Harad
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy The Lord of the Rings, Harad is the immense land south of Gondor and Mordor. Its main port is Umbar, the base of the Corsairs of Umbar whose ships serve as the Dark Lord Sauron's fleet. 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 called the Corsairs of Umbar's ships "dromunds" (galleys, as in this reconstruction) and deep ships with oars and sails.
Christopher Tolkien linked the Haradrim with ancient Aethiopians. 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
Pelargir, Gondor's seaport, infested by the Corsairs of Umbar, as depicted in Peter Jackson's film The Return of the King
Mordor
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, and to the south of Mirkwood. Mount Doom, a volcano in Mordor, was the goal of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to destroy the One Ring. Mordor was surrounded by three mountain ranges, to the north, the west, and the south. These both protected the land from invasion and kept those living in Mordor from escaping.
Tolkien identified the volcano of Stromboli off Sicily with Mount Doom.
Mount Ngauruhoe was Peter Jackson's inspiration for the Mount Doom in his films.
Frodo and Sam guided by Gollum through the Dead Marshes. Scraperboard illustration by Alexander Korotich, 1984
Tolkien's descriptions of the Dead Marshes and the grim Morgai have been compared to the Beowulf poet's account of Grendel's dangerous moors. 1908 illustration by Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton