Beornings
Beornings | |
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People | |
General Information | |
Members | Beorn, Grimbeorn |
Gallery | Images of Beornings |
Beornings were a people of the upper Vales of Anduin, between Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains.[1][2][3]
History
The Beornings were close kin of the Éothéod, the Woodmen of Mirkwood and the Bardings.[4][5] They were descendants of the Edain,[6] and were perhaps akin to the Third House of the First Age.[7]
After the Battle of Five Armies and the decimation of the Orcs of the Misty Mountains, many Northmen gathered around Beorn who became a great chief. It is possible that the Beornings became known as a people through being descendants of Beorn.[2][3] During the War of the Ring, Grimbeorn, son of Beorn, was the leader of the Beornings.[3]
They spoke the Common Speech,[8] and had perhaps also their own dialect of it or tongue.[1][9]
The Beornings kept open the passages of the Ford of Carrock and the High Pass in return for tolls,[3] likely clearing the paths from Dale to Rivendell from evil creatures such as Orcs and Wargs.[10]
In the events leading up to the War of the Ring, the Beornings helped Aragorn, who was tracing Gollum to Mirkwood, to cross the Anduin.[11]
After the War of the Ring, the Beornings and the Woodmen were given central Eryn Lasgalen by Thranduil and Celeborn.[12]
Characteristics
Through many generations, the descendants of Beorn were like him skin-changers, able to take the shape of a bear.[note 1] Some of Beorn's descendants were grim like him and even "bad", but none of them matched Beorn in size and strength.[2]
The Beornings seemed to have shared a dislike for Dwarves,[3][13] perhaps related to the latters' praise of metals and the formers' disinterest in it.[14]
They were known as great bakers, famous for their honey-cakes (which could feed travellers similarly to the lembas).[15]
Etymology
Notes
- ↑ Since it is unknown if all Beornings came from the line of Beorn, one can only guess if this was valid for all the Beornings.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age", "Of Men"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "The Return Journey"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Many Meetings"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The House of Eorl"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "The Riders of Rohan"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age", "Of Men"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Leila Keene and Pat Kirke 3 August 1943" (cf. The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 72)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "II. The Appendix on Languages", p. 34 (§14)}}
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Treason of Isengard, "XIII. Galadriel", pp. 263-4 (note 15)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The Hunt for the Ring", "(ii) Other Versions of the Story"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Great Years"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "Queer Lodgings": [Beorn speaking:] "I am not over fond of dwarves"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "Queer Lodgings": "[The Dwarves] spoke most of gold and silver and jewels and the making of things by smith-craft, and Beorn did not appear to care for such things: there were no things of gold or silver in his hall, and few save the knives were made of metal at all.
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "Farewell to Lórien"