Men of the West

People of Bëor	Haladin	People of Hador
	Men of the West Dúnedain of Númenor
Black Númenóreans		Exiles of Númenor
	Dúnedain of Arnor		Dúnedain of Gondor

A term used for the Dúnedain, and indeed a direct translation of that name. These were Men of the houses that had aided the Eldar in their wars against Morgoth during the First Age, and had been rewarded with a new land of their own: the Isle of Númenor far out in the Great Sea to the West of Middle-earth. There the Men of the West built a civilisation unrivalled by any others among their kind.

The Kings of Númenor ruled throughout most of the Second Age, but gradually their realm crumbled from within. Prevented by the Ban of the Valar from journeying to the Undying Lands, they sought conquests and power in Middle-earth, until their last King, Ar-Pharazôn, took Sauron himself as a prisoner and hostage. Sauron subverted the King, persuading him to make a hopeless assault on the land of the Valar, and so brought about the Downfall of Númenor.

The Downfall saw the end of the realm of Númenor, but not of the Men of the West, many of whom had already settled in Middle-earth. Elendil, who had been the Lord of Andúnië in Númenor, escaped the destruction of Númenor with his sons, and founded new realms of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth: Arnor the North-kingdom and Gondor the South-kingdom. Thus the Men of the West were able to survive into the Third Age.

It was in Middle-earth that the phrase 'Men of the West' was most commonly used, especially in later years to refer to the historical achievements of these people. As the Third Age passed, the exiled Númenóreans were diminished by war and disaster. The North-kingdom of Arnor broke into lesser realms, and failed altogether more than a thousand years before the War of the Ring. The South-kingdom of Gondor survived, and continued to stand against the Dark Lord even at the end of the Age. In the events of the War of the Ring, the last descendant of the old Northern Kings, Aragorn, emerged to restore the Kingship of Gondor, and to lead the Men of the West into the Fourth Age.

Though the term 'Men of the West' is almost always used for the Númenóreans, it does sometimes have a broader meaning. Occasionally, it encompassed all the Men of the West of Middle-earth, a wider scope that included the Dúnedain and their descendants, but also their allies such as the Rohirrim. These 'Middle Men' (as they were called in Gondor) were descended from peoples who did not make the journey to Númenor at the dawn of the Second Age, but nonetheless were extremely distant kin of the Dúnedain.