Among the Hobbits of the secluded Shire, the dark-skinned Men of the far south were a people of legend, who rode to war on oliphaunts in stories that the Shire-hobbits only half-believed. They knew these people as the Swertings, a word related to the term 'Swarthy Men' used in the Common Speech (where 'swarthy' is an old word for 'dark-skinned').
In the War of the Ring, the Travellers discovered that the Hobbit-legends were true after all. The Swertings were the southern Men otherwise known as the Haradrim, who rode into battle on the great oliphaunts that they referred to in their own tongue as mûmakil.
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- Updated 14 October 2023
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