66-621: 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 based
132-598: A siege that seemed to threaten civilisation. Further, in Livingston's opinion, the Steward Denethor's two sons, Boromir and Faramir , play the roles of Hector in Homer 's Iliad , "the heroic example of martial, mortal man", and of Paris , the younger brother "little loved by [his father]", in "asterisk" form, as they might have been. Livingston notes that Paris, like Faramir, is seriously wounded by
198-411: A "deadly dart"; he is dragged back into Troy, just as Faramir is carried to Minas Tirith's Houses of Healing. Both men suffer burning fevers. Paris can't be saved; Faramir can. Paris's body is burned on a pyre; his abandoned wife Oenone burns herself to death with him. Denethor has himself burned alive on a pyre, and he tries to have Faramir burned with him, but is foiled in this. Tolkien's map-notes for
264-826: A 1951 letter, Tolkien wrote of "the Byzantine City of Minas Tirith", thus associating Gondor's capital with Constantinople , the capital of the Byzantine Empire . The classical scholar Miryam Librán-Moreno writes that Tolkien drew heavily on the history of the Byzantine Empire, and its struggle with the Goths and Langobards . The Byzantine Empire and Gondor were both, in Librán-Moreno's view, only echoes of older states (the Roman Empire and
330-519: A deep blue hue", while Howe's city more closely resembles a traditional castle of fairytales with pennants on every pinnacle, in Fauvist style. Lee chooses instead to look within Minas Tirith, showing "the same glimmering spires and white stone", a guard standing in the foreground in place of Gandalf and his horse; his painting gives a feeling of "how massive the city is", with close attention to
396-451: A deep concern with moral issues; in other works, the conflict is a power struggle, with, for instance, wizards behaving irresponsibly whether they are "good" or "evil". Role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons with campaign settings like Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood are a common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to
462-516: A letter, Tolkien stated that Minas Tirith, some "600 miles south [of the village of Hobbiton in the Shire], is at about the latitude of Florence . The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient city of Pelargir [in the south of Gondor] are at about the latitude of ancient Troy ." Michael Livingston comments in Mythlore that Minas Tirith resembled Troy in having "impregnable walls", and in being subjected to
528-500: A variety of games and merchandise inspired by The Lord of the Rings . Harad is a large land in the south of Middle-earth , bordered to the north by (from west to east) the lands of Gondor , Mordor , Khand and Rhûn. Historically the border with Gondor was to be the river Harnen, but by the time of the War of the Ring all the land further north to the river Poros is under the influence of
594-692: A vassal of Gondor. By the time of the War of the Ring, the Haradrim are again under the dominion of Sauron, and the Haradrim Corsairs provide the whole of his Black Fleet; many other Haradrim join his armies, some riding mûmakil . In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields , the leader of the Haradrim army is killed by King Théoden of Rohan . Tolkien did not work out any particular languages for
660-400: Is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters , themes , or plot . High fantasy is usually set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world , rather than the "real" or "primary" world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy
726-704: Is absolutely central" to Middle-earth, and that readers and filmgoers will easily see that. From there, she notes that the "recurring accusations in the popular media" of a racist view of the story are "interesting". She quotes the Swedish cultural studies scholar David Tjeder who described Gollum 's account of the men of Harad ("Not nice; very cruel wicked Men they look. Almost as bad as Orcs , and much bigger.") in Aftonbladet as "stereotypical and reflective of colonial attitudes". She argues instead that Gollum's view, with its "arbitrary and stereotypical assumptions about
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#1732775333990792-407: Is an orphan or unusual sibling, and frequently portrayed with an extraordinary talent for magic or combat. They begin the story young, if not as an actual child, or are portrayed as being very weak and/or useless. The hero often begins as a childlike figure, but matures rapidly, experiencing a considerable gain in fighting/problem-solving abilities along the way. The progress of the story leads to
858-459: Is armed with a sword and has a corslet of brazen scales. Their standards are scarlet, and their great beasts, the mûmakil , have scarlet and gold trappings. They carry round spiked shields, painted yellow and black. Their leaders have a serpent emblem. The people of Far Harad were black-skinned; a group of them is described as "black men like half- trolls with white eyes and red tongues" and "troll-men". The Haradrim are independent peoples, but in
