Week 13: Animals – Tuesday 23rd
May 2023
#TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
Welcome to #TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday.
The hub for this Twitter-based event can be found here.
Tolkien Trewsday (the Hobbit name for Tuesday!) invites the #Tolkien community to form a fellowship to collectively tweet about a pre-selected theme about Tolkien, his works and his life.
Each week a new theme will be selected, often via a poll or by a guest host/curator, and together we will build a collective outpouring of creativity, knowledge and love for J.R.R. Tolkien and the adaptions based on his works.
The inspiration for this comes from the highly successful #FolkloreThursday which engaged lovers of Folklore, academics, artists and more to use Twitter to discuss it.
We only ask that if you are joining in, please do so with courtesy and kindness in your tweets. This is a positive-action community event, open to all and supportive of fan diversity. Intolerance, racism, bigotry have no place here.
💬 This week’s theme
Week 13: “Animals” – Tuesday 23rd
May 2023
Instead of a poll, we are going with suggestions from Twitter users. This week the choice was “Animals” by @BladorthinB.
How to contribute
We are keeping it very simple. All you need to do to join is tweet something about the current week’s theme and use the following hashtags in your tweet:
#TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
Your tweet, besides following the theme, can be anything. Examples include:
- Animals in the Legendarium
- Supernatural or preternatural creatures in Tolkien’s works
- Animals in adaptions of Tolkien’s Middle-earth
Sea birds from Valinor in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
A Middle-earth Bestiary: naming the animals in Tolkien’s works and adaptions
One of the projects I am slowly
working on is the gathering of information about animals appearing in Tolkien’s
Middle-earth literature and adaptions such as film, television and games. The
natural, along with the preternatural and supernatural, world of Middle-earth
is something I am deeply interested in and want to explore more. I love nature
and the varied forms it takes in the flora and fauna of Tolkien’s fictional
works and in adaptions of these works. There is fantastic variety and creativity.
This is especially in gaming, including The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO)
and The One Ring Roleplaying Game feature many animals to interact with,
whether in combat or otherwise. Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The
Rings of Power” is proving to be extremely diverse in its representation of
nature in Middle-earth with a mix of real-world animals and CGI creatures.
I hope to create a Middle-earth Bestiary (A book of beasts, “bēstiārium” from Latin “bēstia” meaning “beast, animal”) looking at animals in the works of JRR Tolkien and also adaptions based on those works alongside medieval bestiaries as a comparison.
Bestiaries were medieval books of animals following a long tradition of animal literature from the Classical period onwards. They had chapters on real and imaginary beasts, and their purpose was to both entertain and also teach Christian morals to the reader.
My Bestiary obviously won’t be about moralising, but providing information on where animals appear in the works/adaptions and what context they appear in. From the talking fox incredulously watching the group of Hobbits walking through the Shire in The Fellowship of the Ring to Sadoc Burrows declaring Elanor “Nori” Brandyfoot being part-squirrel in The Rings of Power, I hope to eventually provide a resource for fans and scholars to explore the animal kingdom in Middle-earth.
You can learn more about Bestiaries from here (the Aberdeen Bestiary), here (Getty) and here (British Library). Bestiaries are an eclectic mix of real and imaginary animals, some considered “monsters” in the ancient and medieval worlds (as well as Tolkien’s).
Tolkien himself created Bestiary-like verses for the collection that eventually became “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil”. These include “Cat” (with lions and pards), “Oliphaunt” and “Fastitocalon” (Turtle-fish). Tolkien would have had access to Bestiaries in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and it is possible he read one or more of them whilst there. Paul Kocher in “Master of Middle-earth: The achievement of J.R.R. Tolkien” (1974, Penguin: Harmondsworth, pp.189-190) writes that the poems in “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” are comic versions of bestiary lore though each carry danger in their telling. In the preface for “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil”, it is clearly states that Hobbits produce bestiary tales:
“…though at most Sam can only have touched up an older piece of the comic bestiary lore of which Hobbits appear to have been fond.”
