I.  CAST OF CHARACTERS:

The Dúnedain:

Eirien: Halbarad's wife

Alagos: Halbarad and Eirien's elder son, posted at Sarn Ford

Falathren: Their daughter, widowed with a young child

Elanor: Falathren's daughter, about five years old

Húrin: Halbarad’s younger son, 17 years old

Nelaer: Halbarad's dice-playing, sharp-tongued mother

Brueglir:   Nelaer's late husband; just as cantankerous as his wife (although not quite as good at dice)

Meneliel:  Nelaer’s best friend, a stalwart and wise matron 

Lathron:  Meneliel's husband, died in 2920 en route to Fornost

Brandol: Meneliel's son; a Ranger very fond of his pipe

Tologarth: Brandol's son; fancies Falathren

Fimenel:  Another dice-playing granny

Thargil:  An old Ranger (but not too old to patch a roof )

Haerost:  A young Ranger

The Dunlendings:

Teburic:   Head of the spy ring in Bree (appears in “In the Hands of the Enemy”)

Begaric:  Ruliri peddler, victim of Karani bandits

Malek, Halig, Garstic:  Karani bandits who attack Begaric and his family

Yenne:   Begaric’s 16-year-old daughter, betrothed to the son of the Ruliri chief

Melnag:  Begaric’s weaselly brother

Dugaric:  Chieftain of the Ruliri

Veraric:  Dugaric’s brother; large and untrustworthy

Tulric:  Yet another Ruliri with loyalty issues

Relnar:  Squashed-nosed Chieftain of the Karani; knows someone interested in the Dúnedain

The denigha:  A mysterious old woman

Elves:

Saddlebags: A healer with a bad bedside manner

Tiriel:  A very pretty cook

Other Assorted Characters:

Dudo Tillfield: bastard son of a n'er do well Bree hobbit and a runaway Shire lass; chicken gutter, erstwhile spy and honorary Ranger

Rolly: An orphan who fell in with a bad crowd (appears in “In the Hands of the Enemy”)

Daisy: Not a Rohan warhorse.

Spike: A very unfortunate kitten (referenced in "A Time for Joy")

II.  TIMELINE:  

Warning:  The following timeline contains spoilers for story events.

Note:  Canon events appear in bold text.  The source for canon events is Appendix A or Appendix B unless otherwise noted.

2911-2912       Fell Winter

2912                Great floods devastate Minhiriath and Enedwaith.  Tharbad is ruined  and deserted

c. 2913            The Rangers establish a post at the ruins of Tharbad to secure the ford and the North-South Road. 

c. 2919            Dunlending refugees fleeing strife and famine in the foothills of the Misty Mountains seek refuge in the ruins of Tharbad. 

2920                Posted at Tharbad, Rangers Arathorn, Brueglir, and Lathron make the acquaintance of young Dunlending widow Bega.  Later that year, Lathron is killed near Fornost.

2921                Bega gives birth to a son.   

2925                The denigha is born.

2921-2926        Arathorn remains Captain at Tharbad, with Bega and her son under his protection.

2927                Arathorn is posted to Lake Evendim.   

2928                Arathorn begins courting Gilraen.

2929                   Arathorn and Gilraen are betrothed. 

2929                  Arathorn marries Gilraen

2930                  Arador, Arathorn’s father and Chieftain of the Dúnedain, is slain by trolls in the Coldfells (north of Rivendell.) 

2930               Upon becoming chief, Arathorn recalls the Rangers from Tharbad and moves with Gilraen to the Angle. 

2930               Gilraen discovers letters from Bega to Arathorn in a trunk.  Distraught, she confides in Nelaer, who confronts Arathorn.   Meneliel, Nelaer, and Arathorn travel to Tharbad in search of Bega.   

2931              Aragorn is born

2933                 Arathorn is slain, Gilraen and Aragorn are taken to Rivendell.  Halbarad’s father, Brueglir, becomes Acting Chieftain

2935               Halbarad is born

2938               Eirien is born

2951                 Elrond reveals to Aragorn his true name and ancestry; Aragorn meets Arwen; Aragorn goes out into the Wild.

2951               Aragorn takes his place with the Dúnedain and meets 16-year-old Halbarad.

2953                 Being jealous and afraid of Gandalf, Saruman sets spies to watch all his movements, and notes his interest in the Shire.  He soon begins to keep agents in Bree and the Southfarthing.

2955               On patrol north of Bree, Aragorn and Halbarad make the acquaintance of a certain farmwife and her goat, Buttercup. 

2956                 Aragorn meets Gandalf and their friendship begins.

2957-2980       Aragorn undertakes his great journeys and errantries.

2967               Halbarad marries Eirien.

2975               Halbarad’s son Alagos is born.

2980                 Returning from “perils on the dark confines of Mordor” Aragorn enters Lórien and plights his troth with Arwen. Upon his return to Imladris, Elrond informs him Arwen will be the bride of no man less than the King of Gondor and Arnor.  Elrond also tells Aragorn, “A shadow lies between us.”

