The Harad Desert - A Campaign Guide

[Mim]

Man, I love these discussions

Concerning the Half-trolls, I agree with Tolwen. IMHO, the MERP writers seem to have dropped the ball on this one, & Tolkien wrote metaphorically & probably meant Sub-Saharan Africans. The ancestors of the Bantu immediately spring to mind (especially since he was born in Bloemfontein & spent some of his childhood in the Orange Free State/South Africa). You can make any number of interpretations & still probably be reasonably canon; however, since there isn't much to go on.

You may wish to reconsider including the Haradrim from the films, however, if you want to be canonical. Not to get into a time-wasting argument about it, but Sir Peter & his writers developed them from a mix of peoples, including the Maori. They did so for multiple reasons, one of which was to reduce what they considered the Euro-centric elements of the books. Most Tolkien scholars nonetheless see the Southrons as of primarily African origin. Near Harad usually equates to the Maghreb (& perhaps as far eastward as Egypt); & Far Harad to Sub-Saharan Africa.

At any rate, it's your game & do what works for you .

[Mim]

BTW, Tolkien was a very enlightened man for his day & abhorred racism. Note this passage from the LotR:

It was Sam’s first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much. He was glad he could not see the dead face. 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; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace — all in a flash of thought which was quickly driven from his mind.

In this single passage, Tolkien displayed extraordinary insight & depth into the human soul, as well as the horror & futility of war (his own experiences in surviving the trenches probably influenced him in this regard as well).

[Falenthal]

Man, I love these discussions

Concerning the Half-trolls, Tolkien wrote metaphorically & probably meant Sub-Saharan Africans.

Near Harad usually equates to the Maghreb (& perhaps as far eastward as Egypt);

I agree with the Half-Troll idea being "a kind of" Sub-saharans Africans.

Regarding Near Harad, I always thought of this moorish look, but re-reading the LotR I found that Tolkien always describes Haradrim/Southrons as having black skin. Does anyone have any more information regarding this maghrebish parallelism or is it (again) the heritage of MERPs envisionment?

[Otaku-sempai]

I agree with the Half-Troll idea being "a kind of" Sub-saharans Africans.

Regarding Near Harad, I always thought of this moorish look, but re-reading the LotR I found that Tolkien always describes Haradrim/Southrons as having black skin. Does anyone have any more information regarding this maghrebish parallelism or is it (again) the heritage of MERPs envisionment?

When writing about the Haradrim and most Southron folk, Tolkien used terms such as swarthy and brown-skinned more often than black. I would say that he had the ancestors of modern Arabs in mind, for the most part, as well as sub-Saharan natives.