White deer
- "Suddenly on the path ahead appeared some white deer, a hind and fawns as snowy white as the hart had been dark."
- ― Flies and Spiders, The Hobbit
White deer were a type of deer found in the forest of Mirkwood. Along with two fawns, such a hind surprised Bilbo and the Dwarves on the Quest of Erebor when they first entered Mirkwood forest.[1]
Other writings
An encounter with a white doe occurs in "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun", preceding Autrou's meeting with a witch.
Inspiration
Magical animals of white colour were common in Celtic and Welsh mythology. The legends of King Arthur include a story about the pursuit of a large, white deer, leading to the arrival at the magical Sir Pellinore's well.[2]
Douglas A. Anderson has noted that the appearance of white deer in The Hobbit forebodes the approach by Bilbo and company to the Wood-elven area of Mirkwood, as "[i]n Celtic tradition, encounters with white animals (especially white deer) usually prefigure an encounter with beings from the Otherworld (Faërie)".[3]
Portrayal in adaptations
1982-97: Middle-earth Role Playing:
- The White Hart is the largest breed of deer found in northwestern Middle-earth (rumoured to have Faerie blood). The suggested Sindarin name of this type of deer was Nimfiara in the early publications from MERP, later revised to Nimmerais (sing. Nimmaras).[4][5]
See also
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
- ↑ Lars Noodén, "Animal Symbolism in Celtic Mythology" (paper for Religion 375 at the University of Michigan, 22 November 1992; accessed 12 March 2011)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Douglas A. Anderson, (ed.), (2002) The Annotated Hobbit: Revised and Expanded Edition, pp. 200-1
- ↑ Ruth Sochard Pitt, Jeff O'Hare, Peter C. Fenlon, Jr. (1994), Creatures of Middle-earth (2nd edition) (#2012)
- ↑ Wesley J. Frank, et al. (1997), Arnor: The Land (#2023) (linguistic contributions by David Salo and Arden R. Smith)
