Animated Nature in Middle-Earth - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

***Sharkû*** · 11-22-2001, 02:53 PM

In the old superstitous belief systems, man always imagined nature as being animated.
The oldest idea was that the (dead) souls went into or already inhabitated plants, animals, and the countryside. Later, nature, and its enigmas, was seen as something divine. Only as a third step, actual deities, aligned to forces of nature, were worshipped.

I think we have exactly the same scheme in Middle-Earth as well! Although here it is not a chronological development, but one of style, and the point of view.
In The Hobbit, we have numerous examples of animated or personified nature: Wargs, which are very close to werewolves, or 'possessed' wolves; Beorn, whose skin-changing ability was one which was often connected in ancient belief to someone who actually was a soul, a spirit, and could thus change form at will; the Giants throwing around stones in the Misty Mountains, who are never again mentioned in the later books -- obviously, because the idea of them has become atavistic, since they were in our world only an explanation for avalanches; the turning of the trolls to stone by keeping them up until daylight (although a trait of the Norwegian dwarves as well, also one method to get rid of evil nightmares and wraiths); the appearance of intelligent ravens, crows and eagles (not yet explained as it is elsewhere by the Prof.)... are there any more examples I missed now?

In LOTR, nature is still animated, but possesses its own superhuman spirit, it is idolized. The Old Forest (maybe even TB himself?), the walking Tree Hal saw, the obviously evil nature (flies, bushes) of Mordor, athelas, the White Tree, the stone-work of the dwarves and how they cultivate stone, and of course the mighty eagles and ents are examples for the 'divine' nature in LOTR; a step forward from the view presented in The Hobbit.
Opposed to this would be the rationalism of, for example, Saruman; it was his big fault that he never cared enough about the trees.

The highest form of animated nature can be found in the earliest tales of the West such as in the Silmarillion, where certain aspects of nature were indeed divine and sometimes part of, at least always part of the creation of the divine beings and of Ilúvatar.
The great dog Húan is a maia; we learn that the great eagles, are, too; the creation of the ents by Yavanna as guardians of the trees is explained; and the strongest embodiment of the divine nature are the Two Trees. Imbedded in the First Age is however also a different view which belongs to the first category, the mysterious powers of the Drúedain with stone, where the stone gets a human soul.

Obviously, animated nature is something that is apparent in all of Middle-Earth in all its ages; and this undoubtedly is one of its fascinating sides for the modern, rationalistic and dis-illusioned reader, a world where old superstition is real.

I came up with only a handful of examples for each, though. Any ideas?

11-22-2001, 02:53 PM	#1
*Sharkû* Hungry Ghoul Join Date: Jun 2000 Posts: 1,719	Animated Nature in Middle-Earth In the old superstitous belief systems, man always imagined nature as being animated. The oldest idea was that the (dead) souls went into or already inhabitated plants, animals, and the countryside. Later, nature, and its enigmas, was seen as something divine. Only as a third step, actual deities, aligned to forces of nature, were worshipped. I think we have exactly the same scheme in Middle-Earth as well! Although here it is not a chronological development, but one of style, and the point of view. In The Hobbit, we have numerous examples of animated or personified nature: Wargs, which are very close to werewolves, or 'possessed' wolves; Beorn, whose skin-changing ability was one which was often connected in ancient belief to someone who actually was a soul, a spirit, and could thus change form at will; the Giants throwing around stones in the Misty Mountains, who are never again mentioned in the later books -- obviously, because the idea of them has become atavistic, since they were in our world only an explanation for avalanches; the turning of the trolls to stone by keeping them up until daylight (although a trait of the Norwegian dwarves as well, also one method to get rid of evil nightmares and wraiths); the appearance of intelligent ravens, crows and eagles (not yet explained as it is elsewhere by the Prof.)... are there any more examples I missed now? In LOTR, nature is still animated, but possesses its own superhuman spirit, it is idolized. The Old Forest (maybe even TB himself?), the walking Tree Hal saw, the obviously evil nature (flies, bushes) of Mordor, athelas, the White Tree, the stone-work of the dwarves and how they cultivate stone, and of course the mighty eagles and ents are examples for the 'divine' nature in LOTR; a step forward from the view presented in The Hobbit. Opposed to this would be the rationalism of, for example, Saruman; it was his big fault that he never cared enough about the trees. The highest form of animated nature can be found in the earliest tales of the West such as in the Silmarillion, where certain aspects of nature were indeed divine and sometimes part of, at least always part of the creation of the divine beings and of Ilúvatar. The great dog Húan is a maia; we learn that the great eagles, are, too; the creation of the ents by Yavanna as guardians of the trees is explained; and the strongest embodiment of the divine nature are the Two Trees. Imbedded in the First Age is however also a different view which belongs to the first category, the mysterious powers of the Drúedain with stone, where the stone gets a human soul. Obviously, animated nature is something that is apparent in all of Middle-Earth in all its ages; and this undoubtedly is one of its fascinating sides for the modern, rationalistic and dis-illusioned reader, a world where old superstition is real. I came up with only a handful of examples for each, though. Any ideas?