nearly two hundred years, but Saruman had been secretly building his forces and laying his plans, and in III 2953 he claimed Isengard for himself, and began to raise fortifications. In about the year III 3000 he dared to use the palantír in the Tower of Orthanc, and was thus ensnared by Sauron.

Saruman now massed his forces for an invasion of Rohan, joining with Rohan's old enemies the Dunlendings, and bolstering his armies with Orcs and Half-orcs. Meanwhile his spy Gríma Wormtongue worked to weaken Rohan from within by incapacitating its King. Saruman struck the first military blow on the night of 24 February III 3019, when he sent invaders from Isengard to attack the Fords of Isen. The King's own son Théodred - at that time the Marshal of the Western Riders - commanded the Riders of Westfold in their defence of the Fords, in an action that would come to be known as the First Battle of the Fords of Isen. Théodred was slain in that attack, and indeed his death had been Saruman's primary objective. So the Rohirrim retained control of the Crossings, but were left without their strongest commander.

Erkenbrand the lord of Westfold took command in Théodred's place, but the Riders of Westfold were permitted only a brief respite. On 2 March, Saruman attacked again, and Erkenbrand's Riders were scattered as Saruman's forces finally took the Fords of Isen and marched on into Rohan. Many of Erkenbrand's retreating troops were nonetheless rallied and led back to their headquarters at Helm's Deep, which was now the focus of the invasion. After the hard-fought Battle of the Hornburg, they succeeded in overcoming Saruman's invaders.

The War of the Ring and Its Aftermath

With Saruman's armies defeated, and the Wizard himself contained in Isengard, western Rohan was now free from threat, and its Riders joined the Full Muster being assembled to ride into the greater War of the Ring. Their lord Erkenbrand was left to guard the small garrison remaining in Westfold. In his place, Grimbold was given command of the remaining 1,500 Riders of Westfold as they set out for battle in Gondor. They reached Minas Tirith in time to turn the tide of the Battle of the Pelennor, and succeeded in driving off the invading forces of Mordor. Grimbold, the new commander of the Riders, was among the many slain in that battle and was laid to rest in the Mounds of Mundburg.

After the victory in the Battle of the Pelennor, Aragorn led the Gondorians and Rohirrim to challenge Mordor itself. The hearts of many of these Men quailed as they approached the Dark Land, and some of the Riders of Westfold are named among those whose courage failed them. Aragorn sent them instead to recover the isle of Cair Andros from enemy hands, and in this task they evidently succeeded.¹

King Théoden was among the slain in the War of the Ring, and his heir Théodred had fallen just three weeks earlier in the Battles of the Fords of Isen. The King was therefore succeeded by his nephew Éomer, who set about reforming the military organisation of his Riders. From Éomer's time, the arrangement of the Marshals was changed, so that there was now a permanent Marshal of the West-mark, in command of all the Riders of western Rohan, including the Riders of Westfold. Erkenbrand, the old lord of Westfold, was appointed as the first to hold this prestigious new rank.