It's been a long while since I read UT, and I had completely forgotten about the Druedain . I had to Google them to find out more. The Wikipedia page has some cool info:

[b:1wt2xoaw]Names and Etymology:[/b:1wt2xoaw]

The Dr’edain called themselves Drughu. When the Dr’edain settled in Beleriand, the Sindarin Elves adapted this to Dr’ (plurals Dr’in, Dr’ath) and later added the suffix -adan "man", resulting in the usual Sindarin form Dr’adan (plural Dr’edain).[1] Tolkien also used the form Dr’g, with a regular English plural Dr’gs.[2]
Drughu became R’ in Quenya, with the later suffixed form R’atan (plural R’atani).[1] The Orcs called the Dr’edain Oghor-hai.[2] The word used for them by the Rohirrim during the Third Age was represented by Tolkien as P’kel-men,[3][4] which includes the Anglo-Saxon word p’cel "goblin, troll" (surviving also in Shakespeare's "Puck" and Kipling's "Pook's Hill".

[b:1wt2xoaw]Appearance:[/b:1wt2xoaw]

The appearance of the Dr’edain is entirely different from the appearance of the other races of the Middle-earth legendarium. They are a bit like Dwarves in stature and endurance, stumpy, clumsy-limbed (with short, thick legs, and fat, "gnarled" arms), had broad chests, fat bellies, and heavy buttocks. According to the Elves and other Men, they had "unlovely faces": wide, flat, and expressionless with deep-set black eyes that glowed red when angered. They had "horny" brows, flat noses, wide mouths, and sparse, lank hair. They had no hair lower than the eyebrows, except for a few men who had a tail of black hair on the chin. They were short lived and had a deep hatred of Orcs. They were known to have certain magical powers and to be still in meditation for long periods of time.

[b:1wt2xoaw]History:[/b:1wt2xoaw]

The Dr’gs were the first to migrate from the site where Men awoke, in the east of Middle-earth. A band lived among the Second House of Men, the Haladin, in the First Age in the forest of Brethil, whence the Elves came to know and love them. Although a number of the Dr’edain came with the Edain to N’menor, they had left or died out before the Akallab’th, as had the P’kel-men of Dunharrow. At the end of the Third Age the Dr’gs still lived in the Dr’adan Forest of the White Mountains, and on the long cape of Andrast west of Gondor. The region north of Andrast was still known as Dr’waith Iaur, or "Old Dr’g land".
The term P’kel-men used by the Rohirrim was also applied to the fearsome statues constructed by the Dr’edain to guard important places and homes; some evidently had the power to come to life in a fashion similar to golems. Because of their ugly appearance and frightening statues the Dr’edain were feared and loathed by other Men of the region; they were considered little better than Orcs, and there was much enmity between those peoples.
Nevertheless the Dr’edain of Gh’n-buri-Gh’n's clan came to the aid of the Rohirrim during the War of the Ring. A large company of Orcs had been sent to the Dr’adan Forest to waylay the host of Rohan as it made its way to the aid of Gondor. It was the Dr’edain who held off the Orcs with poisoned arrows whilst they guided the Rohirrim through the forest by secret paths. Without their help the Rohirrim would not have arrived at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and Sauron would likely have triumphed. As a result the Dr’edain gained the respect of other Men, and King Elessar granted the Dr’adan Forest "forever" to them in thanks.
The Dr’edain are reminiscent of the mythological woodwoses, and like them their relic status and physical description are similar to the typical depiction of Neanderthals.

I take it you've read about them in [i:2072nvpr]Unfinished Tales[/i:2072nvpr]? I thought [i:2072nvpr]The Faithful Stone[/i:2072nvpr] was very interesting: it raised a host of questions in my mind about the powers and abilities of the Druedain.

"The term P’kel-men used by the Rohirrim was also applied to the fearsome statues constructed by the Dr’edain to guard important places and homes."

If I remember right they applied this term to the statues along the road to Dunharrow. I've always wondered what the Drugs connection was to the oath-breakers? Was Dunharrow a home of the Drugs before the oathbreakers ever came there? The statues are very old from what I remember, worn and weathered.
I love the Faithful Stone too Eldo, its one of my favourite bits of UT, in fact I really like that whole section on them. But like Noom I wish he had written more about them.

[img:35bf2ve2]http://www.foreigners-in-china.com/images/buddha-wallpaper-Tian-tan-buddha-statue.jpg[/img:35bf2ve2]

From Return of the King??

