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Beorn

MirielCelebel
Rivendell


Aug 12 2014, 1:32am

Post #1 of 19 (1529 views)
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Beorn Can't Post

is by far my favorite character in The Hobbit. Mostly for the reason that if you take him out of the story, you get something very different and, dare I say, not as good as what we have now. Thoughts on Beorn's role in the story?

"The Road goes ever on..."

Writing Bliss


Bracegirdle
Valinor


Aug 12 2014, 3:38am

Post #2 of 19 (1289 views)
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A favorite here too... [In reply to] Can't Post


Quote
In that last hour Beorn himself had appeared—no one knew how or from where. He came alone, and in bear’s shape; and he seemed to have grown almost to giant-size in his wrath.

The roar of his voice was like drums and guns; and he tossed wolves and goblins from his path like straws and feathers. He fell upon their rear, and broke like a clap of thunder through the ring. The dwarves were making a stand still about their lords upon a low rounded hill. Then Beorn stooped and lifted Thorin, who had fallen pierced with spears, and bore him out of the fray.


I love how Gandalf “tricked” Beorn into accepting 15 strangers into his house, and that Beorn seemed to take it all with apparent good humor. But still had his suspicions of Gandalf’s story which Beorn had to check out for himself.

And his berserker characterization in the quote above is most impressive. A favorite character indeed – a friend you would want – an enemy you would not!

Cheers, BG

“Uva uvam vivendo varia fit."


Rembrethil
Tol Eressea


Aug 12 2014, 3:25pm

Post #3 of 19 (1251 views)
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Well I wrote a sort of fan-fic/ M-E fable about him... [In reply to] Can't Post

I like him too, but there, unfortunately does not seem to be much written about him. I, for one, think he was conceived of purely for the Hobbit book, and had small, if any connexion to the original cosmogony of Tolkien's Legendarium. So here is a bit of fan-fic backstory for Beorn.

The Bear and the Bee


There was a time in Middle-Earth when the bears and the bees were at war. A long time the war raged, but soon all memory of the original cause for open strife was lost, and each side agreed to stop all sorts of organised raids and attacks. The bears, however had not lost their taste for honey, acquired in the high days of strife between themselves and the bees, and so occasionally, there would be a bear who would transgress the long peace, and make a raid of the bees' honey. Furious at these unwanted intrusions, and which the bees could not prove to be the work of any one bear (for the evidence was long gone by the time that the bear authorities arrived) there was one queen bee who had a plan. Sending out her scouts, they brought the closest to her for a parley.

"Bear!, we are so exhausted by you, and your kind's perilous depredations! (She really was a high-ueen of the bees, and prone to high sounding bee-words) Your attacks rob us, not only of food and labor, but also of home and security. Many colonies have frozen and starved in the long winters that come. What do you say for yourself! Will you cease these terrible pillagings?!!"

"Well, I say that it is not going to be an easy thing. Even some of us were willing, (which we are not), to forgo honey, (which we do not), it would be a hard thing to convince the others of."

Then the old queen had an awfully crafty idea.

"Well, if we bees, agree to deliver to you, bears, a certain portion of our honey, will you then cease all violent aggression?"

Now the bears, naturally lazy and unwilling to go to work for no end, agreed readily to the plan. Soon there were no more ravaged hives, and all of the bees felt quite secure. However, when the time came for delivery of the portion of the bear's part of the honey, it was found that the old queen of the bees, had moved her hive, and refused the bears their portion.

Now Eru had seem the struggle from the Timeless Halls, and rejoiced that the long strife had come to an end in the settlement of the queen bee, but now he was angered, and spoke harshly to the queen.

"You wicked creature!! I had wished all my creatures to dwell in peace and caring for another. Now you have broken you pledged word, and must be punished."

Taking the first bear that had met with the queen, Eru gave him a special gift.

"To you I give the task of my vengeance. I give you the form of the Second Born, who will master all things yet, and the power to change shape so that you might not forget your taste for the bee's nectar"

And so that bear was changed, in form of a large man with black hair, he was often seen. As a man he took the hive of the queen down, and set it hard by a lodge he had built for himself. His own personal supply she provided for many years. Though in main form as a man, at times he would retake his ursine form, to communicate with those if his kind who still haunted the wood.

Heaven is not blind to the broken oath.


Call me Rem, and remember, not all who ramble are lost...Uh...where was I?


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Aug 12 2014, 4:38pm

Post #4 of 19 (1268 views)
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Bear-sized plot hole. [In reply to] Can't Post


In Reply To
is by far my favorite character in The Hobbit. Mostly for the reason that if you take him out of the story, you get something very different and, dare I say, not as good as what we have now. Thoughts on Beorn's role in the story?



