Haradrim

"Southern People" or "Southrons", Ad. "Khârai"; Haradwaith.

Short Description
The term Haradrim or Southrons is applies to a large number of very distinct peoples and tribes of southern Middle-Earth.In the closer sense it is used for the cultures of the Haradwaith, a large area which once was in control of the kingdom of Gondor and was considered a royal province.The best known Haradrim are the northern Haruze while deep in the south widely varying tribes are found, among them the Black peoples of the Utter south who are considered a culture distinct from the common Haradrim by many scholars.

the first and second Age
Since the Numenoreans discovered the southern Lands to be populated by strange tribesmen, whom they called the "Kharai" ("Southrons") or "Sakal-Lai" ("Coastal-People", a term sometimes applied to the Daen-Folk of southern Gondor) Sages and Loremasters have tried to categorize these strange wild or Dark men.The most common suggestion is that the people of the Harad are descendants of the Avarim, the Men who did not turn away at cuivienen but who had stayed under the influence of the Dark Powers.In the first Age or early second Age migrating groups of wild men, called Harnerim or Narnerim (maybe late neologism by gondorian Scholars or terms learned from the Avari) seem to have come to the then widely uninhabited Regions of the south, if they were late refugees who had abandoned the dark worship or if they were remants of the ancient dark Realms of the Eastern Lands it is not known.In the north some tribal blending seem to have occured with southern tribes of the later Daen-Family, also the northern Kharai-tribes who later became the Haruze were a lighter-skinned people of smaller stature while in central Harad the numerous tribes expanded which later became the Apysans, very tall and dark-skinned men and women, both groups intermingled to a large degree in Far-Harad and produced a number of sucessor-cultures.The utter South was settled by tall and black-skinned tribes later scholars of Gondor or Avari Elves called the "mornedain" or "Moratani", these groups later became the brutal Mumakani but also the noble Tuktani and their Kirani descendants, in the western Peninsula and the northern Parts of the utter South these tribes intermingled with the Apysan-Culture which later spawned peoples such as the Adena, Drel, Pel and Magri.In Eastern Harad at this time there was a migration of tribes who were of Talatherim-Stock, close relatives of the Easterlings of Rhun, these also came under the influence of both the northern and southern Harnerim and Narnerim and so are considered Haradrim too, at least by some Scholars.While there were a few Avari elves in the Harad (namely the Cuind and Kinn-Lai) there never seem to have been any friendships between the Kharai and the Quendi,just as there never was much contact between Men and the Dwarves who settled in the Ered Harmal and Ered Laranor.The Kharai seem to have been largely primitive stone-age cultures until the first Numenoreans started to visit the western coasts of Endor, they started to trade goods with the Sakalai and later established Colonies along the Coast such as Umbar, Bellakar, An Balkumagan (Ciryatandor) and the Thani Hazad (the seven Lands).The Numenoreans seem to have had a great impact on the Kharai as many splinters and myths of the later Haradrim show numenorean influnces (such as the many southern Idols which seem to be corrupted versions of the Valar).With growing pressure from the more and more demanding and suppressive Rule of the numenorian Colonies many tribes came under the influence of the Dark lord who at the time was re-appearing in Mordor and established a great realm among the men of Darkness, this was even supported by the rebellion of some southern Colonies against the numenorean Sea-kings, a rebellion which later led to three numenorean Princes to accept rings of power from Sauron, turning them into Nazgul: Er-Murazor, Adunaphel and Akhorahil.A fourth and fifth nazgul hailed from the utter south and the Lands north of the Ered Laranor: Indur, a Kirani-Noble and Ren the Unclean, a Sorcerer of the Cheyans.With the drowning of numenor the southern colonies finally gained independence and developed into the realms of the black numenoreans who continued to dominate the southern coasts, while the indegenious Kharai established a number of tribal realms in central Harad.With the fall of Sauron the Haradrim regained their freedom for a brief period, although the dark-kingdoms of old seem to have survived the disappearance of the Nameless at last in some areas.

Peples and tribes
The Haradrim comprise various confederations of Haradaic and Apysaic-speaking peoples who reside in Harad.


 * northern Haradrim
 * Haruze
 * Chelkar
 * Haruzan
 * Pesarzan
 * Lurmsakun
 * Urdwan
 * Jelut
 * Sakalai
 * Umbareans


 * Southern Haradrim or Apysans
 * Peoples of Far Harad
 * Aukuag
 * Ayten
 * Bellakaze
 * Bellanarod
 * Bellakarani
 * Bozishnarod
 * Narodbrijig
 * Poacaod
 * Covshek-Pust
 * Gusar
 * Koanoze
 * Siranians
 * River Valley People
 * Tandi
 * Tedjin
 * Peoples of the utter South or Mornedain
 * Adena
 * Danak
 * Drel
 * Ganim
 * Kirani
 * Magri
 * Mumakani
 * Pel
 * Sare
 * Sederi
 * Sharaeki
 * Tuktani
 * Usakani
 * Tanturaki
 * Peoples of Eastern Harad
 * Bulchy
 * Chyans
 * Cly
 * Lodenuly