#I write Harad in quote marks as part of my

[edennill]

"Harad" in the Third Age having insanely complex politics and factions... People willingly fighting on Sauron's side. People forcibly conscripted to fight on Sauron's side. People fighting against Sauron (and their own neighbours in the process). Legitimate armies resisting him, and rebel cells consisting of twenty youths with ten swords between them.

Some of the people allied with Sauron are simply evil, and others have longstanding beef with Gondor, and sometimes it's being colonized by Gondor proper, and other times it's the memory of Númenor -- who in fact acquired most of that enemity in its years of being in practice led by Sauron. Some knowing who they're ultimately allied with, others having been recruited by less scary intermediaries. And it's just such a mess.