I'm not sure I would go that far about the role of Beorn. However, if he is removed from the story we have a huge problem (unaddressed in the Rankin/Bass animated adaptation) of how the company replenishes its supplies and equipment after escaping from the Wood-elves and before it enters Mirkwood. We also lose his surprise appearance at the Battle of Five Armies, so someone else has to kill Bolg and turn the tide of battle (I suppose that a boulder dropped by the Wind-lord could crush the Orc and scatter his bodyguards).

'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring


squire
Half-elven


Aug 12 2014, 7:00pm

Post #5 of 19 (1258 views)
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"A furrier, a man that calls rabbits conies..." [In reply to] Can't Post

I agree with Rembrethil that one of the most interesting things about Beorn is that he seems to have no roots in the Silmarillion legendarium from which Tolkien drew so many other characters and elements in writing The Hobbit. Like the hobbit himself, Beorn is original to that book; unlike the hobbits, he's a bit of a one-off and doesn't take an encore bow in LotR possibly because for the sequel Tolkien found himself veering away from fairy-tale and back to his mainstream interest in myths and legends.

Although Beorn does play a necessary role in the dwarves' adventure, the usual one of R&R that so characterizes Tolkien's one-two-one-two quest structure, it seems reasonable to imagine someone else performing the same duty had Beorn not come to the author's mind: for instance, Radagast or the Wood-men, both of whom are said to live in the valley of the Great River at that point in the book. Ditto with Beorn's appearance in the final battle; had he not existed Tolkien would surely have come up with some other fabulous twist to rescue victory from defeat. Not that Beorn isn't a superior solution at these points in the story; it's just that his absence is hardly unimaginable.

What I like most about Beorn is the unanswered mystery of whether he's more a bear or a man in nature, and what that question says about the living beings in that world (which at that point is least like the world that houses LotR and the Sil). I also like the quaint touch of his animals being his servants, for the effect it has on a lot of Tolkien fans: "not listening, not listening!" In that regard, I think Beorn is most accurately described as Tom Bombadil's predecessor. Each seem dropped into a story where he doesn't quite fit, but the poor fit helps make the story unique rather than derivative of some earlier genre.



squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd & 4th TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion and NOW the 1st BotR Discussion too! and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary


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Cari
Bree

Aug 12 2014, 10:52pm

Post #6 of 19 (1233 views)
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Primal [In reply to] Can't Post

Beorn has always made me think of a throwback to the very early ages of Middle-earth and even the early mythologies of our world and representative of a Primal force of nature.


Na Vedui
Rohan


Aug 14 2014, 12:14pm

Post #7 of 19 (1216 views)
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Middle-earth oddities [In reply to] Can't Post

"I think Beorn is most accurately described as Tom Bombadil's predecessor. Each seem dropped into a story where he doesn't quite fit, but the poor fit helps make the story unique rather than derivative of some earlier genre."
Yes! There is a wealth of pattern, history and explanation in Middle-earth to give it solidity and coherence, but the anomalies and puzzles add an extra dimension, giving it some of the oddity and untidiness of reality. One-off characters like Tom B and Beorn; messy migrations of Elves and Men where some stay, some go, and some go halfway and dither; even the contradictions in the record arising from Tolkien's constant tinkering over the years, all make it much more life-like, I think.


HeWhoArisesinMight
Rivendell


Aug 14 2014, 5:38pm

Post #8 of 19 (1202 views)
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Grimbeorn [In reply to] Can't Post

Beorn did have a son, Grimbeorn and their race was called the Beorings, so there at least have to be a few of them. I wonder what the female Beorings assuming Grimbeorn had a mother and they reproduced like all other mammals.


In a world with dragons, goblins, Hobbits, Ents, Elves, etc., there is room for shape-shifters. I don't think Beorn is an anomaly such as Bombadil; Beorn is like a Wolfman or the shape-shifters in the cable show True Blood. Yes, they are different, but there are a lot of weird and crazy things in Middle Earth so shape-shifters don't seem out of place. Bombadil is extraordinary. No one knows exactly what he is.


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Aug 14 2014, 8:37pm

Post #9 of 19 (1196 views)
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The Beornings [In reply to] Can't Post

The Beornings were not the poeple from whom Beorn was descended. They were the Men of the Vales of Anduin who came to follow him after the Battle of the Five Armies.Beorn took a wife from the Beornings and his son, Grimbeorn, did inherit his shape-changing ability, as did many of his descendants. The Beornings themselves were descended from the Eotheod, who later migrated to Rohan under Eorl the Young.

The idea that the Beornings were direct kin to Beorn is a Jacksonism specific to the Hobbit films.

