One of the fun things about the Lord of the Rings series is that it’s a thrilling tale buried inside a complete literary omnibus. Tolkien pulled from nearly every imaginable source to create his opus. There are bits and pieces of fairy tales, religious texts, historical events, and everything in between in the series. Tolkien heard the tales of the Barbary pirates of the 16th century and inducted them into Sauron’s army as the Corsairs of Umbar.
Villainy is very rarely nuanced in TheLord of the Rings. The heroes tend to be unlikely but endlessly noble. The antagonists, on the other hand, remain towering monuments to cruelty and destruction. One need only look at Sauron’s absurd armor to identify him as a brutal conqueror. The Witch-King of Angmar has a similar straightforward appeal. Their motivations are refreshingly old-fashioned, but the humans who served in their evil armies often had more complexity in their interior lives.
How did the Corsairs of Umbar form?
In the Second Age, the Númenóreans established a base in a city called Umbar. The city sits on the Bay of Belfalas, the endpoint of several rivers. The Númenóreans grew envious of the Elves’ immortality, pushing them to continue developing settlements as the Ainur forbade them from visiting the Undying Lands. Ar-Pharazôn, the last King of Númenor, waged wars against Sauron, defeating him twice. After besting the Dark Lord for the second time, Ar-Pharazôn took Sauron prisoner. Unfortunately, Sauron weasled his way into an advisory position, pushing the Númenóreans to become more vicious in their conquests and stoking already substantial public support for Melkor. This led the Ainur to summon a massive storm and drown Númenor. While many Númenóreans escaped the fated Downfall of Númenor, those that recaptured Umbar came to be known as Black Númenóreans. They worshiped Sauron and fought the people of Gondor for generations. Their connection to the Dark Lord and battles against sovereign nations led them to become Corsairs.
Who led the Corsairs of Umbar?
The Corsairs of Umbar became enemies of Gondor immediately, but they acquired a leader from the struggling nation. Gondor went through a civil war called the kin-strife, which saw Castamir the Usurper briefly claim the throne. Eldacar, the rightful heir, killed Castamir and cast his supporters out of Gondor. Castamir was the “Lord of Ships,” and his many sons knew his seafaring ways. These offspring of the Usurper commanded the Corsairs of Umbar for over 300 years. The leader would carry the title “Captain of the Haven.” The kin-strife also loosens Gondor’s control over the Haradrim, an ethnic group that turned to Sauron after years of mistreatment by the Dúnedain. They ravaged the coasts of Gondor as deadly pirates. Their greatest accomplishment came in 1634 of the Third Age. Angamaitë and Sangahyando, both great-grandsons of Castamir, led an attack on Pelargir. They sacked the city and killed the king of Gondor. This era of naval terror continued for almost two centuries. Gondor eventually retook Umbar and killed the descendants of Castamir, ending the Usurper’s family line. This did not, however, end the Corsairs’ campaign.
Sauron wielded the Corsairs of Umbar during the Third Age. In TA 2758, he arranged an armada of seafaring vessels to fight the Gondorians and Rohirrim. Their assault was mighty, but Rohan defeated the oncoming hoards and sent the Corsairs away. As the War of the Ring began, Sauron used the Corsairs to terrorize the seas. Almost 40 years before the Fellowship formed, Aragorn II Elessar led a surprise attack against Umbar. He operated under the name Thorongil, one of many aliases. He killed the Captain of the Havens and burned the docks, seemingly destroying Umbar’s fleet.
What happened to the Corsairs of Umbar?
The Corsairs seemed defeated after Aragorn’s attack before the War of the Rings began in earnest. It seems fitting, however, that Aragorn would be the man to destroy them in the end. At the Battle of Pelennor Fields, the rebuilt Corsairs sailed to support Sauron’s army. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and the Grey Company of Rangers intercepted their movement. Aragorn defeated the pirates with a single strike, wielding the might of his reforged blade, Isildur. Tolkein described the event like this:
Thus came Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar, Isildur’s heir, out of the Paths of the Dead, borne upon a wind from the Sea to the kingdom of Gondor; and the mirth of the Rohirrim was a torrent of laughter and a flashing of swords, and the joy and wonder of the City was a music of trumpets and a ringing of bells. But the hosts of Mordor were seized with bewilderment, and a great wizardry it seemed to them that their own ships should be filled with their foes; and a black dread fell on them, knowing that the tides of fate had turned against them and their doom was at hand.
The Corsairs of Umbar were a multifaceted group of pirates who served Sauron for generations. Angered by years of violence, an unsuccessful coup, or the drive to worship evil, they stormed the high seas. These pirates may have been defeated almost immediately, but their presence represents a fascinating aspect of the War of the Ring. The Corsairs brought pirate action to the Lord of the Rings, but their sailing skills didn’t stand up to Aragorn.
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