Variag!

Variag!

The Southron Hordes

There is a lot of information about the forces for good in Tolkien’s works, even down to coats of arms in some cases, but what do we know of the evil hordes of men from the South and East? Tolkien’s own summary is sadly lacking in content.

     "Harad 'South' is thus a vague term, and although before its downfall Men of Númenor had explored the coasts of Middle-earth far southward, their settlements beyond Umbar had been absorbed, or being made by men already in Númenor corrupted by Sauron had become hostile and parts of Sauron's dominions."-Tolkien Unfinished Tales

What about their language? He was a professor in English language at Oxford and famously translated Beowulf from the Anglo Saxon, he was notorious for his love of language, he must have written something about it!

The philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien created a number of constructed languages, including languages devised for fictional settings. Inventing languages (called glossopoeia by Tolkien, from the Greek) paralleling his idea of mythopoeia or myth-making) was a lifelong occupation for Tolkien.(Wikipaedia)  He was a master of languages and creating a new language (Qwenya) was apparently his given reason for writing Lord of the Rings. And he was prolific, he had languages for the different races of men, Hobbits, Ents, even the dwarves have two distinct alphabets. However, for an author that created several different Elvish languages with 15 Dialects, Tolkien had little to say about the “Men of the South”

concerning Haradrim

This lack of any material about the Swertings, the Southrons, the “cruel” Haradrim is both frustrating, as there is no source material, and liberating, as there are no restrictions on the imagination. There exists no description of culture, origin or language. No detailed cartography only a blank space on a map labelled Nearer South and Further South, and a large body of water called the Sea of East. It seems odd that the Professor should pay so little attention to such a major protagonist. It is well known that before he constructed the idea of Arda, he first invented the Elvish tongue and that for Lord of the Rings, he drew the map of Middle Earth before he began to write the plot. He used language and map to provide the framework for his writing. For the men of the South, he did neither. Where they are referred to, it is in the language of their enemies, probably appropriately as it is the victors that write the history and the whole story is supposedly taken from the Red book of Westmarch and other writings. One thing is for sure they did not refer to themselves as Haradrim!

One word only in the whole legendarium is attributed to the language of Harad- Mumak. After typing the text my father added this sentence: Of the speech of Men of the East and allies of Sauron all that appears is mumak a name of the great elephant of the Harad. Christopher Tolkien The Peoples of Middle-earth

There are two other words that require consideration, Variag and Khand. Khand I have always thought must be an original name for a region or land but actually is used in many place names such as Khandahar or Kumarkhand.  It has been surmised by Christopher Tolkien that his father had plans to write a more about Khand and Harad but nothing was found in his papers of any significance.

Variag is another word that I had always assumed to be a Tolkienism. When I first read LOTR I imagined them as great bat-winged creatures with the bodies of apes with human faces. In recent years, this word has become associated with the Varangian guard, the elite unit of Vikings of the Byzantine Empire, however, it seems likely that is based on an incorrect interpretation.  The original meaning of the word denoted aliens who were made naturalized citizens (immigrants) more specifically Swedes https://blog.tolkien-studies.com/2010/10/08/who-were-the-variags-of-khand/ Therefore, some of the Varangian guard were Variag but not all Variags were Varangian.   I like to think that JRR used the phrase “Variags of Khand” just for its poetry.

So how to represent them on the wargames table?  I abandoned the idea of giant flying apes with bat like wings and went along with more conventional wisdom. Horse-archers. Something of the Turk maybe, bit Parthian perhaps, a touch of Arab, a smidgeon of Mongol?  I like the idea of fast light irregular cavalry armed with composite bows. I wanted them to have a common appearance without being uniform, independent, nomadic steppe dwellers sort of thing. They have to have a sense of Middle Earthliness, so they can be loosely historical but not exactly so. 

With this in mind I used Gripping Beast Arab Light Cavalry as the basis.

 I added long baggy sleeves to create a silken over garment and picking heads with moustaches I filed away helmet details and added a fur band to give the effect of a felt hat with a fur brim. This would be universally red with white fur. To further establish the “look” I wanted, I painted all the steeds as albinos ie. no black or grey in the mix, giving them the true “cream gene"  appearance. The clothes and he saddle blankets were finished in bright multi-coloured patterns to represent silk. The bows I painted in a much lighter "white/dry bone" colour than I usually use to add another distinction.

Variag

 Fierce, proud tribal warriors. Steppe nomads who follow the huge horse herds that roam the upper plains of the vast south lands. Riding their fleet steeds , they make excellent scouts and skirmishers.

Here is the profile for SBG ME

Variags     13 points				Bow + sword
MV	F	S	D	A	W	C	Special
6/10	3/4+	3	4	1	1	3	Poison

Born in the Saddle-Variags may shoot with no penalty even if they move their full distance

Wargear- Bow sword and horse                        

Special Rule-Poisoned Arrows

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