924-531: Is characterized by being set on Earth, the primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements. The romances of William Morris , such as The Well at the World's End , set in an imaginary medieval world, are sometimes regarded as the first examples of high fantasy. The works of J. R. R. Tolkien —especially The Lord of the Rings —are regarded as archetypal works of high fantasy . The term "high fantasy"
990-491: Is not considered to include the sword and sorcery genre. High fantasy has often been defined by its themes and messages. " Good versus evil " is a common one in high fantasy, and defining the character of evil is often an important theme in a work of high fantasy, such as The Lord of the Rings . The importance of the concept of good and evil can be regarded as the distinguishing mark between high fantasy and sword and sorcery. In many works of high fantasy, this conflict marks
1056-644: Is the base of the Corsairs of Umbar, inspired by the Barbary pirates , who provide the Dark Lord Sauron with a sizeable fleet. The ships are different types of galleys , with both oars and sails; some are named as dromunds , others as having a deep draught (requiring a deep channel), many oars, and black sails. Elsewhere in Harad there are "many towns"; one of these is "the inland city", the home of Queen Berúthiel (mentioned by Tolkien in an interview). The Harad Road
1122-458: Is the main overland route between Gondor and Harad. Harad possesses jungles with apes, grasslands, and deserts. Gondor described Harad as consisting of Near Harad and Far Harad. Near Harad corresponds loosely with North Africa or the Maghreb , while Far Harad, the vastly larger of the two regions, corresponds loosely with sub-Saharan Africa . Tolkien's own annotated map of Middle-earth, used by
1188-674: The Second Age they are caught between the ambitions of Sauron (the Dark Lord) and the Númenóreans , who often kill Haradrim or sell them as slaves, and who become rulers of Harad. Over the centuries many Haradrim fall under Sauron's dominion, and to "them Sauron was both king and god, and they feared him exceedingly". They become mixed with Númenórean settlers, some of whom fall under the sway of Sauron as "Black Númenóreans". Under King Hyarmendacil I "South-victor" of Gondor, Harad becomes
1254-611: The "first victory of Evil" in The Silmarillion as "resolved into the harmony of the victory of Good" in The Lord of the Rings . In The Silmarillion , the Dark Lord Melkor greatly influences the story, and the development of Middle-earth, whereas in The Lord of the Rings , Melkor's acolyte, the Dark Lord Sauron is almost successful but fails in his plans. In Peter Jackson 's film adaptation of The Lord of
1320-431: The ' Other '", is absurd, and that Gollum cannot be taken as an authority on Tolkien's opinion. Straubhaar contrasts this with Sam Gamgee 's more humane response to the sight of a dead Harad warrior, which she finds "harder to find fault with": "He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on
1386-647: The Citadel through the Seventh Gate on its eastern part. The White Tower, at the city's highest level with a commanding view of the lower vales of Anduin , stood in the Citadel, 700 feet higher than the surrounding plains, protected by the seventh and innermost wall atop the spur. Originally constructed by a king of yore, it is also known as the Tower of Ecthelion, the Steward of Gondor who had it re-built. The seat of
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#17327753339901452-631: The Corsairs (1982), Far Harad (1988), and Greater Harad (1990), as well as the adventure books Warlords of the Desert (1989), Forest of Tears (1989), and Hazards of the Harad Wood (1990). Games Workshop have produced miniatures and rules relating to Harad for use in the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game , including for mumakil and Corsairs of Umbar. High fantasy High fantasy , or epic fantasy ,
1518-546: The Haradrim on ancient Aethiopians , people of Sub-Saharan Africa , following his philological research on the Old English word Sigelwara . He deduced that this word referred to some kind of soot-black fire demon before it was applied to the Aethiopians. He based the Haradrim's use of war elephants , meanwhile, on that of Pyrrhus of Epirus in his war against Ancient Rome . Critics have debated whether Tolkien
1584-496: The Haradrim, though mûmak , "elephant", may be in the Harad language. Despite having a meaning in Quenya ("fate"), the name Umbar is adapted from the natives' language and not from Elvish or Adûnaic . Tolkien arrived at the idea of Harad, a hot Southern land, through his philological work. The Old English Biblical poem Exodus in the tenth-century Codex Junius 11 includes a passage that caught Tolkien's attention: Tolkien
