Other Mearas?

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Was he the mightiest of the Mearas?

Perhaps...

[Theoden: ]There is none like to Shadowfax. In him one of the mighty steeds of old has returned.

(LotR III 6)

Probably Felaróf himself was the mentioned "mighty steeds of old."

Do the mearas undergo reincarnation? Or perhaps had the same doom as Elves?

[symestreem]

That's quite interesting if you note the king's choice of wording. He says returned. This implies that the horses have dwindled in quality since a certain point in time before, probably the taming of the first horse. But why would the quality of the horses have decreased? I'm not a horse expert, but if you breed horses with other good horses, won't you usually get better horses? This is interesting because Tolkien is echoing his general theme of decay here; even the horses are not what they once were. There's another line like that in the Appendices.

... but in Elessar Telcontir the dignity of the kings of old was renewed.

Why does Tolkien incorporate the theme of decay so much? Numenor decays and falls; the Shire decays through progress. Did Tolkien, too, feel that nothing now or in the future could ever be better than what had already been? I read somewhere that growing up near Birmingham gave him a dislike of "progress" and "industrialization"; this is evident in the Shire.
Or does the answer somehow lie with the elves? As the elves fade, does their absence diminish the "goodness" of the world? Or is it the theory of entropy, heat-death, that the Universe is slowing down? In Middle-earth, this would be interpreted as that the tendency of man is to deteriorate; that there will always be another evil, and that all we can do is fight the present one, but that each victory over evil will still diminish the world a bit.
Does this make any sense at all?


Nilpaurion, if you talk about equine reincarnation then you have to debate the point of whether the horses have souls. Certainly they are intelligent, but do they have souls? Or is there something there besides a soul that can be reincarnated? Or perhaps because of the horse-centered culture of the Rohirrim, they believe that any mighty steed is a reincarnation of a previous one. That would indicate that the Rohirrim believe in the theory of decay, that nothing now can be as good as it was before; this either makes them rather astute observers or very nostalgic. Or, they have low self-esteem (or are humble) and think that nothing they do could be better than what their ancestors have done. This may be, considering their ancestor reverence (not worship).
We started out talking about horses, didn't we? Sorry.

[Firefoot]

But why would the quality of the horses have decreased?

Well, the breeding stock of these Mearas probably started out relatively small, a few herds perhaps. These horses bred together, and then they probably peaked, perhaps around Felaróf's time, and maybe the horses didn't get better, and while they were still Mearas, they were not as mighty as the horses of old. These would be like Snowmane. Then these horses probably interbred with horses of lesser quality, which would still be of high blood, but not completely Mearas (Maybe where you get horses like Firefoot and Windfola?). Shadowfax must have received all the recessive genes from the mighty horses of old and would have been like them.

Compare it to the Dúnedain: their race was lessened because those of the line of Isildur married with those of lesser lineage, which resulted in shorter lifespan, which was why "the dignity of the kings of old was renewed" in Aragorn: in this respect Aragorn is comparable to Shadowfax. Both were the mightiest of their line for a very long time.

[Elianna]

This isn't related to resent posts, but still on topic:

Shadowfax went in the White Ship with Gandalf, of course. I saw that myself. I also saw Legolas let his horse run free back to Rohan from Isengard. Mr. Meriadoc says he does not know how many horses were lost; but there are more than ever in Rohan now, because no one steals them any longer...

Histories of M-E vol. 9. Sam's writing notes for the Red Book in this exert. The horses lost are the black horses stolen by the orcs mentioned by Firefoot.

Also pretaining to the original question: I don't think anyone's ever "possessed" a Mearas. Those noble horses only allow a few to ride them, I don't think that they're possessed....wait, "faithful servant, yet master's bane" servant, master, nevermind.

[Osse]

this is probably in one of my books... just that they are in boxes in australia! so pleae excuse me for asking it here...

When did the mearas 'lose' the ability to speak? or was it just Eorl's horse who could communicate with Men?


Thanks

[Firefoot]

I'm pretty sure that only Felaróf could understand Men. I don't remember anything about any other Mearas being able to do so. And also, Felaróf wasn't able to speak to Men, he could just understand their language, if my understanding is correct.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

I think it was Tree beard that said at one point that all things can speak, but with there own tongs (Aka, the talking Trees, Old man willow, the badgers in "the adventures of Tom Bombadill ect). It is likely that the Horses had there own tong, therefore it is not beyond the realms of possibility that one of the Mearas at least could, with time, understand or comprehend the tong of men.
As has been said, the Mearas would only allow kings of the mark to ride them.

Perhaps Sahdowfax still had some pride about the tradition his kin had, and that is why he made Gandalf ride him bare back. Or did all have to ride the Mearas bare back.... I'll have to check! (Digs through large collection of books)