Beorn(Arda Annual)

[Marwhini]

Very interesting topic, and one in which I had not given clearly enough thought (especially considering my user name).

Beorn, and his descendants (if this is what they are - the Beornings in the Upper Vales of the Anduin, who occupy the same regions once occupied by the Éorlingas' ancestors) are an interesting addition in The Lord of the Rings, creating a tie-in back to The Hobbit in that region of Middle-earth.

Previously, I had just noticed the similarity of the name Beorn with the First Age Founder of the House of the Edain, Bëor. But I now suspect my prior thoughts of a connexion between those two.

One thought that I do have (associated with a subject I have given more thought to than is probably safe) on the size of Beorn is that we should probably not be so quick to assign an absolute size to him. It is very unlikely that he is ten-feet tall, as a rule, but rather that Beorn, as the above article excerpt suggests, was as big as he needed to be for any given situation.

This "subject I have given more thought to than is probably safe" is the Metaphysical and Ontological Aspects of Middle-earth.

Having a very broad education, which branches from the Arts and Humanities, across the Social Sciences to the Hard Sciences, I began to wonder about how the seemingly "supernatural" elements of Middle-earth might operate.

And as having studying Joseph Campbell's works pretty deeply, one of the aspects he focuses upon his that of Myth, and the objects of Myth (Heroic figures).

Beorn definitely fits as a "HeroicFigure" (As Jonathan Glenn points out in his essay on The Hobbit as Beowulf).

DAMMIT.... Lost my train of thought (had to go help someone with a cat).... There was something about Campbell and Beowulf....

Anyway.... Beorn being able to change shapes could just as easily allow him to change sizes. Or, at least he is able to change the perception of his size, as Tolkien points out:

His size ". . . seemed to have grown almost giant-sized in his wrath."

Here.... Either Beorn actually grew giant-sized, or he appeared to grow giant-sized.

Depending upon your metaphysical assumptions for Middle-earth, either case is possible.

My own thoughts are that Beorn was typically about 6"6' - 7' tall. But that dependent upon whether his shape-shifting including growing in size, then his height/size as a bear or human could vary greatly as well, possibly growing to as large as a Troll (12' - 18'). Such a growth would require a LOT of energy to convert to mass (and here is where the Metaphysics enter into the question), whereas simply changing shape, yet remaining the same size/mass would not really require any energy (it does seem to suggest that he was larger as a bear than a human, so some energy would be required if that was the case).

I hope that others might want to come back and explore this topic some more.

Now I have to go and read the rest of that article comparing The Hobbit and Beowulf.

MB

[skytree]

In the Stenstrom article from the Arda Annual he actually does some sketching using horses with their noses at his shoulders and estimating Bilbo between 3' and 3'6" and normal body proportionality and comes up with a conservative estimate of 10'. It also speaks of the other descriptors indicating size within the chapter Queer Lodgings.It's funny but it is how I always visualized him from my readings before coming across this article.

Beorn always stood out to me as something of an anomaly in the Tolkien Legendarium much as Tom Bombadil. As far as we know, Tolkien never revisits Beorn in his vast writing on Middle Earth or attempts to fully define or place him but does legitimize his presence by mentioning him in Fellowship.

Here is another great online essay on Beorn that I find very informative.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Beorn+...es-a0163972510