Quote:
Originally Posted by tumhalad2
As you can see, it's a pretty creepy poem, but I find it intriguing because it is ostensibly a part of hobbit lore. Any yet, the place names, even the Mewlips themselves, are not really creatures of which we have any other information. Do you think this is meant to reflect the existance of actual creatures who feed on travelers, or are these true folklorick legends?
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That's not necessarily an either-or thing. I think the in-story explanation would be that, while there were no actual beings called "Mewlips" in Middle-earth, or "Merlock Mountains" or a "marsh of Tode", there were many sinister creatures and places of which the hobbits might have heard from travellers' tales. Or the stories could have been passed down from their wandering ancestors. After generations of retellings the source, whatever it was, might become unrecognisable.
(My understanding is that this poem wasn't meant to be set in Middle-earth originally, so you can't expect the connection to hold up to
too much scrutiny, anyway.)