Editing Harad (section)

==Middle-earth narrative==

{{anchor|Corsairs of Umbar}}{{anchor|Umbar}}

[[File:Gondor sketch map.svg|thumb|center|upright=2.5|Sketch map of part of Middle-earth in the Third Age, showing Harad to the south of [[Gondor]] and [[Mordor]] ]]

=== Geography ===

[[File:Atlas Van der Hagen - Barbary Coast.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.75|Tolkien's Corsairs were inspired by the [[Barbary pirates|Barbary Pirates or Corsairs]] of the North African coast.<ref name="Bowers 2019"/> Map by [[Jan Janssonius]], c. 1650]]

Harad is a large land in the south of [[Middle-earth]], bordered to the north by (from west to east) the lands of [[Gondor]], [[Mordor]], Khand and Rhûn. Historically the border with Gondor was to be the river Harnen, but by the time of the [[War of the Ring]] all the land further north to the river Poros is under the influence of the Haradrim. The border with Mordor runs along the southern [[Mountains of Shadow]]. Harad's west coast (the nearest to Gondor) is washed by the Great Sea, the western ocean of [[Middle-earth]]. Harad's eastern shores looks out on the Eastern Sea, Middle-earth's eastern ocean.<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}} "[[Akallabêth]]"</ref>

The [[elf (Tolkien)|elves]] named the land and its people ''Haradwaith'', "South-folk", from the [[Sindarin]] ''harad'', meaning "south", and ''gwaith'', meaning "people".<ref name="Tyler2002 p307">{{cite book |last=Tyler |first=J. E. A. |author-link=Tony Tyler |title=The Complete Tolkien Companion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J-WWMtIVl_gC&pg=PA307 |year=2002 |publisher=Pan Books |isbn=978-0-330-41165-3 |pages=307–308}}</ref> The [[Quenya]] word ''Hyarmen'' similarly means "south" in addition to being the name of the country. The hobbits called the area the ''Sunlands'', and the people ''[[wikt:swarthy|Swert]]ings''.<ref name="The Black Gate is Closed" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954}}, book 4 ch 3, "The Black Gate is Closed", {{ISBN|0 04 823046 4}} "I've heard tales of the big folk down away in the Sunlands. Swertings we call 'em in our tales; and they ride on oliphaunts, 'tis said, when they fight."</ref> [[Aragorn]] briefly describes his journeys in the land as being in "Harad where the stars are strange".<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a}} "[[The Council of Elrond]]"</ref> Tolkien confirmed that this meant that Aragorn had travelled "some distance into the [[southern hemisphere]]" in Harad.<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1980}} part 4 ch. III "The Istari" p. 402 note 10; {{ISBN|0-04-823179-7}}</ref>

[[File:Greek Galleys.jpg|thumb|left|Tolkien called the Corsairs of Umbar's ships "[[dromund]]s" (galleys, as in this reconstruction) and deep ships with oars and sails.<ref name="Tolkien Ships" group=T/><ref name="Morwinsky 2008"/>]]

The great harbour city of Umbar lies on Harad's north-west coast; its natural harbour is the base of the Corsairs of Umbar, inspired by the [[Barbary pirates]],<ref name="Bowers 2019">{{cite book |last=Bowers |first=John M. |title=Tolkien's Lost Chaucer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5OwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA170 |year=2019 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-258029-0 |page=170}}</ref> who provide the Dark Lord [[Sauron]] with a sizeable fleet. The ships are different types of [[galley]]s, with both oars and sails; some are named as [[dromund]]s, others as having a deep draught (requiring a deep channel), many oars, and black sails.<ref name="Morwinsky 2008">{{cite journal |last=Morwinsky |first=Thomas |title=Númenórean Maritime Technology |journal=Other Minds Magazine |date=January 2008 |issue=2 |pages=28–29}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Cole |first=Michael |title=Pirates of Middle Earth |journal=RPG Review |date=March 2015 |issue=26–27 |pages=56–73 |url=http://rpgreview.net/files/rpgreview_26.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Tolkien Ships" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" "for black against the glittering stream they beheld a fleet borne up on the wind: dromunds, and ships of great draught [with deep hulls] with many oars, and with black sails bellying in the breeze."</ref>

Elsewhere in Harad there are "many towns";<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}} '[[Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age]]', p. 290; {{ISBN|0 04 823139 8}}</ref> one of these is "the inland city", the home of Queen Berúthiel (mentioned by Tolkien in an interview).<ref name="interview">{{cite web |url=https://fantasticmetropolis.com/i/tolkien |title=The Realms of Tolkien |work=originally published in New Worlds in November 1966, reprinted in Carandaith in 1969 and again in Fantastic Metropolis in 2001 |access-date=1 February 2020}}</ref> 
The Harad Road is the main overland route between Gondor and Harad.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, book 6 ch. 2</ref>
Harad possesses jungles with apes,<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954}} book 3 ch. 7 "apes in the dark forests of the South"</ref> grasslands,<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, Appendix A:II "the far fields of the South"</ref> and deserts.

