Helm Hammerhand

The great mountain refuge of the Rohirrim keeps the name of a king out of the Mark's past. Helm Hammerhand rules Rohan generations before, ninth king of the line of Eorl, remembered among his people for a strength of arm that gives him his title. The histories of Rohan place his reign in a harsh age of feuds and invasions, when the kingdom is pressed by hostile men out of the hills and a winter of terrible length lies over the land. The deep valley in the White Mountains where his people take refuge in that time bears his name ever after: Helm's Deep, with its fortress the Hornburg, the strong place to which Rohan turns when the open country cannot be held. In the songs of the Mark, Helm stands for endurance in the worst of days.