Men from the East

Does anyone know anything about the wicked men of sauron from the east? Those guys who ride the oliphants & wear red and black?

the men from the east our either men of lesser linage then the men of the west who have always either been under the dominon of morgoth or his succeser sauron. There are also the black numenoreans who turned against the formers kings of gondor. These people were for the most part in udar.

Well...what is a numenorean?

The men who rides the Mumakils (Oliphaunts) were called the Haradrims. They came from the South of Middle-earth and they were ancient enemies of Gondor that's why they joined with Sauron in the War of the Ring.

Easterlings, Haradrims,

The Numenoreans are a race of great noblety. Their life-span can be up to 300 years. Aragorn is a direct descendant of the Numenoreans and has lived up to 210 years.

Originally posted by Morgoths_Wrath
Well...what is a numenorean?

It's quite too complicated to explain. I suggest you read the Appendices or The Silmarillion to understand this stuff.

But basically, Numenoreans were the descendants of the Edain (the Three Houses of Men who first came to the lands west of the Blue Mountains and fought alongside the Elves) They were the The House of Bëor, The House of Haleth, and The House of Hador.

Unfortunately the Numenoreans turned against the Valar (again you have to read the books to know this) It was a combination of their jealousy of why the Elves are immortal and the Men are not and they broke the rule that no Men should go or even attempt to go to Valinor. Because of it the Valar destroyed their dwellings in Ellena. They then stayed in Gondor and established their kingdoms there.

Again I suggest you read the books. 🙂

Easterlings and Haradrim are strangely mixed up in the movie... those called Easterlings (thus coming from Rhûn which is all the eastern lands) looked exactly like Tolkien describes the Haradrim and the Haradrim appear to be like Tolkiens Easterlings... save for the flag with the serpent 😉

Black Númenóreans are more likely to be found among the Haradrim because they settled around the haven of Umbar and in Near-Harad in the Second Age.
Some of the Ringwraiths are also Black Númenórans.

Haradrim commander:

Southrons (Haradrim) on a Mûmak:

Here you can see the serpent quite good