The Complete History of Harad

[@thomasalvarez6456]

The conquests of the Númenoreans must have had a profound impact on Harad, Umbar is a good example. There is so much about Arda that JRR or Christopher didnt even manage to scratch.

[@SirBolsón]

E.G. the corsairs who are likely mixed people with Númenórean and Haradrim blood in them.

[@MasterTangerines]

I've always liked Sam/Faramir's thoughts about the men of Harad. While there's little information on the Haradrim that doesn't paint them negatively, I appreciate that Tolkien points out how people in the south are likely much more complex than they seem. It's a nice reminder that even in a world that has definitive good and evil, there is still nuance to both sides.

[@darkjudge8786]

You sound like a modern audience woke Hollywood writer who refuses to paint evil as evil and seeks to humanise bad people. It's rubbish.

[@MasterTangerines]

@@darkjudge8786 You sound like someone who's so obsessed with politics that you willingly make your own life miserable. If "modern woke Hollywood" or whatever boogeyman you came up with bothers you so much, just stop engaging with it and do something else.

[@istari0]

If you have a decent knowledge of Tolkien's writings, it's easy enough to see that those generally thought of as the good guys haven't always been so good and sometimes have been downright tyrannical.

[@SirBolsón]

Brilliant comeback! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼​@@MasterTangerines

[@SirBolsón]

This place would've been a better alternative to where the Rings of Power takes place in. A good starting point of this show might be during the colonisation efforts of the Númenóreans in places such as current-day Umbar and the region of near-Harad, alongside the political conflicts between native Haradrim and their new colonial overlords or perhaps after Sauron's collapse during the Third Age and the socio-economic, political and societal fallout from that and how the forces of the West lands interacted and influenced the rump states that formed soon afterwards. It would've added proper "diversity" without breaking Tolkien's lore, unlike what Amazon has done today.

[@TimC1517]

I think this would have been a great idea

[@moritzkern1053]

I just had a discussion with ChatGPT where I suggested the exact same idea. It thought the idea was great.

[@darkjudge8786]

Or...and hear me out...they could have just done a story without any modern day woke nonesense that followed a time period from the appendices they bought the rights too that followed canon and had entirely white and mainly male characters just like Tolkein wrote. Why do you think it should have been diverse, inclusive and full of 2024 California themes? You are as bad as they are.

[@DiegoSouto-fy9su]

Any place at the hands of those producers would just be the same garbage as rop was.

[@SirBolsón]

@TimC1517 👏🏼

[@c.ladimore1237]

i really wish he had explored all of the other regions a lot more. not in depth, but in passing. the regions that equate to Africa and Asia , dark lands, and the lands of the sun have to have immense histories that even a little more info, such as the blue wizards, could have given so much lore

[@dominus1444]

It would be very interesting to see a follow-up video that discusses some of the realms and their histories that exists in harad created by MERP and other canon adjacent sources. I would really love to hear about places like Chelkar, Bellakar, Ray, Thani Hazad and Chy. I lament that it seems most of the internet has forgotten these places.

[@thomassaxon8254]

They're in the lotr mod for CK3 as it happens.

[@saeedshahbazian9889]

I don't remember clicking on a video this fast

[@mattlee104]

babe wake up darth gandalf just dropped

[@Gothranger-l3k]

A fascinating video/podcast thank you

[@SirBolsón]

"Christopher Tolkien linked the Haradrim with ancient Aethiopians. In an interview from 1966, Tolkien likened Berúthiel to the giantess Skaði of Norse mythology, since they both shared a dislike for "seaside life".

[@jeambeam3173]

Aweome post dude i was looking around for this video and thought i was tripping thinking mabye i missed it scrolling and couldn't find ot

[@mdefoe28]

I think it's interesting that the gondorians built a monument to Ar Pharazon when they conquered Umbar. Even if he was the foremost responsable of the fall of Numenor, evidently they still rememberd fondly the day he slapped Sauron's face. It is also notable that the monument was cast down only after Sauron came back and not before, even if Umbar was conquered by the Haradrim long before. Maybe because they too didnt have a nice opinion about Sauron. As often happens, Tolkien's world is very much nuanced than most people think.

[@theleakyprophet]

It's nOt aBoUt haTe! It'S AbOut HerItAGe!

[@cavetroll666]

thanks for the video i love what Lotro is doing in Harad at the moment cheers from Canada.

