He based the Haradrim's use of war elephants, meanwhile, on that of Pyrrhus of Epirus in his war against Ancient Rome. He deduced that this word referred to some kind of soot-black fire demon before it was applied to the Aethiopians. Tolkien based the Haradrim on ancient Aethiopians, people of Sub-Saharan Africa, following his philological research on the Old English word Sigelwara.
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. Its main port is Umbar, the base of the Corsairs of Umbar whose ships serve as the Dark Lord Sauron's fleet. Tolkien's high fantasy The Lord of the Rings, Harad is the immense land south of Gondor and Mordor.
