The Númenórean and the squirrel: adapting lore from J.R.R. Tolkien’s works

Sadoc Burrows, Amazon Studio's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" 

“Elanor Brandyfoot, with your father’s nose, and always poking it into trouble, you are far too curious and meddlesome to have been born a Harfoot. Are you quite certain you’re not part squirrel?”

 -- Sadoc Burrows, Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Episode 1 - A Shadow of the Past

Across Tolkien’s works squirrels have made their presence known. From the Black squirrels in Mirkwood, Elrond’s sad lament over the loss of forests where once squirrels could leap tree to tree between the Shire and Dunland [1], and most recently in two works: “The Nature of Middle-earth” (J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Carl F. Hostetter) and “The Fall of Númenor” (J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Brian Sibley).

In the chapter “Of the land and beasts of Númenor” that appears in “The Nature of Middle-earth”, Tolkien writes:

“The woods of Númenor abounded in squirrels, mostly red, but some dark brown or black. These were all unafraid, and readily tamed. The women of Númenor were specially fond of them. Often they would live in trees near a homestead, and would come when invited into the house.” (Tolkien and Hostetter, 2021, pp. 335-336.) [2]

This description gives a wonderful insight into the lives of Númenóreans and their connection to the fauna on their island. The women made pets of squirrels! The information is new, along with the story of the dancing habits of bears, since it was not printed in “Unfinished Tales”. It also highlights the fact the creatives behind The Rings of Power had some access to the material we didn’t before the release of the show.

Queen-regent Míriel, Amazon Studio's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"

In an interview with Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Queen-regent Míriel), she mentions a detail we sadly didn’t get to see onscreen itself:

“I remember there’s a set that was sort of like the interior of my chambers and just sort of like walking around and there’s squirrels and all these, I mean it literally was like a toy store.“ (my transcription)

-- Cynthia Addai-Robinson during The Movie Podcast - The Rings of Power Interviews 2 of 3: Robert Aramayo, Cynthia Addai Robinson, & Sara Zwangobani (10.51 mins in, Link) 

I am hoping to eventually get a clarification on this: was it sculpted squirrels in the decorations? Was it real squirrels or perhaps toy squirrels? But this definitely highlights the deep lore knowledge the set designers and other creatives have gone with producing the show. Indeed it was a discussion on Twitter between fans that alerted me to the fact this detail even existed, so special thanks to Nick Whitfield and Xenos!

Luttrell Psalter (British Library Add MS 42130), f.181v. (detail)

Squirrels as pets is a historical reality. In the Middle Ages squirrels do decorate all forms of art: from manuscripts to misericords, often up to mischief in the marginalia, but in the Luttrell Psalter (British Library Add MS 42130), c. 1325-40, there is one image (f.181v) where a lady riding at the front of a carriage has a squirrel on her shoulder.

Luttrell Psalter (British Library Add MS 42130), f.181v. (further detail)

Karl Steel looks at the evidence for squirrels as medieval pets on his blog: “An Attempt at the Definitive Squirrel Post”. Meanwhile, Karen Larsdatter on her blog, “Medieval & Renaissance material culture: Squirrels”, notes a book (Kathleen Walker-Meikle’s “Medieval Pets”) that I’ll have to read which has more evidence.

Hans Holbein, “A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling” (1526-8)

Around 1526-8, Hans Holbein the Younger painted “A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling”, now in the National Gallery, London. The sitter is believed to be Anne Lovell, wife of Sir Francis Lovell who was in the employ of King Henry VIII as a personal attendant. The squirrel was a common pet at the time but also serves in this painting as symbolic meaning in the identity of the woman and her family. You can find out more about the painting here.

John Singleton Copley, “A Boy with a Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham)” (1765)

The tradition of keeping squirrels as pets continued into the 17th century in Europe and became fashionable in America in the 18th century. In doing so, it moved from noblewomen to children, as can be seen in John Singleton Copley’s 1765 painting, “A Boy witha Flying Squirrel (Henry Pelham)”. In a lot of these 17th and 18th century paintings, the squirrel pet has a chain attached to it.

Also note even though the sitter is shown with the pet, it does not mean the pet was present during the sitting, more likely added at a later detail.

There are some great blog posts covering painting of this period, including “Squirrels in paintings of 18C American Women & Children” by Barbara Wells Sarudy and “Squirrels” by Gwen Silverbach Akacin.

🌰 Final thoughts

With us likely returning to Númenor for season two of The Rings of Power, it’s going to be interesting to see if we finally get a glimpse of Míriel’s squirrels in her chambers. I hope so.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to explore the subject of squirrels in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and as pets in further blogs, at a later date.

One final image, MGCoco’s gorgeous “Tar-Míriel, and a Númenórean squirrel”. Thanks to MGCoco for allowing me to use her art here:

MGCoco, “Tar-Míriel, and a Númenórean squirrel” (2022): Source.

🌰 Bibliography

• Tolkien, J.R.R. (and Hostetter, C.F.), The Nature of Middle-earth (2021), Harper Collins Publishers: London.
  
• Tolkien, J.R.R. (and Sibley, B.), The Fall of Númenor (2022), Harper Collins Publishers: London. 

🌰 Squirrel-related blog posts

• "Appreciating the Squirrels in LOTRO (2023 update)"
• “The Tale of the Trollshaws Squirrel”
• "The Númenórean and the squirrel: adapting lore from J.R.R. Tolkien’s works"
• Twitter thread for Squirrel Appreciation Day

🌰 Footnotes

[1] The notion of the loss of vast swathes of forest using squirrels being previously able to hop tree to tree over vast differences appears in Lancashire folklore with many variations (on place and words):

“The squirrels ran from tree to tree
From Formby Point to Hilbre.”

This version of the rhyme places itself in the Mersey Estuary, Formby now in Sefton and Hilbre in the Wirral. In the Formby area are prehistoric footprints and petrified forest. It’s also one of the last strongholds of native Red Squirrels in the United Kingdom – the National Trust's Formby Pinewoods Nature Reserve. The rhyme appears in “Betwixt Ribbel and Moerse: The Chronicle of ‘Christes Croft’” by Walter Jesson. You can also find more information about the rhyme in the following online articles:

• Drowned lands
• When Squirrels Leapt From Tree To Tree

[2] In the 2022 Tolkien & Sibley book, the squirrel information appears in the chapter “The Natural Life of Númenor: Of Beasts of the Woods, Fields and Coasts” on p.20. The text remains unchanged from the Tolkien & Hostetter version.