Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-27472682-20180929222209/@comment-26149161-20181001200202

ArcenGamer wrote: Umbar (the city) is literally Jerusalem and the wider region is the Levant. I don't care if you don't want comparisons because that is simply the facts.

It is an ancient city

It has been contested between Gondor (Rome) and Harad (Muslim Empires) for centuries

It is a holy site to all who wish to possess it.

Sound familiar yet?

I know you may not like comparisons but the fact is that Umbar perfectly fits the description of Jerusalem. So I don't see how it would have Asian style armour. Sorry, but no. Not sure where you get that idea, but it's false. There is no such allegory in Tolkien's work. Inspiration does exist, but there is no greater meaning or relationship to the histories of Middle-earth. The author expressly hated such things.

Think about it. Umbar was founded by seafaring colonists from an island nation. They built it as a port city for their ships. Over the years the people turned to evil, and the mother nation was literally wiped from the map. The surviving Numenoreans in Umbar continued their evil ways, until it was conquered again and again by Gondor, before being taken by Gondorian rebels, then finally by the Haradrim, when it became a pirate haven.

Compare that to Rome--a land empire, who did not have colonies nor a particularly famed navy. They conquered Jerusalem--they did not found it themselves, and, as opposed to the amicable relationship of the Adunaic and Haradric peoples, there was strife between Rome and the Jews. There was no comparable survival of an evil faction and good faction to fight over the land, as with the Faithful and Black Numenoreans--just the Eastern Roman Empire. Finally, there are no Crusades or any equivalents. While there are invasions, they are no more than that, and are designed to expand Gondorian power and influence rather than defend a holy land.

Overall, while I can see why you might devise that idea, I encourage you to think of Middle-earth as a unique place with its own diverse cultures and relationships, rather than as a repackaged real world history. Tolkien did potentially draw influences from Judaea and Rome when he wrote of Umbar and Gondor, but they are not the same thing by any means.

Ithilion, Discussions Moderator (Auta i lómë)