(...)
(...illegible...) as Harad was always presented in the darkest terms possible. And when I write ''darkest'' I'm not reffering to the people's skin colour at all. Evil lies in the South, said a very old and very dear friend of mine. A man of Gondor. And as much as he was concerned, his statement was correct. The Haradrim are evil, because they are perceived in these realms as one single entity. And if there are some that attacked Gondor in the past - or the near future -, then they all have attacked these realms. Or they are accomplices, from the toddlers to the senile elders. This is the easiest way of reffering to the men of the South. Dark-skinned, dark souls, evil. Black, as opposed to white, evil as opposed to righteous. But things aren't always as simple as they seem.
(...)
The tribes of Harad are numerous and distinct. Their languages are different, from dialects to full-developed languages. Their people's skin isn't always dark, as it spans through quite a few nuances, from pale white to brown, to dark black. Some are farmers, and live off the land, some are nomads, and live off other people. Some trade cattle, some trade slaves. Some erect castles and majestuous cities made of rock, some live in cottages, some live under the naked sky. Even their religion varies from one settlement to another. Even in the same settlements, one can witness such abrupt differences. A good example would be the city-state of Charnesra, deep in the Near Harad - there are four major tribes fighting for supremacy over the city, and usually people end up dead during their political argues.
The relations between all these tribes can be summed up to one phrase: (...illegible...) war eternal - they fight amongst themselves for cattle, for women, for jewels, for a place to settle their villages. In Harad, these fights are as normal as breathing. It is part of a tradition holding up for centuries and millenias. Sometimes, the tribes might just meet on the battlefield without a credible reason - they commemorate through battle a clash from old times.
(...)
Yet.. the men of Harad have one distinct trait. I can explain it myself, but I'd rather tell you a tale. A long time ago, a village was threatened by some soldiers from a vanquished army. The troops, broken and animalized, were retreating home. On their way, they plundered and raped and left none alive. The village elder wrote a letter to the head of another village in the proximity. He asked them to forget about their feud (no one seemed to remember why they were fighting) and join hands and soldiers for the defense of both villages. The other chieftain was reluctant, and sent back a simple piece of parchment, with one word written on it - ''why?'', Then, the village elder sent him the answer: two dogs and a wolf, kept in different cages. When the messenger reached the other village, he demanded that two of their dogs should pe but in a pit with the ones he brought. The fourdogs started fighting and jumping to each other's throats as soon as they were released in the pit. Soon, the messenger asked his men to bring the wolf and release it in the pit, also. At that point, the dogs stopped their strife and attacked simultaneously their common enemy.
The idea is simple: the tribes of Harad left behind their vendettas when facing a common enemy. It was their world, and there was no place for outsiders. The wars with Gondor had no beginning, nor will they have an end, as much as the Haradrim are concerned.
But they fight because it is their way, not because they are evil. The social structure of Harad looks pretty much the same as the one of Gondor. Thieves, good samaritans, illiterate farmers, scholars and warriors, both good-hearted or wicked. They can all be found amongst the tribes of the South. Some of them attack in the north because they are pushed from behind by other tribes. Some of them attack because their leaders are in pursuit of a place in the heralds' chronicles and the minstrels' songs. But as far as I've seen, there are too few those corrupted by the Great Enemy to follow his rule. The rest are called allies.
Now, a few words on Harad traditions.. (...)
