I was confused to see the Easterlings portrayed as Ninjas....

[Diet Sauron]

That struck me as weird. I was expecting a little more Neanderthal-ness to them. Not ninjas... all they needed was throwing stars

 

[Mithlond]

They looked like Samurai, not ninja's. I guess it was just a bit of a parallel to the eastern cultures of the world today.

 

[Ariana Undomiel]

I didn't think that the Easterlings looked like ninjas but I agree that they had an eastern/oriental appearance about them which made them all the more forboding and mysteriously evil looking to me. I don't mean to diss the orient or anything, I just mean that the way they looked really worked for me.

- Ariana

 

[Dáin Ironfoot I]

I really liked how PJ made the Easterlings look. While reading, I thought of dark skinned men (like black skinned) with bright red armor and gold jewelry, almost like an African tribe but more prepared for war...

But uh.. now that I think of it... they probably werent meant to look that way at all

 

[GuardianRanger]

Back in the middle of January, TheOneRing.net posted a pretty interesting article, written by one of the extras who played an Easterling.

 

[Anamatar IV]

I don't know if any of you play Age of Empires but I pictured the easterlings as the Frank's throwing axemen. Long black beards, heavy upper armor, inadequet lower body armor, axes...stuff like that. In the movie I don't think they looked Oriental....they reminded me of Arabic soldiers. In the beginning of the Terror War when they showed those clips on the news of Terrorist training and Arab armies marching and such. These easterlings, the way they walked and shouted to each other, they reminded me of those clips.

 

[Bergile]

Hmmm this could get a little controversial.....

 

[Anamatar IV]

How so? If you are referring to my post (which I assume you are) I think my opinion is justified. The terrorist trainees we saw in those clips always had something covering their faces. So did the Easterlings. They always walked in formal, rigid lines....as the easterlings did. Indeed if Middle-earth is Europe the Easterlings would be Arabic.

 

[ChunkyLover53]

maybe it's best not to think of comparing the soldiers of middle earth to the soldiers of earth. I didn't do that comparison when i saw the movie, and only until now, I didn't think of them as samurai. I actually thought they looked cool, and might root for the wrong side in RotK, unless Imrahil and his army is in it (which i doubt)...

The covering of faces was a decision made by PJ so that when watching the battles between the armies, the evil armies wouldn't have the same image as the good armies. I wonder what the red-eye guys will look like, i remember something like that from the book, but i forgot what they were called.

 

[aragil]

Troll-men of Far Harad. I prefer to think of them as actual crosses between a troll and a human, but if Imrahil isn't in there, they don't stand too much of a chance.

 

[ChunkyLover53]

Yeah, those are the guys...I hope they are in it...

 

[joxy]

Originally posted by Anamatar IV
....if Middle-earth is Europe the Easterlings would be Arabic.

I don't think you mean Arabic; those men with covered faces were not from Arabia, which is a limited area of Northern Africa.

 

[Morgoth]

I pictured the Easterlings built like hookers in rugby from the description in the books. They are described in the book as 'swarthy men'. I was under the impression swarthy meant wide

 

[Bergile]

I think it means dark-skinned, i dont think its a word used much now. For some reason the word makes me think of an Italian person.

 

[Morgoth]

Oh. My mistake. That makes reasonable sense. Then surely they should look more Morroccan than Japanese (possibly like Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood: Prince of Theives). That would have been cool.

 

[HobbitFeet]

I always pictured the easterlings to have big, black beards, tan skin, and to be really tall and wide. I like the movie's version way better , though. They looked evil, but not really evil. I didn't think they looked like terrorists, but they did look like samurai. That's cool- samurai are friggin awesome.

 

[Elbereth]

I did some research on other races of Middle Earth men awhile ago and in my research I found this description (internet source: www.rover.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~lalaith/Tolkien/Men_of_Darkness.html )

The latest tribes of men who immigrated into Beleriand became collectively known as Easterlings and Eastrons; a misleading term for of course they originated from the same place as the "Western" Edain. Because of their physical characteristics, they were also referred to as Swarthy Men, for they "were short and broad, long and strong in arm; their skins were swart and swallow, and their hair was as dark as thier eyes...."

From this description as well as others that I have read (but don't care to look up at this time), I have understood these men to carry many physical traits that we would associate with Asians such as sallow skin, dark hair. It is also uncanny that those people wear a lot of red...(in Asian countries...red is a sign of luck and prosperity and used in many religious and national celebrations)

However, it should also be noted that the term "Swarthy men" also was used to describe Southron men who had:

"dark faces...They are fierce. They have black eyes, and long black hair, and gold rings on thier ears, yes, lots of beautiful gold. And some have paint on their cheeks, and red cloaks, and their flags are red, and the tips of their spears, and they have round shields, yellow and black with big spikes...."

I have always associated Southron men to have the appearance of those of Northern African or Middle Eastern decent. They seem to be very different than Easterlings or Eastrons and yet are still associated with them ...I often wondered why.

 

[Rangerdave]

I guess I had a different opinion, I always thought of the Easterlings as eastern mediterranian.

Maybe Ottoman Turks, or perhaps even Hellenic Greeks.

Of course we know they were not Italians, or else the Corsairs of Umbar would have been lead by Admiral Guido Sarduchi

RD

 

[krash8765]

The easterlings in the movie are supposed to be Haradrim right? Because the haradrim are the only ones who have the oliphaunts. I always pictured them as large men, and black-skinned. I liked the haradrim that were walking throught the black gate. Their armor and swords were everything I pictured.

 

[Mithlond]

The Haradrim were not the ones marching through the black gate, they were the Easterlings.

The Haradrim/Southrons were the ones Frodo, Sam and Smeagol saw just before they were captured by Faramir and his rangers.