You're right Petty, that description sounds more like a Neanderthal or some such Proto-Hominid. I'm going to try and track down Tolkien's earlier descriptions from UT, maybe there's something in The History of Middle Earth series that can shed some light on where the Wikipedia author got THAT info from. Possibly it's a situation of Earlier Ideas evolving into something else, or even a Devolution from the original Druedain.

If anyone finds any other original source material, please post it.

[b:ip2bz7eo]GB[/b:ip2bz7eo]

Could be. It sounds likely enough.

[b:375m1xq3]GB[/b:375m1xq3]

I'm sure they could, and they would also have that natural magic (skill, really) that can make it seem like they can disappear into thin air, though only to clumsy Big Folk (including rangers) who come blundering past making the noise of elephants (or oliphaunts).

I hate when people make that wrong myth that elephants/oliphants are noisy and clumsy. They can sneak up on you as quiet as a leopard without sending out that predator vibe that goes with their a leopards narrow field of focus. Also Oliphant grey being some of the best camo in the world. It has often bamboozled me as to why it is not incorporated into the camo patterns of the various armies. Where that myth came from I dont know, better sticking to bulls in china shops.

Sorry, rant over.

noom the slightly aggrivated.

Odd, but despite your (I'm sure sage words) Noom i can't but help but feel that I would notice if an oliphaunt was trying to sneak up on me. Maybe an oliphaunt wearing carpet slippers is what you are thinking of.

UT The Druedain

"They were not many, a few hundred maybe, living apart in families or small tribes , but in friendship, as members of the same community (as Folk of Haleth)....they were unlovely in look; they were stumpy (some four foot high) but very broad, with heavy buttocks and short thick legs; their wide faces had deep-set eyes with heavy brows, and flat noses, and grew no hair below their eyebrows, except in a few men (who were proud of the distinction) a small tail of black hair in the midst of their chin. Their features were usually impassive, the most mobile being their wide mouths; and the movement of their wary eyes could not be observed save from close to hand, for they were so black that the pupils could not be distinguished, but in anger they glowed red. Their voices were deep and guttural, but their laughter was a surprise; it was rich and rolling, and set all who heard it. Elves or Men, laughing too for its pure merriment untainted by scorn or malice. In peace they often laughed at work or play when other Men might sing...when once aroused their red wrath was slow to cool, though it showed no sign save the light in their eyes; for they fought in silence and did not exult in victory, not even over Orcs, the only creatures for whom their hatred was implacable.The Eldar called them Druedain, admitting them to the rank of Atani.....they had marvellous skill as trackers of all living creatures...the Druedain used their scent, like hounds save that they were also keen-eyed. They boasted that they could smell an Orc to winward further away than other Men could see them, and could follow its scent for weeks except through running water. Their knowledge of all growing things was almost equal to the Elves (though untaught by them)..it is said that if they removed to a new country they knew within a short time all things that grew there, great or minute, and gave names to those that were new to them, discerning those that were poisonous, or useful or food....in the far distant past they appear to have had small tools of flint for scraping and cutting, and those they still used...the Druidain showed great talent for carving in wood or stone. They already had a knowledge of pigments, derived chiefly from plants, and they drew pictures and patterns on wood or flat surfaces of stone; and sometimes they would scrape knobs of wood into faces that could be painted."

Again from the notes in UT

An interesting addition to the Druedain story comes from the tale of 'The Mariner's Wife'.

"In a copy of this written and preserved in Gondor there is a note by the scribe on a passage in which the Druedain in the household of KIng Aldarion the Mariner are mentioned; it relates that the Druedain, who were ever noted for their strange foresight, were disturbed to hear of his voyages, foreboding that evil would come of them, begged him to go no more. But they did not succeed...and the Druedain departed in distress. From that time onward the Druedain of Numenor became restless, and despite their fear of the sea one by one, or in twos and threes, they would beg for passages in the great ships that sailed to the North-western shores of Middle-earth....(saying) "The Great Isle no longer feels sure under our feet, and we wish to return to the lands whence we came." Thus their numbers dwindled again slowly through the long years, and none were left when Elendil escaped from the Downfall; the last had fled the land when Sauron was brought to it."

The only other reference to Druedain in Numenor is a detached note which says;

"The Edain who at the end of the War of the Jewels sailed over the sea to Numenor contained few remnants of the Folk of Haleth, and the very few Druedain that accompanied them died out long before the Downfall."

Just had a look GB and can't find anything to give definitive dates. Reading through it I would say its a collection of stories and ideas composed at varying times, some bits seem to reference RoTK so must be later but others may well be earlier. And some things, such as transforming the servant man in Hurins house in Dor-lomin into a drug never got past the 'intention' stage.