Harad

On the map Harad is the whole southern third of the known lands, running off the bottom edge. Its northern boundary with Gondor shifted with the wars: at Gondor's height the border lay at the River Harnen, later at the Poros. West of it is the coast and the haven of Umbar, east of it is Khand, and north of it Mordor. Distances there are large, and even at the height of the South Kingdom its charts of the interior were guesswork a few hundred miles inland.

The relationship with the north began badly and never recovered. Númenóreans came to the southern coasts in the Second Age first as teachers and then as overlords, taking tribute and building fortresses, and Sauron spent centuries using that resentment. By the Third Age the Haradrim treated Gondor as the enemy by default.

They fought Gondor in almost every generation of note: with the Corsairs after the Kin-strife, with the Wainriders in TA 1944, at the Crossings of Poros in TA 2885, and finally in the War of the Ring. Their armies were distinct on the field, with scarlet and gold, the serpent banner, and the mûmakil that the hobbits knew from rhymes as oliphaunts. Gondor's usual answer was a fleet rather than an army, since the coast was far easier to reach than the inland country.

Frodo's first sight of war was a Haradrim column ambushed by Faramir's rangers in Ithilien, and he wondered what lies or threats had brought the dead man at his feet so far from home. At the Pelennor the Southron chieftain fell to Théoden's charge, and after Sauron's defeat their envoys made peace with King Elessar, ending a conflict that had lasted most of the Third Age.

Events at this place

1. SA 2280 · The Silmarillion

   Númenórean dominion in the south

   The King's Men of Númenor fortified the southern coasts and ruled the Haradrim as subjects, leaving a lasting hostility to the north.

2. TA 1944 · Appendices

   Harad joins the Wainrider war

   Haradrim and Variags attacked Gondor from the south while the Wainriders came from the east, killing King Ondoher in the north.

3. TA 2885 · Appendices

   Invasion at the Poros

   A Haradrim army crossed into Ithilien and was defeated at the Crossings of Poros by Gondor and the Rohirrim.

4. TA 3019, March 15 · The Lord of the Rings

   The Southrons at the Pelennor

   Haradrim troops and mûmakil fought for Mordor outside Minas Tirith, and their chieftain was cut down in Théoden's charge.

5. TA 3019, May 2 · The Lord of the Rings

   Peace with King Elessar

   Envoys of Harad came to the crowned king at Minas Tirith, and terms were agreed that ended the southern wars.

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