The Corsairs of Umbar were a race of Men hailing from Umbar, south of Gondor. Known for their naval piracy along Gondor's coasts, they were eventually recruited by the Dark Lord Sauron as privateers.
History[]
In the Second Age, the Númenóreans began making permanent settlements in Middle-earth such as Umbar, a haven on the Bay of Belfalas' southern shores, and oppressed the natives. Umbar became a fortress of the King's Men, a proud faction loyal to the King of Númenor and opposed to both the Valar and the Eldar.
A Corsair warrior depicted by C.K. Göksoy
After the Downfall of Númenor, the Umbar settlers were those whom the Dúnedain called Black Númenóreans, renegades that worshipped Sauron. Even after their master's defeat in the War of the Last Alliance, they continued hostilities with the Gondorians until the year 933 of the Third Age, when Umbar was conquered by Gondor. However for over a hundred years Umbar was besieged by the Black Númenóreans and their Haradrim allies until TA 1050, when they were heavily defeated by King Hyarmendacil I of Gondor.
An early fleet of Umbar, by Ralph Damiani
During the Kin-strife, the defeated rebels of Gondor fled to Umbar, and came to be called Corsairs, most of them being southern Dúnedain, led by the descendants of Castamir the Usurper. For the next 362 years the Corsairs were a menace to Gondor, ravaging its coasts. With knowledge provided by their spies, Angamaitë and Sangahyando commanded an attack in TA 1634 against Pelargir, sacking the city and killing King Minardil. In TA 1810 Gondor retook Umbar, ending the line of Castamir. However Gondor's possession was not to last long and soon Umbar was lost to the Haradrim and new Corsairs, mostly of Haradrim descent, emerged. In TA 2758, they were goaded by the emissaries of Sauron into allying with the Haradrim, Easterlings and Dunlendings against the Gondorians and Rohirrim. Five fleets from Umbar and Harad engaged Gondor, allowing the Wildmen and the "Eastern invaders" to launch their assault upon Rohan. They were repelled with great difficulty by the end of the Long Winter and their allies perished or retreated.
In preparation for the War of the Ring, Sauron engaged the services of the Corsairs as privateers. In TA 2980, Captain Thorongil led a raid on Gondor's behalf against Umbar. During the surprise attack, the Captain of the Haven was slain and the Corsair fleet in addition to the docks were destroyed. Eventually, they rebuilt their fleet and rallied to Sauron's banner for the Siege of Gondor in TA 3019. At the time of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the armada was on route to Harlond, after taking Pelargir, with the intention of reinforcing the armies of Mordor. Aragorn, with the help of the Grey Company, Legolas, Gimli, and the Dead Men of Dunharrow, drove the Corsairs off, capturing the black fleet and rowing them to Minas Tirith to relieve the siege of the city. Following this, at some point in the Fourth Age the city of Umbar was recaptured by King Elessar, ending the Corsair threat for good.
In adaptations[]
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy[]
The Corsairs' ships as seen in Peter Jackson's The Return of the King
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the Corsairs are seen once, for only a few seconds, when Gandalf is speaking to Pippin about who will fight for Sauron in the battle for Minas Tirith. They also appear in a scene in the extended edition, when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli send the Army of the Dead to attack the frightened Corsairs (including Peter Jackson himself, in a cameo as a Corsair bo'sun) and conquer the ships.
Video games[]
In the game The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, there are a few Goblins and Goblin Drummers that appear in the Anduin river: Anduin Banks level along with the Corsairs.
A Corsair "black ship" in BFME 2
In the campaign of Electronic Arts' The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, the Corsairs, in Campaign Mode, join forces with the Goblins led by Gorkil and launch an assault upon the Grey Havens. While the attack fails in the Good Campaign, in the Evil Campaign the conjoined attack is completely successful, and thanks to the black fleet of the Corsairs the Grey Havens are destroyed. Also, the special unit recruitable at captured Inns for the Goblins is the corsairs.
The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game[]
Corsair models in The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game
In The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, names are given to several Corsairs, such as "Dalamyr" (the fleetmaster of Umbar), "Varkan", "Alcârin", "Velnakir", :Gulcâr" (the gate master of Umbar) and "Castavakh". They are frequently paired with the Haradrim and mostly use smoke bombs, swords, crossbows and throwing daggers.[1] Rest of them use bows, shields, two-handed axes and spears. Unlike other armies the Corsairs don't use a flag holder but have a whip user instead.
Gallery[]
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Korsairs van Umbar |
| Albanian | Korsars të Umbar |
| Arabic | أومبر بايرتس |
| Azerbaijani | Umbarın korsanları |
| Basque | Umbarreko kortsarioak |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Карсары Умбара |
| Bosnian | Umbar korsari |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Корсари от Умбар |
| Catalan | Corsaris d'Umbar |
| Chinese | 翁巴尔的海盗 |
| Croatian | Umbarske gusari ? |
| Czech | Umbarští korzáři |
| Danish | Sørøverne fra Umbar |
| Dutch | Zeerovers van Umbar |
| Esperanto | Korsaroj de Umbaro |
| Estonian | Umbari Korsaarid |
| Finnish | Umbarin merirosvot |
| French | Corsaires d’Umbar/Pirates d’Umbar |
| Galician | Corsarios de Umbar |
| German | Korsaren von Umbar |
| Greek | Κουρσάροι του Ούμπαρ |
| Hebrew | שודדי הים של אומבאר |
| Hungarian | Umbar kalózai |
| Irish Gaelic | Na Foghlaí mara de Umbar ? |
| Italian | Corsari di Umbar |
| Latvian | Corsairs par Umbar |
| Lithuanian | Umbaro Korsarai |
| Persian | دزدان دریایی اومبار |
| Polish | Korsarze z Umbaru |
| Portuguese | Corsários de Umbar |
| Romanian | Corsarii din Umbar |
| Russian | Умбарские пираты |
| Scottish Gaelic | Spùinneadairean de Umbar |
| Serbian | Корсари Умбара (Cyrillic) Korsari Umbara (Latin) |
| Spanish | Corsarios de Umbar |
| Swedish | Kaparna från Umbar |
| Thai | คอร์แซร์แห่งอุมบาร์ |
| Turkish | Umbar Korsanları |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Умбарські корсари |
| Vietnamese | Cướp biển của Umbar |
| Yiddish | קאָרסאַירס פון ומבאַר |
References[]
- ↑ Matthew Ward, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game: Harad, 2007, ISBN 978 1 84154 859 3, p. 46-9