I just wanted to say I recently discovered your 'this bird my soul' verse and as a South Asian I loved it and appreciated it VERY very much. I was wondering how much of your worldbuilding was based on Tolkien's own opinions on Harad and how much was based on the Mughal Empire.
Iāve gotten several messages aboutĀ āthis bird my soulā recently, which is wild since I havenāt touched it in at least a year (years?) However, Iām always happy to answer a good question.
Most of what Tolkien has to say about Harad is less about HaradĀ and more about Gondorās relationship to Umbar---a port city in Near Harad settled by the NĆŗmenĆ³reans, and the colony that most strongly resisted Sauronās influence. (Umbar and Pelargir, Gondorās main harbor, are considered Middle Earthās legacy from sea-faring NĆŗmenĆ³r.) After NĆŗmenĆ³r falls, though, the Haradrim are painted as following/having fallen to Sauron. They are labeled āBlack NĆŗmenĆ³reansā in opposition to the early Gondorian kings; Umbar is fought over, a conflict exacerbated by Gondorās expansion into territory held by the Northmen, Easterlings, and Haradrim. Eventually---and by that I mean two pages later in Appendix A---the Wainriders also make alliances withĀ āmen of Khand and Near Harad.ā
(Thatās another thing: Tolkien doesnāt paint āHaradā as a nation-state on the level of Gondor or Rohan; Near Harad and Far Harad are simply geographic regions where the Haradrim live.)
Umbar doesnāt return to Gondorian control until the Fourth Age, when Aragorn marches through with the reunited armies of Gondor and Arnor and takes it back. Symbolically this is important, since it means Aragorn reunites the NĆŗmenĆ³rean Empire-in-Exile. You...can interpret that how you want.
Anyway, in terms of how the Haradrim are described: theyāreĀ āwarlikeā with brown skin and black hair, they wear red livery. They carry scimitars, though itās archers and spearmen who ride into battle on oliphaunts/mĆ»makil. They dress ornately for battle: āGold rings in their ears; yes, lots of beautiful gold,ā to quote Gollum, and the Haradrim soldier who dies in front of Sam has gold plaited in his hair.
Aaaand......thatās it. Everything else Iāve described about Harad inĀ āthis bird my soulā is either borrowed from the Mughal Empire (red sandstone palaces and kathak dance, the zenana, theĀ empire) or something I personally made up.
The closest analogue might not even be the Mughal Empire! Tolkien describes the Haradrimās spears as beingĀ āred tippedā---he could definitely mean the Chinese qiang, with its red horsehair tassel. War elephants always evoke Hannibal of Carthage for me, so maybe the back and forth between Umbar and Gondor is Middle Earthās equivalent of the Punic Wars. (I strongly suspect their influence, especially considering NĆŗmenĆ³rās pseudo-Atlantean origins and Carthage as a Phoenician city turned empire.) The scimitar is of Middle Eastern extraction, but the curved sabre carried by the Hussars is similar---and they were known for their elaborate red uniforms.
But I ended up loving my Mughal-inspired Harad, just as gold as Tolkien made it out to be, but with a level of sophistication he didnāt necessarily imbue it with---and an eye to empire-building that rivals Gondorās own.
