Helm, besieged inside the Hornburg, became gaunt and grim, and eventually began to venture from the fort at night, stalking the camps of the Dunlendings and killing men with his bare hands. Before he would come forth in the dark, Helm would blow a blast upon his great horn, which struck fear into his enemies, and they fled upon hearing it (this was the Horn of Helm’s Deep in the Lord of the Rings). In this way, Helm won renown, and was much feared for many generations after by the Dunlendings, but one night he froze to death outside the walls of the Hornburg, and the royal house fell into shambles.
Rohan:
With the onset of spring, Helm’s nephew Fréaláf Hildeson led a small army down from Dunharrow, where another remnant of the Rohirrim had lasted out the winter. Coming upon Edoras unawares, they slew Wulf and reclaimed Meduseld. Helm’s body was brought back from the Hornburg and buried in the last mound of the first line of the Kings of Rohan, and the white Simbelmyne grew so thick upon his mound that it appeared snow-capped. Fréaláf successfully drove out the remaining Dunlendings before the year was ended, finally receiving aid from Gondor, which had defeated the Corsairs, and Fréaláf became King. To his crowning came Saruman the White, bearing gifts and praising the Rohirrim for their courage. He took up his abode at Isengard in 2759, a gift from Beren, Steward of Gondor. Fréaláf was content to have such a strong ally in the west against the Dunlendings as Saruman, as the Rohirrim had suffered great loss of men and horses during the hard winter. Eventually, though, as is explained elsewhere, Saruman became an enemy of Rohan and deigned to rule from Isengard as a lord of Men.
Fréaláf’s son was Brýtta Léofa, a beloved king who stabilized Rohan once again, and the people began to prosper. In his time, however, orcs fleeing the Misty Mountains after the Battle of Azanulbizar in TA 2799 began to take refuge in the foothills of the White Mountains. Brytta’s son Walda reigned for just nine years before he was killed by a group of Orcs. Folca, son of Walda, was a great hunter, and took a vow upon becoming king that he would not hunt beasts again until every orc had been driven out of Rohan. After destroying what was held to be the last orc-hold in Rohan, he journeyed to the Firien wood, to kill the Great Boar that lived there. He slew the boar, but died of the wounds he received in the act of killing it. The reign of Folcwine, son of Folca, saw a return to prosperity for Rohan, as he subdued the lands around the river Isen, and drove out the Dunlendings. In his reign, the Rohirrim recovered from their losses in the war against Wulf. He also came to the aid of Gondor when a great army of the Haradrim came up against the South Kingdom. Persuaded not to go to battle himself, Folcwine sent instead his twin sons, Folcred and Fastred. Although the combined armies of Rohan and Gondor won a great victory at the Battle of the Crossings of Poros on the banks of the River Poros in South Ithilien, the sons of King Folcwine fell side by side in battle. Steward Túrin II of Gondor therefore paid a rich weregild of gold to Folcwine for his sacrifice.