Thrushes
From Tolkien Gateway
File:The Old Thrush.jpg
The Old Thrush by Mark Poole
Thrushes were large speckled brown birds with a special fondness for snails, whose shells they remove by breaking them against stones. A thrush of Erebor was instrumental in the downfall of Smaug.
Men of Lake-town and Dale could understand the language of the thrushes, and some thrushes could understand the common tongue.
Inspiration
In The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, a raven and a finch speak two of the verses,[1] reminiscent of the sentient thrushes and ravens in The Hobbit.
Portrayal in adaptations
1982-97: Middle-earth Role Playing:
- Given gaming statistics, the Thrushes are among Radagast's principal agents and are friends of the Northmen. The thrush language, which can be learned by Elves and Men but not by Dwarves, is called "Throsel-tunge".[2][3]
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, pp. 116-117, 214-215
- ↑ Ruth Sochard Pitt, Jeff O'Hare, Peter C. Fenlon, Jr. (1994), Creatures of Middle-earth (2nd edition) (#2012)
- ↑ Zachariah Woolf (1995), Lake-town (#2016)