'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring

(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Aug 14 2014, 8:39pm)


HeWhoArisesinMight
Rivendell


Aug 14 2014, 11:59pm

Post #10 of 19 (1185 views)
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Beorn in the Hobbit films [In reply to] Can't Post

I think you are misinterpreting my post, which is at partly (or mainly) my fault. I did not mean to imply that Beorn descended from Beornings but that his descendants were Beornings. As for as I can recall, there is no mention of Grimbeorn in the Hobbit movies, so my example wasn't drawn from there, but from the book.

Obviously, Beorn's shape-shifting ability is not explained in the Hobbit or any other of JRR Tolkien's books (that I am aware of) so we don't know whether there were shape-shifters before him or if he was in fact unique. However, it appears he was a man who had a gift (even if it is magical) rather than some other special being like Bombadil. Shape-shifting isn't the most bizarre ability in ME. At any rate, we don't really know much about Beorn's lineage unless I missed (or forgot) something from the books.


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Aug 15 2014, 1:19am

Post #11 of 19 (1211 views)
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You're right. I didn't fully understand your post. [In reply to] Can't Post

I think of the Beornings more as a culture than as a race, per se. Most had no blood-relation to Beorn, at least not until after he married and his blood-line mixed with their own.

It might be telling that Beorn's ability was passed down to his heirs. That suggests that he might have inherited his shape-changing from one or both of his own parents. Or not. As you say, Tolkien left him as a mystery.

'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring


elostirion74
Rohan

Aug 27 2014, 2:47pm

Post #12 of 19 (1116 views)
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Beorn is a fascinating character who fits the story perfectly IMO [In reply to] Can't Post

I find Beorn very fascinating and his role in the story fits in with Tolkien's use in the Hobbit of material from (Norse) legends, where shape shifters are not uncommon. The general lay out of Beorn's house, with its actual historical precedents, feels close to the same fascination that Tolkien had with the Anglo Saxon culture when writing about the Rohirrim in LoTR.

Most of all I find that Beorn's role in the story -beyond the need for a character to turn the tide at BoFA and the need for someone to provide the dwarves with provisions - is to have a character who is from the outset neither friend nor foe and who is wild, dangerous and slightly unpredictable - he fits in with the company entering into Wilderland. His most characteristic feature in the story is his strong attachment to his animals. which makes him similar to Radagast and Tom Bombadil, and his house gives us an environment which is both tamed/domesticated and wild at the same time, an environment I don't find in any other part of the story.


Hamfast Gamgee
Tol Eressea

Sep 3 2014, 11:18pm

Post #13 of 19 (1067 views)
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Is it any coincidence [In reply to] Can't Post

That Beorn and Beren have very similar names!


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Sep 4 2014, 3:33pm

Post #14 of 19 (1068 views)
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Maybe? [In reply to] Can't Post


In Reply To
Is it any coincidence That Beorn and Beren have very similar names!



Yes, it might just be coincidence. I don't recall any special association between Beren and bears (or berzerkers).

'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring

(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Sep 4 2014, 3:35pm)


Felagund
Rohan


Sep 7 2014, 3:05pm

Post #15 of 19 (1048 views)
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Beornings II: ethnography time! [In reply to] Can't Post

Following on from Otaku-sempai's excellent post, here's the result of a trawl through Beorning ethnography:

As posted above, the 'Beornings' were a relatively recent 'people'. Beorn seems to have been a loner, at least as far as humans were concerned, prior to the Fall of the Dragon in III.2941. However, after the Battle of the Five Armies, "men came from far and wide to feast at Beorn's bidding", and Beorn "became a great chief afterwards in those regions between the mountains [Misty Mountains] and the wood [Mirkwood] (The Hobbit, "The Return Journey"). Similarly, we learn that by III.3018, Grimbeorn "was now the lord of many sturdy men... between the [Misty] Mountains and Mirkwood" (LotR, "Many Meetings"). The Beornings, as a distinct group, had therefore only been around for less than eight decades by the time of the Council of Elrond.

Interestingly, there is a hint in The Hobbit ("Out of the Frying-Pan and into the Fire") that some kind of coalescence was taking place before Beorn established himself as chieftain or lord:

"In spite of the dangers of this far land [the northern Vales] bold men had of late been making their way back into it from the South [probably the southern Vales], cutting down trees and building themselves places to live in the more pleasant woods and valleys and along the river-shores. There were many of them, and they were brave and well-armed, and even the Wargs dared not attack them if there were many together."

Beorn may well, therefore, have simply been in the right place at the right time, just as a new and distinct people was beginning to emerge in the northern Vales. Beorn had the kudos of being a long-term slayer of Orcs and Wargs, and was fresh from playing a decisive role in the Battle of the Five Armies. He was the natural leader in the region, and the local population was in need of one.