1650-669: The Haradrim. The border with Mordor runs along the southern Mountains of Shadow . Harad's west coast (the nearest to Gondor) is washed by the Great Sea, the western ocean of Middle-earth . Harad's eastern shores looks out on the Eastern Sea, Middle-earth's eastern ocean. The elves named the land and its people Haradwaith , "South-folk", from the Sindarin harad , meaning "south", and gwaith , meaning "people". The Quenya word Hyarmen similarly means "south" in addition to being
1716-901: The King , rested in a secret chamber at the top of the Tower. There was a buttery of the Guards of the Citadel in the basement of the tower. Behind the tower, reached from the sixth level, was a saddle leading to the Hallows or necropolis of the Kings and Stewards, with its street of tombs, Rath Dínen. Tolkien was influenced by many authors when constructing Middle-earth, including several classical sources . Scholars, following various leads in Tolkien's fantasy and letters, have identified Minas Tirith with several different historical or mythical cities, including Troy, Rome, Ravenna, and Constantinople. In
1782-584: The Old English version by Ælfric of the Book of Maccabees , which carefully introduces elephants to its Anglo-Saxon audience, using much the same phrase as Sam Gamgee, " māre þonne sum hūs ", "bigger than a house", before describing their use in battle; the hero stabs the elephant, which is carrying a " wīghūs ", a " battle-house ", from below. Tolkien however mentioned Pyrrhus of Epirus 's use of war elephants against Ancient Rome in 280–275 BC in his notes for
1848-411: The Rings , Minas Tirith was according to the concept designer Alan Lee given an ancient appearance reminiscent of Byzantium or ancient Rome. However, the appearance and structure of the city was based upon the inhabited tidal island and abbey of Mont Saint-Michel , France. In the films, the towers of the city, designed by Lee, are equipped with trebuchets . The film critic Roger Ebert called
1914-515: The Rings , Minas Tirith was given something of the look of a city of the Byzantine empire , while its seven-tiered shape was suggested by the tidal island and abbey of Mont Saint-Michel in France. Tolkien illustrators including Alan Lee , John Howe , Jef Murray , and Ted Nasmith have all produced realistic paintings of the city. For partly in the primeval shaping of the hill, partly by
1980-519: The South Road to the southern provinces of Gondor; and the road to Osgiliath, which lay to the north-east of Minas Tirith. Except for the high saddle of rock which joined the west of the hill to Mindolluin, the city was surrounded by the Pelennor , an area of farmlands. The city's main street zigzagged up the eastern hill-face and through each of the gates and the central spur of rock. It led to
2046-607: The South. Magoun explains that Gondor is both virtuous, being West, and has problems, being South; Mordor in the Southeast is hellish, while Harad in the extreme South "regresses into hot savagery". Solopova argues that the Haradrim's mûmakil war elephants put their country far to the East, since only India and lands to its east went on using war elephants after classical times. She and Stuart D. Lee mention that Tolkien could have used
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2112-624: The Warden of the Houses of Healing and the Warden of the Keys. The Warden of the Keys was in charge of the city's security, especially its gates, and the safe-keeping of its treasury, notably the Crown of Gondor; he had command of the city when it was besieged by the forces of Mordor . Minas Tirith had seven walls: each wall held a gate, and for strength of defence each gate faced a different direction from
2178-537: The Western European "paradigm" that speakers of supposedly superior languages were "ethnically superior". In Peter Jackson 's film The Two Towers , the Haradrim appear Middle Eastern , with turbans, flowing robes, and riding mûmakil . A companion book on the film's "Creatures" states that the Haradrim were based on 12th century Saracens . The battle scene in Ithilien between the rangers of Gondor and
2244-405: The character's learning the nature of the unknown forces against them, that they constitute a force with great power and malevolence. The villains in such stories are usually completely evil and unrelatable. "High fantasy" often serves as a broad term to include a number of different flavors of the fantasy genre, including epic fantasy , mythic fantasy, dark fantasy , and wuxia . It typically
2310-413: The culture of ancient Egypt. Tuthill compares Howe's and Murray's versions of the same scene; Howe shows only a corner of the city, but vividly captures the movement of the horse and the rider's flying robes, with a strong interplay of light and dark, the white horse against the dusky rocks. Murray similarly uses strong contrast, with the white city against dark clouds overhead, but using "flat bold lines and
