#harondor

[inkedmoth]

I have been a busy little bee this afternoon, working on compiling a whole bunch of fashion references for Shifting of Sands.

Basically what I like to do whenever creating a new character (or in this case, culture) is compile a whole bunch of images via pinterest and google and set up my own moodboard. That means I can arrange them to my liking, circle key parts of outfits which I like the most, and basically pick and choose my own fashion for the character/s.

Now with this, I wasn't doing it just for Zivaith, but all her family and people too, which a lot 🫠 Realistically this is focusing on the upper class, since the lower classes wouldn't have time to lounge around their home or attend fancy-smancy balls.

But it's a fun thing for me to do and hone in on what key points stand out and what I find most important!! Honestly feel like I have a much clearer view of her as a character and what her home is like now.

[lesbiansforboromir]

@backofthebookshelf THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKIN ABOUT!!

For starters if we’re speaking canonically, this does actually have an answer. Aragorn as king goes ahead and makes like his ancestors and eATS essentially the entire continent (barring Rohan), absorbing it into the United Kingdom as it was seen in Elendil’s reign. This includes Harondor, which was originally a province of Gondor, as well as Near-Harad and Umbar I thiink. Yes.

I’m afraid to say, at least initially, there really wasn’t much of that good old Diplomacy. Aragorn lead armies and invaded Harondor, near-Harad and all the way down the coast to Umbar until he’d essentially claimed almost all of what we see on the map. Basically everything that was originally taken by the Numenoreans as they increased their presence in Middle Earth, Aragorn retook. There’s a suggestion that the Haradrim were still hostile to the North, fuelled both by Sauron’s lies and the weight of a hefty historical grudge match, but if this were the real world we’d call Aragorn the very worst of imperialism, which would make me doubt that any Diplomacy went on at all. 

HOWEVER! It’s Tolkien and we’re told these characters are good people. So lets assume some continued influences from Sauron’s servants and it was ‘necessary’ to overthrow some evil overlords down there. And once that was done then some real Diplomacy went on with the haradrim who lived there on things like being a part of the Union and reinstating old families into their leadership roles ect ect. 

Hopping back in time to the topic of land between Gondor and Harad before Sauron’s destruction, we can get some discussionary meat here. We know that Ithilien was abandoned to all intents and purposes, used essentially as the no mans land with the Rangers using guerilla tactics to harass and stall any advancement from the Haradrim or from Minas Morgul. It was a thick and lush track of hilly landscape, not the easiest for large armies to pass through, which I would assume gave Pelargir lots of warning before needing to marshal any defense of the Anduin. We’ve seen that historically too, massive forces of Haradrim crossed during urrrrr Beregond? Nope! Turin, Steward Turin’s reign and that invasion was repulsed in Ithilien with Rohan’s help. Fastred and Folcred died tho :(

With this in mind, and knowing that South Ithilien’s titular border was the Poros River, I would say that the Haradrim really pressed up against them. I’d say that the boundary was very clear. Before the Poros River it was the Haradrim’s rule and they maintained fortresses perhaps even on the river itself, or at least close to it and the Harad Road. After the river it was the Ranger’s game, but the geography really allowed the two powers to be safe in their own lands, but immediately endangered as soon as they put a foot over. 

This touches on a hc that’s a little off topic but I would say the majority of warfare between the south and Gondor was Naval. No one wanted to push an on-foot army through Ithilien and then over a vulnerable river. But with the ocean it was anyone’s game. This is why Pelargir is so goddamn beset, constantly changing hands, it’s the heavy naval force of Gondor and really defends a massive chunk of the kingdom all on it’s lonesome. 

BUT ANYWAY, THE POINT IS! With all this established...

I think as far as the kinds of stressful shenanigans Faramir gets up too, the initial rush is to properly reinforce Ithilien’s infrastructure. Henneth Annun needs some SEVERE TLC but as soon as it and all the other ruins of Ithilien can host a real standing Army Gondor can properly start stretching out and over the Poros River with reliable force. It’s true! As soon as they aren’t worrying about the end of the world, it’s much easier to commit forces to Ithilien and really grasp the foothold they’d lost. Combine that with attacks from the Sea, and the Haradrim didn’t stand much of a chance. 

And then, once Harad’s been retaken (colonised) the disagreements would be less about which territories belonged to what province, and more likely a lot of wearying talk about the Harad Road and who’s job it is to maintain what stretch. 

