Harondor - The Battleground of the South

In this video, we look at the region of Harondor, South Gondor, a land that saw centuries of fighting between Gondor and the peoples of Harad.

Thanks to my patrons - Vasco Sa Pinto, Gavin, Javi Iñesta ,Brn, JIV, Fipse, W Sean Mason, boi sophies, Stonetruck, ThunderStryken, Hallimar Rathlorn, Habimana, Ben Jeffrey, Harry Evett, Mojtaba Ro, Moe L, Paul Leone, Barbossa, mncb1o, Carrot Ifson, Andrew Welch and Catherine Berry

[generalgrievous]

My personal theory for the inhabitants of harondor (at least during gondorian rule), is that it was composed of dunedised haradrim (as opposed to the dunedised "middle men" of central gondor or the dunedised northmen of gondorian rhovanion, back in the day), as well as probably the last remnant of "pure" haradrim culture free of sauron's influence.

[blueshit]

the polish translation for Harondor, or South Gondor, also translates the "desert land" as "deserted" rather than arid and sandy

[Edge_Boye]

My personal image of Harondor is that it has forests and shrublands around the coast and rivers and gets increasingly arid the further south/east you go

[romandacil]

Great video. Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) does a credible job in fleshing out Harondor in their Southern Gondor Module. I tend to believe that Gondor would have controlled the northern part of Harondor up to the fall of Minas Ithil. Afterwards their control would have quickly faded as more an more they would have to reorient their forces East towards Mordor itself. They probably would maintained a narrow strip along the Anduin stretching down the coast until it was level with Tolfalas and kept a few border forces along the Poros. The Haradrim Invasion of 2885 spelled the end of Gondor's buffer in Harondor.

[ryancarter]

I remember your video about problems in tolkiens world building, like populations of people appearing out of nowhere and with the way Aragorn seemingly was able to repopulate and acquire control most of Gondor's and Arnor's former territory. So, how was Aragorn able to repopulate the like's of Harondar, Ithilien, Annuminas, Tharbad and who knows how many other places with an exhausted weary population, that was bleed nearly dry after centuries of warfare.

[frankcairney]

I've always felt that Harondor might well be dry scrubland as it's south of the Ephel Duath and would be exposed to dry East winds, unlike Ithilien, which might reduce rainfall significantly. just a thought.

[elpito]

I feel like a good video idea could be reviewing and exploring the accuracy of Crusader Kings 3 with the Realms in Exile mod. They've done some really good work!

[Archagor]

Could you do a video analyzing the Ar-Adûnaim? While not canon, it would be cool to hear you discuss whether such a faction could exist or whether there could be a group of King's Men who neither got along with the Faithful nor with Sauron. It would also be interesting to get your take on their perspective, their population stats, etc. I bring this up since you did that Divide and Conquer battle royale video a while back, and the Ar-Adûnaim are from that mod.

[Transilvanian]

Excellent video as always! I've always had a strong curiosity for these border provinces that are almost never talked about. Harondor in particular seems strategically important yet we know very little about it; it does basically just seem like one of those perpetually disputed lands; if we continue the analogy with real-world history, it reminds me a lot of the strip of land that served as a border between the Roman/Byzantine world and the Persian/Saracen/Islamic world, specifically the highlands of the Tigris and Euphrates (today's Syrian-Turkish border, and East Syria in general); the cities there were often conquered, sacked and depopulated over centuries of warfare, and were all basically fortress cities for which war was commonplace.

[Diegoromir]

I always imagined Harondor similar to South Italy.

[Generalth]

Hi Darth!

I'm confused. Did Gondor attempt to maintain some control over Harondor at this point?

[thomassaxon]

Harondar is one of those places that's endlessly fascinating because there's basically very little on it.
There could have been a lot of interesting stories to tell.

[bristleconepine]

We know that Elessar did make conquests in the south, riding along with Éomer. Because Harondor would be the first place in the way, I would assume that it rejoined the Reunited Kingdom at this point, since Elessar did retake Umbar and Harondor would have been first in the way (I guess Elessar could have invaded Umbar by sea, as he did while masquerading as Thorongil, but the fact that Éomer was involved makes me think he did it by land, or at the very least that a land invasion was involved, and so Harondor would have still been along the way).

[istari]

I suspect there was a major power struggle among various factions of the Haradrim after Sauron fell. We do know that Aragorn did spend quite a bit of time at points during his reign fighting against the remnants of Gondor's foes so my personal theory is that not only did he retake Harondor for Gondor but Umbar as well.

[HeraldofHelios]

That's awesome, I was hoping for this. Hey mate, can you also do the Withered Heath. I was always curious to know, if that region was the breeding ground of dragons... why didn't they spread forth into the lands of Men in great numbers? What kept them isolated in that bleak land?

[alanmike]

Harondor kinda reminds me of the disputed lands in essos in game of thrones universe

[wedgeantillies]

It certainly became the cockpit of the armies of Gondor and harad fighting it out for dominance over this important border province and buffer state that contained the strategically important port of Umbar,

Once has to wonder if Gondor first conquered the region and tried to hold on to it for so, was barring the strategical being necessities down to it being a hand populated by a strong numenirian exiled population even if they were the kings men, before eventually forced to integrate with Gondor

[jeffagain]

Thanks once more my dear Sir. Another excellent vid with curious and entertaining info.
I wanted to take a moment also, to mention a particular book you may or may not be familiar with.
I know you have strong knowledge of the History of Middle-Earth series Christopher gifted us with and ideally, you also possess.
All twelve volumes, together with Unfinished Tales, make for astounding reading and though more technical in nature than the novels, have a vast array of stories worth reading in and of themselves. Were you aware that there is in fact a 13th Volume?
It's called, simply enough; The History of Middle-Earth Index. It contains a treasury of all the names of peoples, creatures, places, even distinct items and catalogues them alphabetically.
Following each name, is the Volume, Chapter and even page within the Histories, within which it appears.
This has proven an invaluable resource to me, as often I can't quite recall within which of the many books a particular subject was explored.
Back when it first was developed, it was offered as a "Print on Demand" volume, by Harper Collins (hard cover, of course).
(I'm not sure if Houghton Mifflin also published it.)
Since then, it may be available off the shelf, I'm not altogether certain. VERY highly recommended!
Cheers, my friend. 😊

[Blazbaros]

Sounds like a great place to set a TTRPG campaign after the War of the Ring!

[gideonhorwitz]

6:31 it wouldn’t make much sense strategically to totally withdraw from the region


Harondor provided a needed buffer between harad and the heartlands of Gondor without it only the great River Anduin would provide any natural defenses for the important port cities like Pelagir and Dol Amroth and yes I’ve played a lot of third age total war so I’ve overanalyzed the geography



Btw for my fellow total war players if your playing Gondor or any good faction and you want to give her a fighting chance build one ship and have it stationed by that little island in the middle of the Anduin river off Pellagir in doing so you have denied harad or Mordor a strategic crossing to strike into the heart of Gondor overwhelming her this way when Saroun gets the ring Gondor can stem the tide 8/10 playthroughs if you leave it too late to send a ship and Gondor looses Ithilian and Harondor then she will be overrun