Unfinished Tales - Part Four - I - The Drúedain

[Estelyn Telcontar]

In this chapter we read not only interesting information on a race of people of Middle-earth that plays only a minor part on LotR, but also one of Tolkien's most fascinating short stories, "The Faithful Stone".

Tolkien begins his description with something typical for him - language. It appears to be the main factor that separates the Folk of Haleth from others. Another difference is the role of women - Haleth herself is called an "Amazon", and her bodyguards are female.

However, these are not the primary subject of this chapter, but a people even more different than they, though living in close proximity. The drûg, or Drúedain, are an exception to Tolkien's usual convention that looks = character. They are not lovely, but are good. Their appearance is described in great detail, and their character has a certain innocence, like that of children. Their contagious laughter is a sound I would like to hear!

Their seemingly primitive society made them a target for those who thought them to be no better than animals. Yet we read that they had superior skills in tracking and were also artists. Their ability to carve figures and apparently imbue them with a kind of power provides the background for the story.

Before we go into that one, there is a brief anecdote which shows another ability of the Drúedain, that to be very still, and which ends with a humorous comment. I like that!

The watch-stone of Aghan is imbued with some of his powers. Would you say there is magic of some kind involved? The final sentence is absolutely fascinating:

Alas! If some power passes from you to a thing that you have made, then you must take a share in its hurts.

That reminds me of the One Ring! Christopher Tolkien also mentions that in one of the notes.

Which aspect of the Drúedain do you find most interesting? What do you think of the various names for them? What is your opinion on the short story?

[Galadriel55]

Re Aghan's story, I posted on a different thread:

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

When I read UT I found Aghan's story something more than just "special"; UT is filled with touching emotional stories. But this one really triggered something inside me. After I finished the book I went back and reread the story, and although I couldn't be full of it I could not recapture the full depth of the feeling I had when I first read it. It is the kind of thing that only happens once.

If I had to pick a favourite out UT, it would undoubtely be this. Coming of Tuor to Gondolin has lots of new details, and it's the most LOTR-like story. The Narn is the Narn, you all know I love it. () I cheered for Borondir and Eorl, was breathless during the Oath, captivated by the WK's POV of the Hunt for the Ring, and many more. But this story had a combination of being completely unfamiliar and very profound. And as I said in the quote above, I just couldn't get enough of it, but I never felt it as deeply as I did the first time.

Originally Posted by Esty

The watch-stone of Aghan is imbued with some of his powers. Would you say there is magic of some kind involved?

Aye, definitely. But what is magic? I always hold to the opinion that magic is closely tied to willpower and/or nature. In this case it's a mix.

Originally Posted by Esty

The drûg, or Drúedain, are an exception to Tolkien's usual convention that looks = character. They are not lovely, but are good.

The men least like Elves in appearance are probably most like Elves in character/ability/etc. They just went off to a different branch: the Elves yearned to know more, while the druedain yearned to learn deeper. That's how I see it, at least. In certain ways, they are more similar to Elves than even Numenorians!

On a different topic, I think that the drugs most certainly deserve the title of "Edain"! The 3 Houses are those Men that helped the Elves fight against Morgoth. The Druedain just fought against Morgoth, just because they were good and uncorruptible and Morgoth was evil, without reasoning whom to help and whom to fight. I don't think though that they could be called the Fourth House. I can't quite recall, but they're not exactly a "House", are they?

[jallanite]

The Wildmen of the Wood in The Lord of the Rings appear to be Tolkien’s approximate version of Neanderthals. They have a more primitive culture than the Rohirrim, but are far from stupid as Ghân-buri-Ghân shows when he patronizingly explains to the Rohirrim that they can count quite well and know well enough by observation that the Orc army is larger than the host of the Rohirrim.

Pathetically Ghân-buri-Ghân asks in return for guiding the Rohirrim on a secret road to Gondon:

But if you live after the Darkness, then leave Wild Man alone in the Woods and do not hunt them like beasts any more.

In his last years Tolkien, unnecessarily, drew the Wild Men, or Druédain, into his Silmarillion material. But good stories need not be necessary.

By making their numbers small, Tolkien help explain why Druédain in Beleriand are not mentioned in tales written earlier. Tolkien adds much to their description as written earlier: their contagious laughter, their glowing, red eyes when roused to anger, their short life spans, their abilities to enter a trance state, and their apparent magical powers.

Tolkien tells the story of the Drûg Aghan but does not say that this tale really happened. It is one of the stories that the Folk of Haleth told which embodied their belief that the Drûgs possessed “uncanny and magical powers”. Tolkien does not indicate that this belief was true.

Tolkien indicates that drûg was a word in the language of the Folk of Haleth but does not indicate any meaning it might have had in that language other than meaning one of the Drûgs.

[Formendacil]

Of all the Tales that appear in this collection, the Drúedain chapter has always struck me as the oddest one. If you take away all this material, the main plot of the Middle-earth legendarium seems almost completely unaffected. Although we can see Tolkien working them into the history of the First Age, he never actually worked them into either the Grey Annals or the Quenta Silmarillion, the primary sources of the published Silmarillion. Even in The Lord of the Rings, the Woodwoses do not really advance the plot.

Hence the oddness of this material: it almost feels like what would have happened if Tolkien had come up with a more detailed history of Tom Bombadil and worked him into the movements of the First Age Nandor and the wars between Sauron and Eregion.

That said, I certainly don't dislike this material. Rather like Galadriel55--though perhaps not to the same extent--I find that it has a freshness unique in this collection. Despite the fact that all the snippets we get here are intended to work the Drúedain into the wider history of Middle-earth, it feels almost like getting a glimpse into a whole new world. This struck me particularly where Christopher Tolkien makes his comments about J.R.R. wanting to make clear the distinction between Drúgs and Hobbits (and, implicitly, Dwarves as well). Though not as homey as Hobbits--or as relate-able to the reader--the Drúgs are every bit as distinct a creation, and "Neanderthals" (to use Jallanite's word) are a bit more "plausible" perhaps than half-sized Edwardians.