Maybe the Variags were in the movies after all?

[Victariongreyjoy]

I remember reading Jackson didn't include them, because PJ had little to go to due to lack of description in the novels. But maybe they were merged in with many of the Haradrim tribes fighting for Sauron? Since Khand is neighbouring to the lands of Harad, it does make sense to me they look very similar?

[Snowdog]

Kinda like how PJ didn't include the Dunedain of the North.

A lack of descriptive text wouldn't have stopped PJ from making up something... like Lorien elves at Helms Deep, etc.

[elijahnelson]

The Variags are not explicitly depicted or mentioned.

[Mithadan]

Welcome to the Barrow-Downs.

Variags were from Khand, southeast of Mordor. They were probably not mentioned by name in the Movies. In fact, relatively few men were portrayed as part of Sauron's armies, other than those entering Mordor or ambushed by Faramir in Ithilien, and the Mumak riders on the Pelennor. The latter two were clearly Southrons, but the Men that Frodo and Sam hid from near the Morannon conceivably might have been Variags.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

Welcome to the Barrow-Downs.

Variags were from Khand, southeast of Mordor. They were probably not mentioned by name in the Movies. In fact, relatively few men were portrayed as part of Sauron's armies, other than those entering Mordor or ambushed by Faramir in Ithilien, and the Mumak riders on the Pelennor. The latter two were clearly Southrons, but the Men that Frodo and Sam hid from near the Morannon conceivably might have been Variags.

The way Jackson tortuously stretched and contorted the canon, say not Variags but Variables.

While it's true that Jackson had limited descriptions to work with in the novels, he did make some creative decisions regarding the representation of various peoples and cultures in Middle-earth.

In the films, the Haradrim are depicted as a significant force fighting for Sauron, especially in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in "The Return of the King." It's possible that elements of Khandish culture or imagery were incorporated into the portrayal of the Haradrim, given their proximity to each other in Middle-earth.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Harad simply means "South," and clearly the Gondorians used it as a catch-all term for all the many peoples who lived south of the Poros, from their own kin, Black Numenoreans (and later Gondorian rebels) in Umbar, to the "black men" out of Far Harad.

PJ at least attempted to show this diversity, given the very different appearance and dress of (a) the Southrons encountered at the Black Gate by FS&G, (b) the very different, somewhat "Persian" Southrons ambushed by Faramir's Rangers, and (c) the entirely different vaguely "Polynesian" Swertings driving the Mumakil at the Pelennor.