During the First Age they were Men who had entered Beleriand in the time after the Dagor Bragollach. During the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, these men fought on both sides and were afterwards given Hithlum in which to live by Morgoth. There they oppressed the remnant of the People of Hador. These men were called 'Incomers' by the people of Hithlum.

During the Third Age, Easterlings became a general name given to the waves of Men who attacked Gondor from the eastern realms of Middle-earth. There are numerous mentions of them in Tolkien’s writings and they are always a barbaric and foul people who hated the Lords of Men and the Eldar and fought often alongside Orcs.