Q: How Often Did Gondor’s Kings Marry Haradrim?
ANSWER: I received the following question in April 2021:
Can you explain why the lords of Gondor didn’t marry into Haradrim families more often? I know of one instance when a king married a princess of Umbar once, and that didn’t go well, but historically that’s what nobles did to broker peace, and Tolkien obviously knew that. And sending Sauron’s former allies to court might be good to turn them away from hate towards the West, don’t you think? Considering how hard it might be to turn them on the “good side” after many years of Sauronic influence, I can’t imagine his allies being doomed to evil forever. Indeed some leaders among the Haradrim at the start of the Third Age must’ve questioned the whole point of serving Sauron and pointlessly dying for him for countless years, especially since Sauron wasn’t there to boss them around.
I shall consult the bones!
Okay, the bones tell me nothing. Nor do the books have much to say.
We know that Queen Berúthiel (wife of Tarannon Falastur) came from a Black Númenórean family, but we can’t even be sure if she was from the Harad. Her family could have come from the east for all we know. I think the general assumption about Berúthiel is that since Tarannon was concerned with fleets and maritime nations he probably married a princess from somewhere along the southern coasts. And the last word Tolkien wrote about her was that the ship Tarannon had set her on sailed past Umbar (not even to Umbar, or the ancient haven there).
Boromir and Faramir speak of the “cruel Haradrim” in The Lord of the Rings. When Frodo and Sam are sequestered by Faramir’s men during the battle in Ithilien, Damrod says: “‘Tis said that there were dealings of old between Gondor and the kingdoms of the Harad in the Far South; though there was never friendship.”
But before I address that, let me ask (and answer) an important question.
What Was the Harad in Middle-earth?
Harad is simply an Elvish word for “south”. When Gondorians spoke of harad or the harad (whether using capitals or not), they were speaking of “the South”. This is a common application of direction to region.
Here in the United States when people talk about “the South” they usually mean the states running across the southern half of the country, or they may only mean the 11 states in the southeastern corner of the country (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia). Sometimes people include Texas (which had joined the Confederate States of America along with most of the other states I mentioned).
Technically, we could use “the South” to speak of “South America”, but I’ve never heard anyone use the phrase that way. We always speak of “South America” or “LatAm” (Latin America).
I don’t know if there are any parts of Europe where when people speak of “the south” (or “the South”) that they are referring to northern Africa or the Middle East. I’m sure there are localities where such usage might occur.
In Middle-earth, Harad refers to a vast region for which J.R.R. Tolkien defined only vague northwestern boundaries. It stretches toward the distant southernmost regions of the world. And there are no maps listing nations or cities in this region beyond Umbar. Nonetheless, we know there were kingdoms and cities because Tolkien said (rather glibly) that there were. Also, they were able to muster armies capable of marching on Gondor.
So I want to make it clear that regardless of what anyone else thinks, when I (Michael Martinez) speak of Harad or “the Harad”, I’m referring to that vast expanse the extent of which is largely unmapped and undescribed by J.R.R. Tolkien. It was home to many tribes and realms. We don’t know how many of their dynasties would have interacted with Gondor.
How Many Gondor-Haradrim Marriages Could There Have Been?
You asked “Can you explain why the lords of Gondor didn’t marry into Haradrim families more often?”
Well, I can suggest a couple of reasons why there probably weren’t that many marriages between Gondor’s rulers and the dynasties ruling lands south of Gondor.
First, there is the matter of Gondor’s racism. Yes, the Dúnedain of Gondor were racists. Well, many of them were. That’s why they fought a civil war (the Kin-Strife) among themselves. They wanted to preserve the “purity” of the Númenórean bloodlines of their noble families. So when King Valacar married a Northman princess (Vidumavi of Rhovanion, daughter of Vidugavia), many of the noble families felt he had betrayed them.
While racism is hardly a fair argument against intermarriage with other groups, Tolkien seems to imply that until that time (Third Age 1300s) that there was no intermarriage between Dúnadan families and Haradrim – other than Tarannon’s disastrous marriage to Berúthiel.
After Eldacar son of Valacar’s accession to the throne spawned the Kin-strife, things became a little more flexible. Castamir the Usurper’s followers were driven out of Gondor and they fled to Umbar. There his descendants did intermarry with Haradrim women.
The handful of mixed Gondorian marriages that Tolkien writes about after that time were between Dúnadan families and Northman families (such as Thengel’s marriage to Morwen of Lossarnach).
The second reason why I think there would have been few if any marriages between Gondorian and Haradrim families is there is no mention of specific diplomatic agreements between them. Yes, we have Tarannon’s marriage, but Berúthiel’s origin is unspecified. She could, in fact, have been born in Anfalas (which appears to be one of the regions Tarannon conquered) or in Harondor.
With no narrative support for diplomatic ties between Gondor and any Harad nations, we don’t know what happened to their dynasties. But it doesn’t sound like Tolkien meant to imply that Gondor’s kings were taking concubines from conquered royal families. He never mentions any. So far as I know, there is no Elvish word for concubine (which would violate Eldarin marriage customs).
Would Sauron Have Benefited from Diplomatic Mixed Marriages?
This is an interesting idea, but not one Tolkien ever seems to have explored. Sure, Sauron could have benefited from planting a spy in Gondor’s royal court. Absolutely.
But I think after the experience of Tarannon (and we must keep in mind that details of Berúthiel’s story were composed in the 1960s), Gondor’s noble families would have been less willing to accept a foreign bride from a hostile nation.
