Giants

Giants were one of the mysterious Races of Middle-earth, mentioned only fleetingly. They lived in the Misty Mountains, and maybe the Ettenmoors.

The only sign of Giants that is definite happened during the Quest of Erebor, when Bilbo and the Dwarves were traveling through the Misty Mountains.

"When he peeped out in the lightning flashes, he saw that across the valley the stone-giants were out and were hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them, and tossing them down into the darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang."

― The Hobbit, Over Hill and Under Hill

This could just be a figure of speech, for there was also a thunderstorm at the time, and that could have been causing the rocks to fall. That is fairly unlikely, though. The Dwarves, Bilbo, and even Gandalf act as if the Giants are real. Thorin Oakenshield is even worried about being picked up by one, and Gandalf, the wisest one there, suggests that they find a friendly Giant to deal with the Goblin problem in the Misty Mountains.

Giants don't appear anywhere else, not even in the massive battles of the Elder Days or the following War of the Ring. Also, their creation or nature is mentioned in the annals as of other creatures.

Possible origin

It is possible that the Giants of the Misty Mountains are some form of Ent, Tolkien having derived the word Ent from the Anglo-Saxon for Giant. Ents are indeed described as something close to the common conception of a Giant ("a large Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head, and hardly any neck."). Their ability to tear rock "...like bread-crust." and hurl huge boulders is described by Tolkien when the Ents of Fangorn attack Isenguard. Individual Ents are also known to vary greatly among themselves, and some are said to be full of anger and hate.

Given these facts, it does not seem far-fetched that the reference to 'stone-giants' is analogous to 'stone-Ents': some group of Ent that has an affinity for, or is charged with the upkeep of, mountains rather than forests. The difference in terminology being similar to the interchangeable uses of goblin and orc. That such a group would endanger travellers by throwing boulders fits with the detached attitude towards other inhabitants of Middle-earth Ents are known to have. However Gandalf's suggestion that they find a friendly Giant/Ent to help them reflects his knowledge that Ents are a fundamentally good race.

Another possibility, given that mountain-dwelling Trolls are described by Treebeard as an evil mockery of Ents (as Orcs to Elves), the Giants of the Misty Mountains could be a mix between the two. As Saruman bred Men and Orcs, it is feasible that in an early experiment Saruman (who had dealings with the Ents of Fangorn) or an older power such as Angmar or Dol Guldur bred Ents and Trolls creating the Giants which remain in the Misty Mountains.

Portrayal in adaptations

• The giants are absent in the 1977 animated film.
• In David T. Wenzel's The Hobbit, the stone-giants are depicted as bearded giants hurling stones.
• In the 2003 video game, stone-giants are golem-like creatures that appear in the fourth level. They are completely made of stone, and their stones are dangerous.