Rohirrim colours

King Elessar the Uniter · **Posted:** Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:36 pm

Does Tolkien ever associate the colour red with the Rohirrim?

They seem to have a lot of red in the films (Eomer's armour, RRG cloth etc.) but as far as I knew Tolkien only mentioned the colours: gold/yellow, green, white and grey.

Thanks.

Snowy · **Posted:** Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:12 am

Yeah I'm pretty sure he didn't, but it would look nice, but then again, I may be wrong

Locust Scar · **Posted:** Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:09 pm

Did Tolkien mention the theme colors for each kingdom in the books? The only realm I ever remember having a color is Harad, which are supposed to have red EVERYWHERE. This brings up an annoying point for me, because in all the sourcebooks and journey books the GW color scheme for the Haradrim is NOT very good, because it makes their cloaks mostly pink and black, which I don't think the Haradrim are supposed to look.

And about the red of Rohan, Tolkien may not have mentioned it, but they make it look good in the movies.

King Elessar the Uniter · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 3:31 pm

Locust Scar wrote:

Did Tolkien mention the theme colors for each kingdom in the books?

He mentioned colours for a lot of them; Gondor wore black/sable, Rohan had green shields, Mordor had a lot of black, grey and red in it's army, so too did the evil forces of Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains, Harad (as you said) had red everywhere...and there's probably more.

Locust Scar · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 8:01 pm

Hmm. I don't remember all those colors. Maybe I just don't read very carefully, seeing as I'm a very fast reader. It's sometimes a problem, because I read so fast I sometimes skip important parts.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 8:08 pm

Red was perhaps not a common colour in Rohan, but one famous minor character certainly had it - Erkenbrand.

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Erkenbrand

Bear in mind that there are many versions of red (eg, crimson, scarlet etc), and also that greens and browns would be more the basic colours of a medieval society.

King Elessar the Uniter · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 8:17 pm

Dorthonion wrote:

Red was perhaps not a common colour in Rohan, but one famous minor character certainly had it - Erkenbrand.

Thanks for that Dorthonion, Erkenbrand's RED shield didn't register in my mind at all, even though I re-read The Battle of the Hornburg yesterday! :roll:

Well that's the answer to my question, thanks!

Locust Scar wrote:

I sometimes skip important parts.

Well just so you know: at the end of ROTK good wins. :wink:

gaarew · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 8:21 pm

King Elessar the Uniter wrote:

Well just so you know: at the end of ROTK good wins. :wink:

Excellent. You've just saved me untold hours reading 3 books...

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 8:26 pm

Untold hours? Have they got more or less minutes in them than a standard hour?

Some Rohan info from the movies:
http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Hum ... Things.htm

And if you want lifesize banners:
http://www.flaggen-pehl.de/index.php?cP ... cdaf14dc06
(they have some red bits!)

King Elessar the Uniter · **Posted:** Sat May 02, 2009 8:27 pm

gaarew wrote:

King Elessar the Uniter wrote:

Well just so you know: at the end of ROTK good wins. :wink:

Excellent. You've just saved me untold hours reading 3 books...

My pleasure!

Thanks for the links Dorthonion!

Locust Scar · **Posted:** Sun May 03, 2009 2:07 am

Okay, so it turns out that red Rohan banners and shields is a movie invention, but come on, it still looks cool!

I think it looks nice next to the green and gold.

King Elessar the Uniter · **Posted:** Sun May 03, 2009 1:55 pm

Locust Scar wrote:

Okay, so it turns out that red Rohan banners and shields is a movie invention

No

, Dorthonion pointed out that in The Two Towers BOOK Erkenbrand has a red shield:

Dorthonion wrote:

Red was perhaps not a common colour in Rohan, but one famous minor character certainly had it - Erkenbrand.

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Erkenbrand

It seems that not only do you skip important parts of the books but also the important parts of topics...

Locust Scar · **Posted:** Sun May 03, 2009 10:44 pm

Sorry.

King Elessar the Uniter · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2009 12:06 pm

Okay, so it turns out that Locust Scar doesn't say sorry when he's made a mistake. :roll:

Oohh, I've just noticed that Locust Scar did say "sorry"...

Locust Scar wrote:

Sorry.

...but because I was reading sooo fast I skipped the important part of his post!

Nah, only joking! Your apology is accepted! :wink:

gaarew · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2009 3:29 pm

Hmmmm, royaly named handles aside, it would seem we have a pretender to the throne....

:wink:

goblin_king · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2009 11:26 am

I never painted my Rohan with any red, barring the characters.
In medievil or even Dark Age society, as mentioned, green and brown would be very simple colours for commoners. Eomer's armour is an exception, it is a reddish brown, the colour of leather.

My haradrim are purple and red, I thought the eavy metal ones were too? Admittedly, mine are usually more purple than red, but there's still a lot of red...

Locust Scar · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2009 12:29 am

goblin_king wrote:

My haradrim are purple and red, I thought the eavy metal ones were too? Admittedly, mine are usually more purple than red, but there's still a lot of red...

This is something that annoys me (not you Goblin King-GW!) They paint their Haradrim mostly black and pink, which isn't how they're suppose to look in the book.

King Elessar the Uniter · **Posted:** Tue May 12, 2009 4:15 pm

gaarew wrote:

Hmmmm, royaly named handles aside, it would seem we have a pretender to the throne....

:wink:

@goblin_king - yeah, I'm going to keep red for the royals and greens/browns and other dull colours for the normal warriors! :wink:

Edraitheru · **Joined:** Wed May 27, 2009 1:34 pm **Posts:** 24

Rohan is supposed to be in earthly colors because they are a blend between Saxons and Horse Nomads the one expection is Erkenbrand's shield which is red and the horse hair in their helms which is gold also horses are not black in Rohan as Mordor steals them for the Black Riders to use.

Angularity · **Joined:** Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:56 am **Posts:** 157

Locust Scar wrote:

Did Tolkien mention the theme colors for each kingdom in the books? The only realm I ever remember having a color is Harad, which are supposed to have red EVERYWHERE. This brings up an annoying point for me, because in all the sourcebooks and journey books the GW color scheme for the Haradrim is NOT very good, because it makes their cloaks mostly pink and black, which I don't think the Haradrim are supposed to look.

And about the red of Rohan, Tolkien may not have mentioned it, but they make it look good in the movies.

Tolkien also mentioned green for the men of Hirluin, blue for Dol Amroth, pure black for Minas Morgul, and various colours for the clothes of the Dwarves in The Hobbit.

Without checking, I think that in the books red is primarily an evil colour, green is good, white is good, black can be either, blue is good, yellow is either (but rarely used, except by my Easterlings).

The imaginations of the guys who designed the films are better than mine, but I still stick to what's in the books where possible. So, my Mumak has red hangings, and the men who ride it wear (mostly) red and brazen/goldy armour. I used the Numenoreans from the Last Alliance box as green-clad men from the Green Hills, because they're (possibly) a little behind the latest Minas Tirith fashion.

I think that 3 or 4 Rohan Royal Guard with a bit of red on them look that bit special, compared to the mass of really very dull brown and green Riders.

Rohirrim colours

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