It is known that Tolkien based his character King Theoden of Rohan, in The Lord of the Rings, on a real historical character Theodoric I who was King of the Visigoths (418 - 451 AD). He ruled a kingdom shown in orange below. In order to make alliances with neighbouring kingdoms Theodoric married his daughters to rulers/heirs of these hostile peoples. One to Rechiarus, King of the Suevi (shown in green) and another to Genseric's (King of the Vandals, shown in yellow) son, Hunnoric. Neither marriage ended in the good relations that Theodoric hoped for. Rechiarus was a belligerent neighbour who made war on every single country around him including the Roman Empire. He was eventually defeated by Theodoric's son on the battlefield. The other marriage of his daughter to Hunnoric ended even more horrifically.
This marriage in 429 AD between Genseric's heir Hunnoric (King of Vandals) lasted fifteen years and produced children. But in 444 AD Hunnoric wanted to make an alliance with the Roman Empire by marrying Eudocia, daughter of the Emperor Valentinian III. So he had his wife, Theodoric's daughter, mutilated by cutting off her nose and ears and then sent her back to her father. Understandably, Theodoric was livid and took up arms against the Vandals and prepared an attack. Genseric and Hunnoric, realising they could not withstand this assault, cleverly prevailed on Attila the Hun to invade Gaul. This meant Theodoric had to focus on defending his country from this much-feared invader instead of taking revenge.
These warriors were very feared and had unusual practices. The Huns believed in artificial cranial deformation and used wooden planks/fabric to produce flat elongated conical cranial shapes in their babies from 1-6 months old. Their appearance must have been frightening. In addition, they scarred male children on the day of birth by slashing both cheeks with swords.
"For they cut the cheeks of males with a sword, that before they receive the nourishment of milk they must learn to endure wounds."
The similarity of Tolkien's story and that of Theodoric becomes clearer in the details of the battle. Attila advanced towards the city of Orleans burning and plundering all the way. Theodoric got together an alliance of the tribes and managed to defeat Attila in the battle of the Catalaunian Plains. In a scene very similar to that in The Lord of the Rings, where King Theoden in the battle of Pelennor fields fought against the King of the Nazgul and rode ahead of his men. Theodoric was thrown, like Theoden, from his horse and trampled underfoot and killed.
His son, Thorismud, pursued the enemy hungry for revenge and penetrated right into Attila's camp. Like Eomer's reckless rush, in The Lord of The Rings, Thorismud had to fight his way out to safety. The next day the body of Theodoric was found "where the dead lay thickest" and the warriors carried his body away with traditional songs and ceremony. It was one of the only defeats of Attila the Hun.
It is to be expected that Tolkien, a professor of English at Oxford, would use not just historical sources including oral traditions, to enrich his tales but also ancient literature/poems dating from these periods. It helped that Tolkien was familiar with many languages including Latin, French, German, Middle English, Old English, Finnish, Gothic, Greek, Italian, Old Norse, Spanish, Welsh and medieval Welsh. His work was able to be enriched by tales from many ancient cultures and traditions. Tolkien's love of ancient myths combined with his deep religious faith to produce his conviction that mythology was a divine echo of "the Truth". Whether these tales of ancient deeds, sometimes horrific, often time heroic, some fiction, some factual either add to the truth or distort it, is still an open question but they certainly add depth. I must confess to my favourite scene in The Lord of Rings which talks about death so beautifully.
“Home is behind, the world ahead,
and there are many paths to tread
through shadows to the edge of night,
until the stars are all alight.”