Gondor described Harad as consisting of Near Harad and Far Harad. Near Harad corresponds loosely with [[North Africa]] or the [[Maghreb]], while Far Harad, the vastly larger of the two regions, corresponds loosely with [[sub-Saharan Africa]]. Tolkien's own annotated map of Middle-earth, used by the illustrator [[Pauline Baynes]] to construct her iconic map, suggests that "Elephants appear in the great battle outside [[Minas Tirith]] (as they did in Italy under [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]]) but they would be in place in the blank squares of Harad – also camels."<ref name="Kennedy 2016">{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Maev |author-link=Maev Kennedy |title=Tolkien annotated map of Middle-earth acquired by Bodleian library |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/03/jrr-tolkien-annotated-map-middle-earth-bodleian-lord-rings-hobbit |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=3 May 2016}}</ref>

{{anchor|Haradrim}}

=== People ===

[[File:Memnon Aithiopides Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1507 side A.jpg|thumb| [[Christopher Tolkien]] linked the Haradrim with ancient [[Aethiopia]]ns.<ref name="CT Sigelwara Land" group=T/> [[Black-figure]] [[Attica|Attic]] [[amphora]] with the Aethiopian king [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]], a serpent emblem on his round shield, flanked by two of his warriors, c. 510 BC]]
<!--[[File:Harad victory celebration.jpg|thumb|Artist's impression of Haradrim. Jan Pospíšil, 2009]]-->

The [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]] of Harad are called ''Haradrim'' ("South-multitude"), ''Haradwaith'', or ''Southrons'' by the people of Gondor. The Haradrim are of various ethnicities and cultures; some are organized into kingdoms.<ref name="Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, book 4 ch 4, "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit"</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954}}, Appendix A §I(iv)</ref> [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]] and [[Samwise Gamgee|Sam]] meet [[Faramir]] and his Rangers of Ithilien just before the latter ambush a company of Haradrim on the North Road. Frodo and Sam do not see much of the battle, since they are positioned elsewhere, but they hear the sounds of fighting, and a slain Haradrim warrior crashes at their feet. This warrior is described as having "brown" skin, with black plaits of hair braided with gold.<ref name="Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit" group=T/> He wears a [[Scarlet (cloth)|scarlet tunic]], as do the other Haradrim, and a gold collar. He is armed with a sword and has a corslet of brazen scales. Their [[Flag|standards]] are scarlet, and their great beasts, the ''mûmakil'', have scarlet and gold trappings. They carry round spiked shields, painted yellow and black. Their leaders have a serpent emblem.<ref name="Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit" group=T/> The people of Far Harad were black-skinned; a group of them is described as "black men like half-[[Troll (Middle-earth)|troll]]s with white eyes and red tongues" and "troll-men".<ref name="Battle of the Pelennor Fields" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, book 5 ch 6, "Battle of the Pelennor Fields"</ref>

===History===
{{further|Númenor}}

The Haradrim are independent peoples, but in the [[Second Age]] they are caught between the ambitions of Sauron (the Dark Lord) and the [[Númenóreans]], who often kill Haradrim or sell them as slaves, and who become rulers of Harad. Over the centuries many Haradrim fall under Sauron's dominion, and to "them Sauron was both king and god, and they feared him exceedingly".<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}}, "[[Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age]]"</ref> They become mixed with Númenórean settlers, some of whom fall under the sway of Sauron as "Black Númenóreans".<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, Appendix A §I(iv) footnote</ref><ref name="Straubhaar Men">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Straubhaar |first=Sandra Ballif |author-link=Sandra Ballif Straubhaar |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Men, Middle-Earth |encyclopedia=[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia|J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment]] |year=2006 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=1-135-88034-4 |pages=415–417}}</ref> Under King Hyarmendacil I "South-victor" of Gondor, Harad becomes a vassal of Gondor.<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, Appendix A §I(iv)</ref> By the time of the War of the Ring, the Haradrim are again under the dominion of Sauron, and the Haradrim Corsairs provide the whole of his Black Fleet; many other Haradrim join his armies, some riding ''mûmakil''. In the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]], the leader of the Haradrim army is killed by [[King Théoden]] of [[Rohan (Middle-earth)|Rohan]].<ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, book 5 ch. 6 and book 6 ch. 4</ref><ref  group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955}}, book 6 ch. 5</ref>

Tolkien did not work out any particular [[Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien|languages]] for the Haradrim, though ''mûmak'', "elephant", may be in the Harad language.<ref name="Tyler2002 p446">{{cite book |last=Tyler |first=J. E. A. |title=The Complete Tolkien Companion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J-WWMtIVl_gC&pg=PA446 |year=2002 |publisher=Pan Books |isbn=978-0-330-41165-3 |page=446}}</ref> Despite having a meaning in Quenya ("fate"), the name ''Umbar'' is adapted from the natives' language and not from Elvish or [[Adûnaic]].<ref name=Flieger2009>{{cite journal |title=The Music and the Task: Fate and Free Will in Middle-earth |first=Verlyn |last=Flieger |author-link=Verlyn Flieger |journal=[[Tolkien Studies]] |volume=6 |pages=157 |year=2009 |quote=...in primitive Quenya ''umbar'', 'fate,' ... |doi=10.1353/tks.0.0051|s2cid=143443789 }}</ref>