An excellent review of the chapter,
Estelyn! You make it difficult to find anything else to consider!
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Originally Posted by Tolkien
Beorn indeed became a geat chief afterwards in those regions and ruled a wide land between the mountains and the wood; and it is said that for many generations the men of his line had the power of taking bear's shape, and some were grim men and bad, but most were in heart like Beorn, if less in size and strength.
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It is hard to take a narrative wrapping up as evidence of much, yet here is something more to ponder. Is this simply mythological story-telling, placing giants, fell creatures and shape-shifting animals back in a prehistoric time--none of his descendents are said to be as huge as Beorn--or is there some sense here of evolution, of change in species. Why would descendents lose this ability? Because apparently it wasn't shared by the females of the species?
