Q: Were All Easterlings and Haradrim in Middle-earth Evil People?
ANSWER: A criticism often leveled at J.R.R. Tolkien (and The Lord of the Rings in particular) is that “all the bad guys come from the south and east”. In truth there are plenty of bad guys who live in the northwestern lands (including Orcs, men who turned ruffian, evil men from Angmar, etc.).
The question is difficult to rebut, however, because J.R.R. Tolkien did not really provide any information about what actually happened in the southern and eastern lands. We know that Sauron recruited heavily among those regions but there is the curious scene where Sam sees a dead Southron roll down a hillside. Sam looks at the man and wonders if he had willingly taken up arms against Gondor or if he had been compelled or deceived into doing so.
The scene does not stipulate that there are any “good” people in the foreign lands, but it leads the reader to ask if not everyone was as dedicated to Sauron’s cause as it seemed.
After the fall of Barad-dur the most hardened of Sauron’s followers continued to fight against Aragorn’s army. But when the dust and fighting had settled and Aragorn took up the crown in Minas Tirith, he received embassies from many nations. The fact they were willing to send ambassadors to treat with Gondor’s new king suggests that Tolkien envisioned a certain amount of civility existed in the eastern and southern lands.
That is, despite the fact that Sauron was able to move so many nations to take up war against Gondor, it is not clearly stated that all his followers were completely devoted to him. There were traditions of interaction between nations that made it possible for Aragorn to make peace with Gondor’s enemies.
Of course, we can also argue from a point of logic, that any “good” peoples dwelling in those distant lands might not have answered a summons from Sauron. Tolkien does imply (mostly through the conflicting histories of the Blue Wizards) that not everyone in eastern (and southern) Middle-earth supported Sauron whole-heartedly. Even though the Blue Wizards ultimately failed, Tolkien does not explain what that failure entailed.
Hence, the reader is free to infer that there could have been enclaves of relatively powerless and politically unimportant Men (and perhaps Dwarves) living beyond the edge of Gondor’s influence who did not really serve Sauron’s cause. And the reader is also free to infer that some of Sauron’s followers obeyed him out of fear rather than out of a desire to support him in a faithful manner.
One of the wonderful things about The Lord of the Rings is that it does find many ways to question or challenge our traditional notions of “good” and “evil”. For example, the Elves are portrayed as the dedicated enemies of Sauron but Tolkien doesn’t really suggest to the reader that they have no faults and are incapable of committing evil. In fact, it was the Elves who made the Rings of Power — and though the reader doesn’t have enough information to fully understand that the creation of the Rings was a “second fall” for them, the story does imply that the Elves were in the wrong. Hence, Elrond’s comment about the Valar refusing the accept the One Ring because it was Middle-earth’s problem implies that the Elves had to take some responsibility for the problem.
The conflicts between Dwarves and their neighbors (mostly Men, but apparently also Elves) certainly point to opposing perspectives concerning “right” and “wrong” between these usually friendly peoples, but are any of these groups really “evil”? It’s more about personal ambitions and politics.
The Dunedain themselves are ripped apart on more than one occasion by ambitions that lead to acts of evil and moral rebellion. How can we say they were all “good guys” if they were busy murdering each other and trying to overthrow the rightful monarchs?
One does not have to look beyond the borders of Arnor, Gondor, or Eregion for evil — evil lurks in the hearts of Men and Elves in the northwest as well as in the south and east.
Hence, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that many of the peoples of Rhun and Harad — while contributing soldiers to Sauron’s campaigns — may not have completely hated the Dunedain and the Elves. They may have been fearful or envious of the “free peoples” and they may have been driven to fight against their natural impulses. After all, Sauron used the One Ring to dominate the wills of other (weaker) creatures among Men, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, etc.
Once freed of Sauron’s domination many of those distant peoples may have found their ways back toward “the light” even if they did not fully recover the wisdom of true knowledge. Their ultimate salvation, in Tolkien’s Catholic view, would have to await a new age and the right Saviour. But they still would (in his view) have been capable of seeking and ultimately accepting redemption.
Therefore I don’t think you can say that Tolkien intended the reader to infer that all the peoples of Rhun and Harad were evil. Some of them (especially among their leaders) were certainly given over to evil, but many of them probably would have preferred to stay home and not go tramping all over Middle-earth bent on wars of conquest.
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