I’d say the Harondorians maintain that it’s their job to keep it together only up until the bridge and that does not include the bridge, nor any of the road beyond it. This bridge, having been destroyed 83721487348 times during the war, needs to be replaced and whilst Gondor likely has more architects familiar with water- based civic planning, it would be an absolutely heinous trek all the way out there. They’d have to bring stone and wood and builders and erect tents and beast of burden, all travelling down a road that hasn’t been tended too in some centuries and through countryside that has almost been encouraged to be difficult terrain. 

Faramir doesn’t want to be dealing with that! He needs all the workers he has to focus on the bleeding ruins he’s living in at the moment, not to mention the basic build work needed to make Ithilien a profitable province once again. Aragorn really did give him the shittiest task, even if Ithilien is technically the Steward’s seat originally. 

But the Lord of Harondor isn’t having any of it. It isn’t as though his lands are in the peachiest condition after the war and Sauron’s general influence over their lands. He doesn’t want to think of what to do about a bleeding bridge, he’ll just make a job for a ferryman and his family and have done with it! 

But no that would give him far too much control over the one single link between Harondor, Near-Harad and Umbar. Harondor is already BULLSHIT LARGE, he’s jumped up in power and the idea of him being able to just give an order to one man and cut off all trade between the south and the north of the kingdom is unthinkable. Faramir can’t let that happen! And even if he wanted too, the other Lords wouldn’t want that to happen. Well, except for the Lord of Pelargir and all his friends, who’d then be able to take advantage of sea travel being the only reliable way to deliver goods and up tariffs like billio, taking away all through traffic from Ithilien as well and monopolising 40% of all commerce- ITS. MADDENING. Faramir wouldn’t want Sam’s opinion because all Sam would say, as the Mayor, is ‘... we just fix our own bridges’ and strike him dead if he’s going to cave on this. 

He visits Minas Tirith at the same time as Sam’s coming to see his daughter and is forced to concede and send the blasted builders.

[joyfullynervouscreator]

My eternal gratitude to the mapmakers *looks back at the Tolkien original in which this area consists of two rivers and an area name* *tosses away old reference*

edit: map created by the talented Finnish person from lindefirion.net where you can find more maps!

[morgulscribe]

Who Lives in Harondor?

I have been thinking of South Gondor/Harondor and what this region might be like in the latter part of the Third Age. Both Gondor and Harad claim this region, and Tolkien described it as a "debatable and desert region" on the map of Middle-earth. I think that "desert" in this case may mean that it has been largely abandoned by Gondor, as Karen Wyn Fondstad lists Harondor as having the same sort of climate as Gondor (Mild Winter, Hot Dry Summer; Scattered Woodlands).

Although I know that Tolkien loved his abandoned ruins and endless stretches of unoccupied land, Harondor seems like such a large place to be a deserted wasteland completely devoid of people.

So who might be living in Harondor? Perhaps the same people who have been dwelling in Gondor since before the first Numenorean stepped foot on Middle-earth.

"Yet the herdsmen and husbandmen that dwelt there [near Minas Tirith] were not many, and the most part of the people of Gondor lived in the seven circles of the City, or in the high vales of the mountain-borders, in Lossarnach, or further south in fair Lebennin with its five swift streams. There dwelt a hardy folk between the mountains and the sea. They were reckoned men of Gondor, yet their blood was mingled, and they were short and swarthy folk among them whose sires came more from the forgotten men who housed in the shadow of the hills in the Dark Years ere the coming of the kings." —"Minas Tirith," The Return of the King, 22.

While the indigenous people of Gondor share some physical similarities with the Haradrim, they are an entirely different ethnic group. Perhaps these are the people who still dwell in Harondor, as well as Gondorians of Numenorean descent, Haradrim, and Umbarians.

Logically speaking, there should be at least one major city near the Mouth of the River Harnen, a city like Pelargir to the north or the Haven of Umbar to the south. There should also be settlements along the River Poros, River Harnen, and seacoast. What these cities, towns, and villages might look like in the latter part of the Third Age is up to speculation.

Also, if this region is occupied, and the Gondorian mapmakers called it "desert land," it may show the innate prejudice on the part of Gondorians of Numenorean descent when considering "Middle Men" or "Men of Darkness."

Perhaps the inhabitants of Harondor might feel that Gondor deserted them, and so they try to stay neutral in conflicts. Without Gondorian aid, there is little they can do anyway. They may resent the Gondorians, but fear Harad and Umbar, and Mordor most of all. So they do little to stop the Haradrim who march through their lands on the way to attack Gondor.