Harad

In J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy The Lord of the Rings, Harad is the immense land south of Gondor and Mordor.

Its people are the dark-skinned Haradrim or Southrons; their warriors wear scarlet and gold, and are armed with swords and round shields; some ride gigantic elephants called mûmakil.

Tolkien based the Haradrim on ancient Aethiopians, people of Sub-Saharan Africa, following his philological research on the Old English word Sigelwara.

In Peter Jackson's film The Two Towers, the Haradrim were based on 12th century Saracens: they have turbans and flowing robes, and they ride mûmakil.

Harad's west coast (the nearest to Gondor) is washed by the Great Sea, the western ocean of Middle-earth.

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.

[T 11] The people of Far Harad were black-skinned; a group of them is described as "black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues" and "troll-men".

The resulting meaning for Sigelhearwan, Tolkien decided tentatively, was "rather the sons of Muspell than of Ham", an ancient class of demons in Northern mythology "with red-hot eyes that emitted sparks and faces black as soot".

[17] The Germanic studies scholar Sandra Ballif Straubhaar notes that it is not clear whether Tolkien meant the Haradrim to be grouped with his "Wild Men", though he named them as ancient enemies of Gondor.

[17] She and Stuart D. Lee mention that Tolkien could have used the Old English version by Ælfric of the Book of Maccabees, which carefully introduces elephants to its Anglo-Saxon audience, using much the same phrase as Sam Gamgee, "māre þonne sum hūs", "bigger than a house", before describing their use in battle; the hero stabs the elephant, which is carrying a "wīghūs", a "battle-house", from below.

[22] Tolkien however mentioned Pyrrhus of Epirus's use of war elephants against Ancient Rome in 280–275 BC in his notes for the illustrator Pauline Baynes.

Commentators such as Anderson Rearick and Stephen Shapiro have identified the Haradrim as a recognisably foreign race as well as the enemy, and have accused Tolkien of racism.

Straubhaar writes that "a polycultured, polylingual world is absolutely central"[25] to Middle-earth, and that readers and filmgoers will easily see that.

He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home.

[27][24] Straubhaar concedes that Shapiro may have had a point with "slant-eyed", but comments that this was milder than that of many of his contemporary novelists such as John Buchan, and notes that Tolkien had in fact made "appalled objection" when people had misapplied his story to current events.

[28] In Peter Jackson's film The Two Towers, the Haradrim appear Middle Eastern, with turbans, flowing robes, and riding mûmakil.

[29] The battle scene in Ithilien between the rangers of Gondor and the men of Harad was shot at the Twelve Mile Delta near Queenstown, New Zealand.

Sketch map of part of Middle-earth in the Third Age, showing Harad to the south of Gondor and Mordor
Tolkien's Corsairs were inspired by the Barbary Pirates or Corsairs of the North African coast. [ 1 ] Map by Jan Janssonius , c. 1650
Tolkien called the Corsairs of Umbar's ships " dromunds " (galleys, as in this reconstruction) and deep ships with oars and sails. [ T 5 ] [ 3 ]
Christopher Tolkien linked the Haradrim with ancient Aethiopians . [ T 10 ] Black-figure Attic amphora with the Aethiopian king Memnon , a serpent emblem on his round shield, flanked by two of his warriors, c. 510 BC
Silmaril Balrog Sigelwara Land Aethiopia Sól (Germanic mythology) Hearth Sowilō seal commons:File:Tolkien's Sigelwara Etymologies.svg
Imagemap with clickable links. Tolkien's Sigelwara etymologies, leading to major strands of his Legendarium including also the Silmarils and Balrogs . [ 12 ] [ 13 ]
The Shire Tolkien's moral geography Gondor Mordor commons:File:Tolkien's Moral Geography of Middle-Earth.svg
Imagemap with clickable links of Tolkien's moral geography of Middle-earth, according to John Magoun [ 18 ]
Tolkien related the Haradrim's mûmakil in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to Pyrrhus of Epirus 's war elephants in his invasion of Ancient Rome , as depicted here in an 1896 book by Helene Guerber. [ 6 ]
Haradrim in Peter Jackson 's film The Two Towers were based on 12th century Saracens . [ 29 ]