There are unquestionably peoples of mixed descent throughout Gondor’s long history. The Númenóreans who colonized Middle-earth did in fact mingle with the locals, both in Eriador and in the lands that later became Gondor. There were dark-skinned Gondorians from the coastal and southern regions. Tolkien mentions the mingling of families in several passages, especially when discussing the aftermath of the Kin-strife.
So I don’t think Gondorian distrust of foreign marriages would have been based entirely on their racist traditions. Those barriers eventually broke down and the southern Dúnedain were pretty liberal about intermarrying with people of other ethnic groups by the end of the Third Age.
Hence, Gondor’s noble families probably assumed that everyone else was in some way influenced by or subservient to Mordor (either Sauron or the Nazgûl, depending on which period of history you’re think of). They would have been reluctant to open their society to servants of the Enemy after Circa Third Age year 1000. That is, once a shadow fell on Greenwood the Great and it became known as Mirkwood, things became a little more spiritually divisive.
I just don’t see Gondor’s kings seeking diplomatic marriages with the Easterling and Southron kings who appeared to be serving some great evil power. It would have been very dangerous. After all, they knew what had happened with Ar-Pharazôn. Why take the risk of that happening again?
Conclusion
Although J.R.R. Tolkien used The Lord of the Rings to explore the theme of racism (and to condemn it), I don’t think the lack of references to diplomatic marriages between Gondor’s kings and other dynasties was driven by that anti-racism theme.
I think the point was more about how Gondor’s kings recognized at some point there was a great enemy who was influencing or controlling other realms, and they feared it might be Sauron or one of his servants using the mind control for which Melkor and Sauron were known.
It would have been way too dangerous for a Gondorian king to engage in such a marriage after Third Age year 1000 (or whenever they realized something wicked was creeping back into Middle-earth). So my best guess is that suspicion and distrust of foreign dynasties accounted for their reluctance or unwillingness to conclude diplomatic marriages with the Haradrim. I think Tolkien would have mentioned more than one at some point in his life if he felt there should have been such marriages.
See Also
What Do We Know about the Black Serpent of Harad?
Who Were the Drúedain, Haradrim, and Easterlings?
Were All Easterlings and Haradrim in Middle-earth Evil People?
Is All of Harad in Middle-earth A Desert?
Is It True There Is Racism in The Lord of the Rings?
What Did Tolkien Mean When He Said the Blood of Númenor Ran Nearly True in Faramir and Denethor?
What Was the Waning of the Dúnedain?
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Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
On the whole, arranged marriages are economic alliances – prosperous families improving/extending their social ties/status, access to resources, trade, etc.
In my overly-simplistic view, diplomacy is rooted in a mutual exchange of hostages – sons well down on the line of succession serving as pages, daughters as ladies-in-waiting, and noble emissaries attending/observing at court/gathering intelligence (sure knowledge being better for peacekeeping than paranoid suspicion). If relations sour they’re dungeon-bound.
Diplomatic marriage has both political and economic goals.
In Tolkien’s Middle-earth arranged marriage of any sort seems rare, despite the hobbits’ taste for genealogy. One can imagine the Bracegirdle/Sackville-Baggins match being one such (and think of what life with Lobelia must have been).
Love matches are far more prevalent. A wedding between Baggins and Brandybuck would have had all sorts of economic and social/political value, yet the Drogo Baggins/Primula Brandybuck match was treated as disreputable (at least in Hobbiton). You’d think Denethor would have married-off Boromir and Faramir to Ladies of Dol Amroth or Lossarnach long before they set off on perilous quests – when war threatens, the sooner there’s a new generation of heirs, the better. Similarly, Théoden (with Wormtongue’s help) ought to have found matches for son, niece, and nephew long before Gríma could have developed designs on Éowyn. However, we have near-zero evidence of arranged marriages between allies Gondor, Arnor, and Rohan, no less to would-be enemies to the south and east.
My own thought in this is that JRRT’s and Edith’s romance, opposed as it was by Father Morgan, colored his preferences to the point that he just didn’t want to go there. Beren and Luthien, Aragorn and Arwen, Thingol and Melian, and Sam and Rose were far more to Tolkien’s taste.
With the exception of the Council of Elrond we see little evidence of emissaries at all (the Mouth of Sauron hardly counts). In a world with an established diplomacy the Red Arrow would have been delivered to Rohan’s Ambassador to the Court of Gondor, not sent across the leagues by horseback.
I think it cannot be underestimated that we aren’t just talking about different cultural aspects but also strong religious differences between the parties.
Of course “Religion” is generally more of a backdrop in Tolkien’s Universe but at the same time essential part that just “is”.
But contrary to much that we know in our world, Tolkien’s didn’t have monthly, weekly or let alone daily services on the side of “the West”.
So while the Eotheod and Numenoreans had different cultures their “beliefs” corresponded. It’s just that it isn’t talked about since both groups are simply part of the “Good” side.
You don’t even have that with the “Haradrim”, or should we simply say those in the desert?
I might remember it wrong but I seem to remember that Sauron had an active cult about Morgoth which was used as a representation of him. (not that Morgoth could do anything about it, lol)
So we are talking about active indoctrination for the people living in Saurons domain for a ridiculously long time.
The idea that even a political marriage between “the West” and “the East” could work somehow seems very far-fetched to me.
If we look at our own world we have people in the same cultures of different but closely related Religions and it took till modern times to have that work out.
A comparison in our world would probably be a medieval Christian monarch marrying an open Devil worshipper.
Even if you were the Eastern Roman Emperor that used the Patriarch as a footstool it wouldn’t have worked out.
And as you wrote, the Numenoreans threw a giant hissy-fit over an Eotheod.
Now imagine a Princess from Harad that regularly prays towards Mordor.