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Cirashala
Valinor
Mar 15 2015, 4:25am
Post #1 of 5
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What if the dwarves and Gandalf had been lying?
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When Gandalf told their story to Beorn, what if they had lied (or he thought they had lied)? This is coming from both movie and book characterization of Beorn.
I write fan fiction, and a reader (who has not read the book) thought that I had Beorn overreact a bit too much when he believed a member of the company to be lying (the person wasn't, but for a brief moment Beorn believed he was). That led us to discuss whether or not he would have killed a dwarf if he thought one lied to him (also, it concerned the acquisition of an animal from the woodsmen further south, whom in my story Beorn trades with).
The dwarf doesn't die because they are able to offer proof that Beorn will verify when he goes to check their story (which he does in the book anyway, IIRC). But the question lies herein:
Would Beorn be likely to kill someone (a dwarf, to be specific) who lies to him about where/how they acquired an animal? And if this person was truthful, would Beorn be almost ready to do so (and react strongly) in response until the person in question offered proof that they were speaking the truth?
And on another note, in the actual story/film- do you think that Beorn would have killed the company or just thrown them out if he hadn't been able to verify their story? Basically, if he believed them to have lied?
Accurate canon character characterization (faithful to Tolkien and the spirit of Tolkien) is very important to me in my fan fiction, so if anyone has a good guess as to whether or not Beorn would have reacted in that way, I'd greatly appreciate feedback 
(This post was edited by Cirashala on Mar 15 2015, 4:31am)
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MyWeeLadGimli
Lorien
Mar 15 2015, 5:50am
Post #2 of 5
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It depends on the lie, it would seem...
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Gandalf kind of lies to Beorn repeatedly during their first encounter, but Beorn concludes by saying that he would be more good-humored if every stranger could tell stories like that. I imagine if a Dwarf was lying about something trivial like how many traveling companions he had Beorn wouldn't deal too harshly.
I don't get the impression that Beorn doesn't have a particular hatred of Dwarves; both the book and movie just suggest that he is not fond of them or their ways, but I don't really get the impression that he would act more violently towards them than to anyone else.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Mar 15 2015, 3:10pm
Post #3 of 5
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Perhaps if he'd thought one of his animal-friends had been harmed.
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I consider Beorn's dislike of Dwarves to be similar to Wesley's (The Princess Bride) distrust of Spaniards:
INIGO: I give you my word as a Spaniard.
WESLEY: No good! I've known too many Spaniards.
Beorn is fine with individual Dwarves once they can find common ground (hatred of Orcs and Wargs).
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." - Phantom F. Harlock
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Cirashala
Valinor
Mar 15 2015, 11:17pm
Post #4 of 5
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Since this was in response to a question of where someone acquired an animal (Beorn trades with those who owned the animal, so it's not his own that (if lying) would have been stolen, but it would have been stolen from a trading partner) I would think that would make him more angry.
Another point that might be made is that this animal came in half dead after a long chase by wargs- sweating, breathing hard, worn out and spooked out of its mind (now, obviously Beorn would hate the orcs and wargs more, and does react to them the same way he did in the books (the brief mention of torture and spiked heads and warg skins) but this horse wouldn't have been in this position if it hadn't been stolen).
So basically the reaction I'm questioning (would he kill a dwarf whom he believed was lying) is whether or not he would kill one (or have a desire to do so/react angrily and strongly to it) if he thought the dwarf had stolen a horse from someone he knew, and that horse ended up nearly being killed by wargs as a result of their acquisition.
Because it concerned a horse, and was thought to be dishonest (again, it wasn't dishonest), I had Beorn react very angrily, and only at offering proof of truth was his temper assuaged (and he, like in the book, still goes to check both stories anyway, with threat of death should anything happen to his animals or if he found them to be lying upon his return).
So I guess my book related question would be:
What would he have done upon returning had Gandalf/the dwarves been lying?
Fan fic related question:
How would he have reacted if he thought someone was lying about how they acquired a horse, and said horse almost died because of a warg chase they ended up in because of that acquisition?
Maybe that makes more sense (without actually reading the chapter)?
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Mar 16 2015, 3:52am
Post #5 of 5
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They hang horse thieves, don't they?
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Well, Beorn himself keeps animals, so I don't think he'd have a problem with simply acquiring one for transport or hauling. He might react violently if he found a beast being abused or if he thought that one had been stolen or otherwise acquired unethically. How violently might depend on the exact circumstances.
"At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia..." - Phantom F. Harlock
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