2376-710: The destruction of their home countries; the brothers Romulus and Remus found Rome, while the brothers Isildur and Anárion found the Númenórean kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor in Middle-earth; and both Gondor and Rome experienced centuries of " decadence and decline ". Judy Ann Ford adds in Tolkien Studies that Minas Tirith was entirely built of stone, and "the only culture within [the Anglo-Saxons'] historical memory that had made places like Minas Tirith
2442-640: The films' interpretation of Minas Tirith a "spectacular achievement", and compared it to the Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz . He praised the filmmakers' ability to blend digital and real sets. The setting of Minas Tirith has appeared in video game adaptations of The Lord of the Rings , such as the 2003 video game The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King where it is directly modelled on Jackson's film adaptation. Christopher Tuthill, in A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien , evaluates
2508-405: The hobbits' name for Harad, Sunland , suggests a similar link. The Germanic studies scholar Sandra Ballif Straubhaar notes that it is not clear whether Tolkien meant the Haradrim to be grouped with his "Wild Men", though he named them as ancient enemies of Gondor. They are " ethnic others but not as ugly", they have a rich culture and well-trained elephants. The exception would be, she suggests,
2574-819: The illustrator Pauline Baynes indicate that Minas Tirith had the latitude of Ravenna , an Italian city on the Adriatic Sea , though it lay "900 miles east of Hobbiton more near Belgrade ". The Tolkien scholar Judy Ann Ford writes that there is an architectural connection with Ravenna in Pippin 's description of the great hall of Denethor, which in her view suggests a Germanic myth of a restored Roman Empire. Sandra Ballif Straubhaar states in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia that "the most striking similarities" are with ancient Rome . She identifies several parallels: Aeneas , from Troy , and Elendil, from Númenor, both survive
2640-582: The illustrator Pauline Baynes to construct her iconic map, suggests that "Elephants appear in the great battle outside Minas Tirith (as they did in Italy under Pyrrhus ) but they would be in place in the blank squares of Harad – also camels." The Men of Harad are called Haradrim ("South-multitude"), Haradwaith , or Southrons by the people of Gondor. The Haradrim are of various ethnicities and cultures; some are organized into kingdoms. Frodo and Sam meet Faramir and his Rangers of Ithilien just before
2706-519: The illustrator Pauline Baynes . Commentators such as Anderson Rearick and Stephen Shapiro have identified the Haradrim as a recognisably foreign race as well as the enemy, and have accused Tolkien of racism. Conversely, scholars such as Straubhaar have come to Tolkien's defence on the matter, noting that during the Second World War Tolkien expressed an anti-racist position. Straubhaar writes that "a polycultured, polylingual world
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2772-460: The latter ambush a company of Haradrim on the North Road. Frodo and Sam do not see much of the battle, since they are positioned elsewhere, but they hear the sounds of fighting, and a slain Haradrim warrior crashes at their feet. This warrior is described as having "brown" skin, with black plaits of hair braided with gold. He wears a scarlet tunic , as do the other Haradrim, and a gold collar. He
2838-694: The long march from his home." Straubhaar quotes Shapiro, who wrote in The Scotsman that "Put simply, Tolkien's good guys are white and the bad guys are black, slant-eyed, unattractive, inarticulate, and a psychologically undeveloped horde". Straubhaar concedes that Shapiro may have had a point with "slant-eyed", but comments that this was milder than that of many of his contemporary novelists such as John Buchan , and notes that Tolkien had in fact made "appalled objection" when people had misapplied his story to current events. She similarly observes that Tjeder had failed to notice Tolkien's "concerted effort" to change
2904-464: The men of Far [Southern] Harad whom the people of Gondor saw as "black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues". With his "Southrons" from Harad, Tolkien had – in the view of John Magoun, writing in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia – constructed a "fully expressed moral geography", from the hobbits' home in the Northwest, evil in the East, and "imperial sophistication and decadence" in
2970-681: The men of Harad was shot at the Twelve Mile Delta near Queenstown , New Zealand . The Haradrim and the Corsairs of Umbar appear in merchandise for the film trilogy, such as toys, The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game , and the computer game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II . "Haradrim Slayers" feature in the computer game The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring , while in
