Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-27472682-20180929222209/@comment-32352572-20181001202017

Gen. Grievous1138 wrote: 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.

-There are many ancient cities in ME and real life.

-It has been contested between Gondor and Black Númenoreans/Gondorian Renegades/Haradrim Numenorean wannabes. The Haradrim were pawns in the matter, so that comparison is moot. And at any rate, the Roman Empire proper collapsed before Islam was even a thing, so that comparison doesn't work in any way at all.

-Nobody considered it a holy city.

The comparison doesn't work and, as Tolkien said, anyone looking at Middle-Earth through an allegorical lens doesn't understand anything about the story. Umbar is a Númenorean heirloom that, in the present time, is ruled by Haradrim dedicated to the death of Gondor. Real-world cultures have absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the design of their soldiers' armor.

Gen. Grievous1138 (LOTR Mod Wiki Admin) comlink 19:54, October 1, 2018 (UTC)

At the moment i dont really care what Tolkien is. I'll side with logic. Saying that there are no allegories to real life is absurd.

Gondor is Byzantium down to the beacons. -Roman Architecture -The remaining but crumbling half of a once great empire -Beacons to call on allies and defence

I can go on for ages about parallels between irl and lotr but i think my point is made.