[@WhoIsCalli]

Thanks for this

[@pwmiles56]

There are a few clues. The Corsairs of Umbar clearly equate to the Barbary Corsairs. Who were on the receiving end of the US's (as such) very first war: From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, etc At 4:34: "out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues." I think this is clear enough. Remember JRRT was born in South Africa and at a young age, was kidnapped and spent a day in an African village.

[@lordcristobal]

Make a video about what Aragorn did in his travels in east and south i would like to hear your opinion about this.

[@OldBrensBarn]

Quarterpounders bro, I know you know. I will not let it lie, to my knowledge nobody has defended the noble QP, thus do I find myself choosing a ridiculous hill to stand on. Great content BTW, keep it up. Respect

[@morgant.dulaman8733]

20:20 the horse in that picture looks like he's trying to say "you've got to be kidding me!" I imagine living in these lands would be like living in a Conan story: the religion is turned towards a dark being that doesn't actually care for you yet demands your service, power goes to the strongest with no thought to morality, and the difference between those who are "civilized" or "barbarian" would largely come down to the clothes they where. (Addendum): Talking of Conan, I could see a lot of Aragorn's adventures in the south being like a series of Conan stories where he fights various battles and does great deeds under many names in order to learn about the cultures he will one day have to deal with as well as weaken Sauron's power through empowering those more likely to resist him, perhaps even encountering princesses and queens who'd be happy to take him as king were it not for his heart already belonging to an elven princess in the far North.

[@Aiwendill]

you should include in this video, why there were so big deserts in Harad - During the Age of Lamps one of the Lamps, when Morgoth destroyed them, crashed into area of Harad and burned large part of it thus creating huge deserts...

[@darkjudge8786]

Because that isn't how deserts would have formed. Tolkein was completely ignorant of how geography works so its best we gloss over the areas where he looks like a clown

[@Aiwendill]

@@darkjudge8786 well, Tolkien had sunk whole Numenor and huge part of Beleriand and that in real world also didnt happened. (and yes, i know about Doggerland and such sunken lands). And he also removed entire continent from world - Aman... So take Tolkiens world as it is. Its remarkably crafted but it has its faults...

[@SNWWRNNG]

@@darkjudge8786 Arda was shaped by the Valar, so there's no reason to expect naturally-formed landscapes much.

[@sandorhujber]

​@@darkjudge8786 Reddit-tier comment. You are a clown for expecting realistic worldbuilding from a work of mythology

[@istari0]

@@darkjudge8786 No, you are ignorant of how the geography of Middle-Earth was formed. Much of the major features, mountains and so forth, were created by the Valar, not by natural geographic processes.

[@MerryMohProductions]

Minor nitpick, I kinda hoped some similarities with the dunlendings and their own history with the men of the west since the days of Numenor would be brought up. Still a compelling video.

[@blubbery68ps4videos2]

Now do complete history of Khand (6 second video)

[@Crabby303]

20:00 I didn't know that Samuel Pepys was an accomplished painter as well as diarist, civil servant, member of parliament, and philanderer. Was there nothing the man couldn't do?!?

[@AUDABOGACHOVA-p2e]

Life iz mooving go straid ahead and never stop till u faind the happy final.

[@alfieingrouille1528]

The thing that upsets me the most about Tolkien's works is that we simply didn't get more info On Rhun & Harad and it's incredibly frustrating that since Tolkien's work are Monolithic & are practically seen as religious text any additions would be seen as sacrilegious so in affect his works are forced to remain stagnent they had a opportunity with ROP to greatly expanded on his world but then completely blew it & instead chose to break prexisting lore instead for the sake of their "political Agendas" & because of that i doubt any new projects will be seen with anything other than suspicion

[@bristleconepine4120]

Disclaimer on the mystery of Rhûn versus Harad: I would say that we know more about Rhûn in the First Age than we know about Harad, but that the reverse is true in the Second Age, thanks to the Númenoreans. Edit: is there any evidence of conflicts between the Corsairs and Lindon? Lindon would be the other good realm during the Third Age to have a navy, although it, of course, is even farther north and thus isolated. Second edit: I don't think the cartographers who named Rhûn and Harad were Elves; I think they were Gondorians. The high tongue in Gondor, especially in its early years, as well as during Elessar's reign, would have been Sindarin.

[@istari0]

I've always gotten the impression that, other than ships to send Elves leaving for Valinor, Lindon didn't have much of a navy.

[@mayachico9766]

A land of mystery ........

[@commanderstark5932]

26:00

[@sayagarapan1686]

Hahahahhaa _ "was exiled for being awful..."