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Originally Posted by Bęthberry
What I find intriguing are the ways various animals are used as descriptors in Tolkien's legendarium. Despite his clear respect for and love of the natural world, that love is usually given (unconditionally ?) only to flora and fauna, one could say. Tolkien seems to rely upon a traditional semiotic for creeping, crawling critters. The bestial, the earthy, the dirty are all negatively connoted, which is interesting because in medieval times, the odour of sanctity was indeed an odour. There is a hierarchy of evaluations for animals I think, a great chain of beasts one might say, although it is not absolute.
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I think there is this 'hierarchy' of animals. Those creatures traditionally considered 'noble' are the same in Middle-earth as in our world - Eagles, horses, hounds, etc - & the ones labled 'vermin' in our world tend to occupy the same position in Middle-earth - rats, crows, flies, etc.
What I find interesting in this context is that the two animals most closely associated with Odin, the raven & the wolf, occupy positions in the negative hierarchy of Middle-earth. Yet Odin was clearly an influence on both Gandalf & Manwe. Why doesn't Gandalf have a wolf companion, why aren't the birds of Manwe ravens? Its been suggested that Odin's 'positive' aspects were subsumed into Gandalf & Manwe & his 'negative' ones into Saruman & Sauron.
Of course, I'm not forgetting Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged horse. I suspect he 'surfaces' in Shadowfax. My own suspicion is that wolves & ravens symbolised Odin's 'dark' side too much. Wolves become wholly evil creatures, associated with Sauron & Saruman, ravens don't appear at all in LotR - though they have a significant part to play in TH, where they have a strong association with the Dwarves. They are one of the few speaking creatures on the 'good' side.
Actually, this is odd in itself - in terms of speaking animals we have Huan, the ravens of the Lonely Mountain, the Eagles of the Misty Mountains, the spiders of Mirkwood & various dragons(if we can count them). In LotR only the Eagles talk, but other creatures clearly understand human/Elven speech. That being said, its difficult to draw conclusions about animal nature in Middle-earth from TH, as, even if one includes it in the Legendarium, the 'fairy tale' element is so strong we have to question how much of it is down to Bilbo's predeliction for hyperbole.