Corsairs of Umbar

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. 
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.
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 ===
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.
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===
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.Matthew Ward, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game: Harad, 2007, ISBN 978 1 84154 859 3, p. 46-9 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 ==
Corsair.png|Film producer Rick Porras cameoing as a Corsair in the films
Corsair Freebooter.png|A Corsair in the films
Corsair Spearman.png|Make-up artist Gino Acevedo cameoing as a Corsair spearman
Screen shot 2010-12-05 at 5.33.42 PM.png|Director of Photography Andrew Lesnie cameoing as a Corsair
==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==
Category:Men
Category:Black Númenóreans
Category:Haradrim
Category:Servants of Sauron
Category:Army of Mordor
Category:Men
de:Corsaren von Umbar
es:Corsarios de Umbar
it:Corsari di Umbar
pl:Korsarze z Umbaru
ru:Умбарские пираты