JRR Tolkien (Edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond), Preface of “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” (2014) HarperCollins: London.
One of the bestiaries in Oxford which Tolkien potentially had access to is Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 764. This manuscript is available to view online (here) through the “Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries” project which is a catalogue of the Western medieval manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. This project was funded by the Tolkien Trust.
T.H. White, author of the Arthurian novels “The Once and Future King” (Tolkien apparently read his “The Sword in the Stone”), wrote a translation of a bestiary in the Cambridge University Library collection in 1954: Cambridge University Library II.4.26. This manuscript has been digitised and is available to view online here. Author of ghost stories and medievalist, M.R. James, produced a facsimile in 1924 of the manuscript whilst also producing a framework for bestiary studies. I hope to use this book alongside the Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 764 and Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24) to provide insights and illustrate bestiary lore alongside Tolkien animal lore.
Morgoth-era Animal sculpture in the village of Tirharad from
📗 The Rings of Power animals
Tolkien’s Middle-earth is populated by many animals and fantastical beasts. We get to see many animals and supernatural creatures in Amazon Studio’s “The Rings of Power”. In the list below I’ve included some that are considered supernatural/preternatural such as the Balrog (Maia) and fantastical like dragons and giant eagles. The list below (with screengrabs) is a collection of animals spotted so far in Season 1 of “The Rings of Power”. I’ll add episode appearances at a later date. Not all animals appear onscreen, some are mentioned in the dialogue, so I have noted those with an asterisk.
Note: * denotes the animal is not seen but mentioned in dialogue
📗 Animals appearing in “The Rings of Power” list (alphabetical order)
📜 Balrog
Balrog in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 *Bee (Killed Blovo Bolgerbuck, mentioned during Sadoc Burrows’ speech at the Harvest festival)
📜 Bird, sea (From Manwë in Valinor?)
Sea birds from Valinor in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Butterfly (Elven fireworks in Lindon)
Butterfly firework over Lindon in
Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”📜 Chicken (Tirhard)
A chicken in Waldreg’s Barn, Tirharad (Southlands) in
📜 Clam
Halbrand eats in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Coney (Rabbit)
A coney in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Cow (Tirharad)
A cow in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Dog (Huan sculpture along with
Luthien)
Sculpture of a dog (Huan) in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Dragon
Dragons fighting eagles in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Dragonfly
A dragonfly in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Eagle (Outside the Tirharad Inn on a
sculpture nod to the “Eagle & Child”)
Morgoth-era stela with the carving of an “Eagle and child” in
Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Elk, giant (Seen on the backs on the
human hunters near the Harfoots at Norfield Glen. My best guess is these are
similar to the now-extinct Irish Elk also known as “Megaloceros giganteus”)
Hunters with Giant Elk antlers in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Firefly
Fireflies break free from the Poppy’s lantern in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 *Frog (Poppy’s song: “King of the Frog-fishes”)
Grouse in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Horse (Númenórean)
Galadriel riding a horse across a beach of Númenor
in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Midge/Mosquito (Grey Marshes)
Midges attack the Harfoot caravan in the Grey Marshes in
Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Moth (form of the Mystics when
escaping the Stranger)
The Mystics turn into moths to escape the Stranger in
Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 *Quail (From Durin’s “Enough with the Quail sauce. Give me the meat and give it to me raw.”)
📜 Rat
>needs photo<
📜 Sea serpent (worm or wyrm)
The worm attacking the survivors on a raft on the Sundering Sea in
Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Sheep (Tirharad)
Sheep in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Snail
Snails in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Swan
Paper ship made by Galadriel in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Troll (snow)
A snow troll attacking Galadriel’s company in
Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Warg
A warg in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
📜 Wolf (Werewolf?)