3036-472: The mighty craft and labour of old, there stood up from the rear of the wide court behind the Gate a towering bastion of stone, its edge sharp as a ship-keel facing east. Up it rose, even to the level of the topmost circle, and there was crowned by a battlement; so that those in the Citadel might look from its peak sheer down upon the Gate seven hundred feet below. The entrance to the Citadel also looked eastward, but
3102-466: The most "fully rendered and realistic-looking" painting is Nasmith's Gandalf Rides to Minas Tirith , with a "wholly convincing city" in the background, majestic as the Wizard gallops towards it in the dawn light. He notes that Nasmith uses his architectural rendering skill to provide a detailed view of the whole city. He quotes Nasmith as writing that he studied what Tolkien said, such as likening Gondor to
3168-461: The name of the country. The hobbits called the area the Sunlands , and the people Swertings . Aragorn briefly describes his journeys in the land as being in "Harad where the stars are strange". Tolkien confirmed that this meant that Aragorn had travelled "some distance into the southern hemisphere " in Harad. The great harbour city of Umbar lies on Harad's north-west coast; its natural harbour
3234-474: The next, facing alternately somewhat north or south. Each level was about 100 ft (30 m) higher than the one below it, and each surrounded by a high stone wall coloured in white, with the exception of the wall of the First Circle (the lowest level), which was black, built of the same material used for Orthanc . This outer wall was also the tallest, longest and strongest of the city's seven walls; it
3300-511: The paintings of Minas Tirith made by the major Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee , John Howe (both of whom worked as concept designers for Peter Jackson's film trilogy), Jef Murray , and Ted Nasmith . Tuthill writes that it has become "hard to imagine" Middle-earth "without the many sub-creators who have worked within it", noting that the "dreaded effects" of what Tolkien called "silliness and morbidity" of much fantasy art in his time "are nowhere in evidence" in these artists' work. In Tuthill's view,
3366-584: The question by analysing the two parts of the word. Sigel meant, according to Tolkien, "both sun and jewel ", the former as it was the Old English name of the Sun rune , Proto-Germanic : *sowilō (ᛋ), the latter connotation from Latin sigillum , a seal . Tolkien decided that Hearwa was related to the Old English heorð , meaning " hearth ", and ultimately to the Latin carbo , meaning "soot". The resulting meaning for Sigelhearwan , Tolkien decided tentatively,
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#17327753339903432-690: The rulers of Gondor, the Kings and the Stewards, the tower stood 300 ft (91 m) tall, so that its pinnacle was some one thousand feet (300 m) above the plain. The main doors of the tower faced east, onto the Court of the Fountain. Inside was the Tower Hall, the great throne room where the Kings (or Stewards) held court. The Seeing-stone of Minas Tirith , used by Denethor in The Return of
3498-663: The settings. Minas Tirith Minas Tirith is the capital of Gondor in J. R. R. Tolkien 's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings . It is a seven-walled fortress city built on the spur of a mountain, rising some 700 feet to a high terrace, housing the Citadel, at the seventh level. Atop this is the 300-foot high Tower of Ecthelion, which contains the throne room . Scholars, following various leads in Tolkien's fantasy and letters, have attempted to identify Minas Tirith with several different historical or mythical cities, including Troy , Rome , Ravenna , and Constantinople . In Peter Jackson 's film adaptation of The Lord of
3564-481: The time of a final, all-out siege from the East; however, Minas Tirith survived the siege whereas Constantinople did not . Swycaffer adds that Constantinople was famed for the strength of its defences, with its concentric walls. Tolkien stated that within the Court of the Fountain at the heart of Minas Tirith stood the White Tree, the symbol of Gondor. It was dry and dead throughout the centuries that Gondor
3630-997: The unified kingdom of Elendil), yet each proved to be stronger than their sister-kingdoms (the Western Roman Empire and Arnor, respectively). Both realms were threatened by powerful eastern and southern enemies: the Byzantines by the Sassanid Persians and the Muslim armies of the Arabs and the Turks, as well as the Langobards and Goths; Gondor by the Easterlings, the Haradrim, and the hordes of Sauron. Both realms, as commentators including Librán-Moreno and Jefferson P. Swycaffer have observed, were in decline at
