The Drúedain
the Woses; the wild folk of the woods, the Drughu
Definition
The Drúedain — called the Woses and the Wild Men of the Woods — are a strange and secret people among Men, the Drughu, whose western kindred dwelt by the woods of the First Age and left the “Pukel-folk” images that the Riders of Rohan met with in the forest. The essay in Unfinished Tales (Part Three, VI) gathers all that is known of their appearance, their woodcraft, and their long stand against the Shadow.
History
The essay accounts for their origin as a branch of Men older than the Houses of the Edain in the West, some holding that they were of the same race as the folk of the House of Haleth, whom they served and companied in Beleriand — the woses who kept the secrets of the deep woods and were famed for their stone-images and their lore of wild things. In the later ages scattered tribes of the Drúedain still dwelt in the White Mountains and in the Drúadan Forest on the borders of Gondor, “wild men” bound by ancient friendship to the Dúnedain, and in the Third Age their kin aided the hosts that fought in the War of the Ring.
Significance
They are the wild remnant among the “free peoples” of the West, guarding the memory of the oldest Men in the lands of the west; their strangeness sharpens the sense of what was ancient and free in Middle-earth, and their friendship with the Elves and the heirs of the Faithful was shown in the last wars against Sauron.
In the Texts
The Unfinished Tales essay combines the fullest account of their First-Age history with fragments on their customs; in The Lord of the Rings they appear as the Woses of the Drúadan Forest who guide the army of Rohan and are honoured in the end of the War. The name “Drúedain” and the “Drúadan Forest” keep the older form of their name in the annals and maps.