2980                 Aragorn goes forth again into “danger and toil.” 

2980               Brueglir is killed. Halbarad becomes Aragorn’s second-in-command.    Halbarad’s daughter Falathren is born (Events of "A Time for Joy")

post-2980        Gilraen leaves Imladris “after a few years” and returns to her people

2982               While at Sarn Ford, Brandol’s wife dies in childbirth.  He returns to the Angle with his newborn son, Tologarth.

2990               Brandol is maimed in an orc attack.

2991               Halbarad’s son Húrin is born.

c. 3000             Saruman’s spies report that the Shire is being closely guarded by the Rangers.

3001                 Gandalf suspects the Ring to be the One Ring.  The guard to the Shire is doubled.  Gandalf seeks for news of Gollum and calls on the help of Aragorn. 

3002                 Bilbo goes to live in Rivendell

3002               Alagos’s son is born.  Nelaer moves to Sarn Ford. 

3003               Birth of Halbarad’s granddaughter Elanor to his daughter, Falathren.

3004                 Gandalf goes to visit Frodo in the Shire, and does so at intervals during the next four years.

3005               Falathren’s husband is killed by orcs.

3006               Dunlending thieves under the control of Teburic establish a foothold in     Bree.  

3007?               Aragorn makes a last visit to his mother.  She tells him she gave all her hope to the Dúnedain and kept no hope for herself.

3007                 Death of Gilraen

3007               Saruman dispatches Rolly to Bree to supervise efforts to spy on Gandalf. A young employee of the Prancing Pony is recruited by Teburic to spy on inn’s patrons; particularly Gandalf and the Rangers.   

3008               Early spring:  Aragorn returns from hunting Gollum east of the mountains, intending to meet with Gandalf in Bree.  He finds the Ranger settlement at the Angle has been attacked by orcs.  The events of in the “Hands of the Enemy” ensue. 

3008               Summer:  The events of “A Matter of Honor” conclude with Aragorn’s return to Rivendell.  Gandalf remains in the Shire until autumn, settling Dudo into his new home and saying his farewells to Frodo, realizing his visits to the Shire have attracted too much unwanted attention.

3008                In the autumn, Gandalf pays his last visit to Frodo.   

3009                Gandalf and Aragorn renew their hunt for Gollum.  Elrond sends for Arwen and she returns to Imladris  

Note:  I fudged the Appendix B timeline a little bit here – to accommodate requests for an Arwen-Aragorn reunion I had to get her back to Imladris in 3008, before Aragorn and Gandalf left to hunt Gollum.  However, Appendix A seems to imply she might have been  in Imladris even prior to Gilraen’s return to her people “after a few years,” so I took the liberty of assuming the issue may be open to some interpretation.  

III. FANON ALERT:

Where canon and/or other Tolkien references existed, I did my best to follow them.  Where they were in short supply or unclear (at least to me), I extrapolated to the best of my ability.  However, in the following few instances where source material was lacking, I simply made stuff up.      

Halbarad

Canon fails to supply Halbarad's age, marital status, or any biographical information other than that he is Aragorn's "kinsman."  From context it is clear that he is of fighting age and highly trusted by Aragorn at the time of the Ring War.  My decision to make him four years younger than Aragorn and a happily married father of three was made purely for dramatic purposes.  Other authors have given him more of a mentor/father-figure role toward Aragorn, but I figured that with Elrond and Gandalf as father-figures, and having grown up as the youngest sentient being in Imladris by several thousand years, what Aragorn really needed was a close an age-mate peer and friend more than another father figure.  Just my choice.  All other interpretations are equally valid.   Eirien, Alagos, Húrin, Brandol, the dice-playing grannies, and all the other Dúnedain OCs in the story are purely my invention. 

Dunlendings

The clan structure and culture of the Dunlendings as presented are purely speculative, and are based on a hodge-podge of ancient and modern tribal cultural practices.  Tolkien tells us only that the Dunlendings were a primitive and superstitious people who hated the Rohirrim (Forgoil.)  During the Ring War they were aroused by Saruman but afterwards they sent an embassy to King Elessar, so are presumably redeemable.  All the Dunlending OCs in this story are purely my invention.   

Dúnedain at Tharbad

The Dúnedain post established at the ruins of Tharbad after the Fell Winter (TA 2911-2912) is also pure invention, although the Dúnedain's interest in securing the crossing and the southern borders of Eriador during that unstable period seemed reasonable to me. 

All other cultural/sociological/ psychological/canon interpretations in the story, including the socio-economic structure of Dúnedain society and extrapolations of character motivation and interaction, are the result of my own somewhat reasoned but by no means infallible analysis.  If you're interested in how I arrived at any particular interpretation, please feel free to E-mail me, as I welcome discussion/debate.