Tolkien Gateway

Man of the West

From Tolkien Gateway

Man of the West is the literal translation of the word Dúnadan, a word that could in principle be applied to any of the Númenóreans or their descendants. The plural form is Dúnedain, 'Men of the West'.

In Rivendell, it seems to have been specially reserved as a term of address for Aragorn, whose ancestral line stretched back through Isildur and Elendil to the first Kings of Númenor and beyond. As the rightful lord of all the Dúnedain in Middle-earth, he was indeed - as Bilbo put it - the Dúnadan.