Wolves attack the Harfoots and the Stranger in
Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
Middle-earth Bestiary example
Though the format is not yet set in stone and everything is early stages
really, I’ve created a simple example with a graphic to trial out how I may eventually
set up the Middle-earth Bestiary.
“They turned a sharp bend in the river, and there, sailing proudly down the stream towards them, they saw a swan of great size. The water rippled on either side of the white breast beneath its curving neck. Its beak shone like burnished gold, and its eyes glinted like jet set in yellow stones; its huge white wings were half lifted. A music came down the river as it drew nearer; and suddenly they perceived that it was a ship, wrought and carved with elven-skill in the likeness of a bird. Two elves clad in white steered it with black paddles. In the midst of the vessel sat Celeborn, and behind him stood Galadriel, tall and white; a circlet of golden flowers was in her hair, and in her hand she held a harp, and she sang.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter 8: Farewell to Lórien"
“Olor the swan, fishing” from the Bodleian Library MS Bodl 764 (Folio 065r). Source.
“The swan, olor, is the bird which the Greeks call cygnus. It is called olor because its plumage is wholly white; no-one can recall seeing a black swan. In Greek olos means 'entire'. The swan is called cignus, from its singing; it pours forth the sweetness of song in a melodious voice. They say that the swan sings so sweetly because it has a long, curved neck; inevitably, a voice forcing its way through a long, flexible passage produces a variety of tones. They say, moreover, that in the far north, when bards are singing to their lyres, large numbers of swans are summoned by the sound and sing in harmony with them.”
Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24): “Of the Swan” (Folio 58v). Source.
Swans in Tolkien’s literature hold an important place as favoured by the Maia Ossë who sent swans to pull the ships of the Teleri. These elves went on to later revere swans and name both their city Alqualondë (“the Swanhaven”) and build Swan-Ships. Tuor also loved swans and his foster-family had them as their symbol. He wore feathers of Swans sent by Ulmo on the crest of his helm. Ships in the form of Swans seem to be a recurring form in Tolkien’s works: both the Teleri and elves of Lothlórien have Swan-Ships and later the Swan-knights of Dol Amroth also used the Swan as their symbol and had ships with prows as swans. The Vingilótë, Eärendil's ship, was shaped like a swan.
The wetlands of Swanfleet, “Nîn-in-Eilph” (Sindarin: "water-lands of the Swans") lies near both the ruined city of Tharbad in the Third Age and the ruins of Ost-in-Edhil in Eregion.
Humphrey Carpenter described
the Tolkien boys visiting Sarehole Mill where swans would be swimming on the
millpond.
A game with some animal tokens being played outside the Inn at Tirharad
in Amazon Studio’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”.
📜 Notes
I’m also looking at adding additional information in the Middle-earth Bestiary including the scientific classification of each animal. Below are notes I’ve made on that system.
Bestiary entry classification guide:
Life forms are organised into various groups via Classification.
Five kingdoms: monera (bacteria - single celled organisms), protoctista (single celled algae, slime moulds and amoeba), plants, fungi and animals.
[Source: https://learningzone.oumnh.ox.ac.uk/what-are-kingdoms]
The Animal Kingdom is divided into two clear groups (known as Phylums): ones with a backbone (Phyla Chordata or vertebrate) and ones without (invertebrate).
The phyla chordata are further divided into sub-groups (known as Classes) below.
Classes of vertebrate animals include: Fish, reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals. These can be further classified, in descending sequence, into: Order, family, genus and species.
Phylums of invertebrate animals include: Sponges, corals, worms, insects, spiders and crabs.
[Source: https://learningzone.oumnh.ox.ac.uk/how-we-divide-the-animal-kingdom]
So, a swan would be:
Kingdom: Animal
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves (Bird)
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Subfamily: Anserinae
Genus: Cygnus
And a squirrel would be:
Kingdom: Animal
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Mammal)
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Sciurus
Species: vulgaris
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