NOTE: This article is about the mainstream version of Helm Hammerhand. You may be looking for his War of the Rohirrim counterpart which can be found here.
Helm Hammerhand is a character of Silmarillion. He is the ninth king of Rohan.
Biography[]
Born in TA 2691 and became king in TA 2741, after the death of his father, Gram. Helm was famous for his severity and great physical strength, for which he received the nickname Hammerhand.
During his reign, Freca, the ruler of the lands in Adorna, studied little with the king of Rohan, although he called himself his kinsman. Helm did not trust him, but invited him to his councils. Having appeared at one of these councils, Freca asked for the king's hand in marriage for his son, to which Helm responded only with mockery. Freca became furious and insulted his father, even threatening him. Helm left it until the end of the meeting, and then took Freca aside and killed him with a single blow of his fist. Helm banished Freca's companions and declared them enemies of Rohan.
In T.A. 2758 Rohan was attacked by Easterlings from the east, and Gondor could not help, since it was itself attacked. Seeing an opportunity, the Dunlendings under Wulf son of Freki attacked Rohan in the west. Helm gave battle at the River Isen, but was forced to retreat with loss at the Hornburg, where he was besieged. The Dunlendings captured Edoras, and defending the gates of Meduseld, Helma's dead son Haleth, Wulf took the throne in the Golden Hall.
That year the Great Winter began, and the defenders of the Hornburg suffered from hunger. Unable to bear it, Helm's second son Gama, contrary to his father's orders, rushed into the attack and perished in the snow. Grief, anger and hunger exhausted Helma, for at night he walked alone and bare-handed in the Dunlending camp, leaving no one alive and terrorizing the enemy with his very appearance. The Dunlendings began to believe that Helma was invulnerable to any weapon while he himself was unarmed, and that he devoured slain enemies. Before each sortie, Helma blew his war horn, so that the Dunlending warriors fled in fear upon hearing its sounds. After one of these sorties, Helma did not return, and only in the morning was he found frozen to death. None of the Dunlendings dared approach him, standing like a statue at the mouth of the gorge. Despite Freki's long-standing threats, Helma was never brought to her knees, and after his death a thaw began.
Helma's Death by HeavyPred Helma's Death. Illustration by Heavypred In the spring of T.A. 2759, after the Long Winter, Helm's nephew Frealaf slew Edoras and Wulf. The melting snows forced their enemies to flee, and help came from Gondor. Helma was buried in the ninth barrow before Edoras, and symbelminë bloomed there, like a snow-strewn grave.