Regarding the ancient origins of the people who later made up the Beornings, Tolkien most commonly describes them as part of the conglomeration of peoples called the 'Northmen'. In turn, these were the descendants of Men who were close kin to the House of Hador - the third grouping of the Edain. In short, they were 'Edainic' in origin although not Edain, strictly speaking, as their ancestors didn't enter Beleriand and throw their lot in with the Noldor and Sindar against Morgoth. The Beornings were thus directly related to the Northmen of Rhovanion, the Woodmen of Mirkwood, the Éothéod / Eorlingas / Rohirrim, the Bardings of Dale and the Men of Esgaroth.

As to the more direct ethnic origins of the Beornings, I partially agree with Otaku-sempai's suggestion. These were, without doubt, Men of the Vales of Anduin - themselves a mixed group of Northmen, comprised of, amongst others (at various points in time) the remnant of the Northmen of Rhovanion (who later became the Éothéod and then, post-emigration, the Eorlingas / Rohirrim), and the Woodmen of the south-western eaves of Mirkwood. The Éothéod's movements we can track and date reasonably well - they first migrated into the Vales between the Carrock and the Gladden Fields from III.1856 (following the Battle of the Plain), and then to the upper Vales in III.1977, around the Langwell, Greylin and Forest Rivers. However, from 2510 the Éothéod began a mass migration south, to Calenardhon - so I reckon it's unlikely that the Beornings, founded nearly 450 years later, included many, if any, Men of Éothéod stock.

The thesis that Beorn was different, in an 'ethnicity' sense, from the people he led is also likely. In The Hobbit, Gandalf reports that Beorn himself regarded his homeland as the Misty Mountains or perhaps even further west, rather than the Vales of Anduin. This makes him potentially quite different from the Northmen. It is possible Beorn and his ancestors were from the Eriador side of Wilderland (using the map in The Hobbit as my reference point). The Men of this region were relatives of the House of Bëor, the first grouping of the Edain. Beorn, with his black hair, certainly fits the standard Bëorian description better than that of the blond Hadorians. Anyway, this section is admittedly very speculative, but there's just enough here to indicate that Beorn was not directly related to those whom he ended up leading.

And finally, the choice of name 'Beorning' fits well with Tolkien's ethnographic habits. As with 'Barding', 'Bëorian', 'Hadorian' and 'Folk of Haleth', these adjectival titles directly reflected the ruling elite. Real world examples of this type of representation include 'Ottoman' and 'Seljuk', and 'Frankish'.

Welcome to the Mordorfone network, where we put the 'hai' back into Uruk


Felagund
Rohan


Sep 7 2014, 3:19pm

Post #16 of 19 (1060 views)
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Beorn / Bëor / Beren [In reply to] Can't Post

Beorn and the name of Beren's ancestor, Bëor, seem nice and close. However, the etymology doesn't lend itself to much of a link. 'Beren' appears to mean "bold" in Sindarin. 'Bëor' means "vassal" in original Edainic language of Beren's people, and 'Beorn' is Old English for "bear / warrior". At a stretch you could play with bold / warrior, but the translation of the Edainic name ('Bëor') that most sounds / looks like 'Beorn' couldn't be further from 'bold' or 'warrior'.

Also, see my other post in this thread: it's just possible that Beorn was distantly related to the House of Bëor, which Beren once led. Beren was also a 'skin-changer', in the sense that he temporarily adopted the form of the werewolf Drauglin.

Welcome to the Mordorfone network, where we put the 'hai' back into Uruk


Magradhaid
The Shire

Sep 8 2014, 2:44am

Post #17 of 19 (1050 views)
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Danian Beorn (Etym.) [In reply to] Can't Post

Tolkien seems to have experimented with a linguistic connection in his late-1930s Etymologies: check out the entries for BER- (and BES-), wherein we see Noldorin beren and Danian beorn (the latter reminiscent of Gmc phonemes, together with words like meord (Q miste) and eord (Este)). I'm not suggesting that Tolkien had Danian phonology in mind when picking Beorn as a character name, but he seems to have entertained the idea (later in the 1930s) of linking his name to Elvish roots. Though perhaps Beorn (like some other Germanic names in LotR) is meant to be part of the translation of the Red Book into English (like Théoden, etc.) and not to represent his internal name: unless beorn "man" (from a mix of words for "husband" and "valiant man, warrior") found its way into Mannish languages from Danian? Certainly Tolkien seems to have considered the idea of Elvish influence on Mannish languages in some texts.


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Sep 8 2014, 3:09pm

Post #18 of 19 (1037 views)
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Would that be 'The Beorn Legacy'? // [In reply to] Can't Post

 

'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring


Elizabeth
Half-elven


Sep 8 2014, 6:17pm

Post #19 of 19 (1068 views)
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*Mods up*// [In reply to] Can't Post

 







 
 

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