3696-404: The video game Middle-earth: Shadow of War , Baranor, a playable character who is a captain in Gondor's guard, is originally from Harad. Iron Crown Enterprises produced a series of books for their tabletop roleplaying game Middle-earth Role Playing containing information about Harad and content allowing games to be set there. Key publications included the setting books Umbar: Haven of
3762-485: The west side of the world should sing a mass beneath it". Lisa Anne Mende, in Mythlore , contrasts the happy eucatastrophes which rescue Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings – the last-minute arrivals of the Riders of Rohan, and then of Aragorn in the enemy's ships – with the unmitigated disasters of the Fall of Gondolin and the other Elvish cities of Beleriand in The Silmarillion . She notes Tolkien's Christianity, which influenced Middle-earth , and describes
3828-568: Was "rather the sons of Muspell than of Ham ", an ancient class of demons in Northern mythology "with red-hot eyes that emitted sparks and faces black as soot". This was exactly the sort of "stray pagan concept" hinting at England's lost mythology that Tolkien wanted. In drafts of The Lord of the Rings , Tolkien toyed with names such as Harwan and Sunharrowland for Harad, which were derived from Sigelwara ; Christopher Tolkien notes that these are connected to his father's Sigelwara Land . The philologist Elizabeth Solopova similarly notes that
3894-399: Was coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance", which was originally given at the New England Round Table of Children's Librarians in October 1969. Many high fantasy stories are told from the viewpoint of one main hero. Often, much of the plot revolves around their heritage or mysterious nature, along with a world-threatening problem. In many novels the hero
3960-446: Was delved in the heart of the rock; thence a long lamp-lit slope ran up to the seventh gate. Thus men reached at last the High Court, and the Place of the Fountain before the feet of the White Tower: tall and shapely, fifty fathoms from its base to the pinnacle, where the banner of the Stewards floated a thousand feet above the plain. The Lord of the Rings , book 5, ch. 1 "Minas Tirith" Minas Tirith ( Sindarin : "Tower of Guard" )
4026-450: Was interested in particular in the Old English word used for " Aethiopians ": it was Sigelwara , or in Tolkien's emendation Sigelhearwan . The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that Tolkien's philological research, described in his essay " Sigelwara Land ", began from the assumption that the word could not originally have meant Aethiopian, but must have been co-opted to that usage having once meant something comparable. Tolkien approached
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#17327753339904092-408: Was racist in making the protagonists white and the antagonists black, but others have noted that Tolkien showed anti- xenophobic sentiments in real life, opposing any attempt to demonise the enemy in both World Wars. In Peter Jackson 's film The Two Towers , the Haradrim were based on 12th century Saracens : they have turbans and flowing robes, and they ride mûmakil . The Haradrim appear in
4158-447: Was ruled by the Stewards; Aragorn brought a young living sapling of the White Tree into the city on his return as King, symbolising the rebirth of the monarchy. Tolkien's biographer John Garth writes that the White Tree has been likened to the Dry Tree of the 14th century Travels of Sir John Mandeville . The tale runs that the Dry Tree has been dry since the crucifixion of Christ , but that it will flower afresh when "a prince of
4224-452: Was the Roman Empire." Tolkien intended to create a mythology for England , so that while the Third Age is ostensibly many thousands of years ago, much of the setting is medieval . She comments that Tolkien's account echoes the decline and fall of Rome , but "with a happy ending", as it "somehow withstood the onslaught of armies from the east, and ... was restored to glory." She finds multiple likenesses between Minas Tirith and Rome. In
4290-445: Was the capital of Gondor at the end of the Third Age of Middle-earth . It lay at the eastern end of the White Mountains, built around a shoulder of Mount Mindolluin. The city is sometimes called "the White Tower", a synecdoche for the city's most prominent building in its Citadel, the seat of the city's administration. The head of government is the Lord of the City, a role fulfilled by the Stewards of Gondor. Other officials included
4356-412: Was vulnerable only to earthquakes capable of rending the ground where it stood. The Great Gate of Minas Tirith, constructed of iron and steel and guarded by stone towers and bastions, was the main gate in the first or outer wall of the city. In front of the Great Gate was a large paved area called the Gateway. The main roads to Minas Tirith met here: the North-way that became the Great West Road to Rohan ;
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