Beorn

[davem]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

Not at all. Vide his comments on Bombadil: he's an Enigma, and deliberately so. Tolkien never bothered to explain, even in a note-to-self, in what the One Ring's power actually consisted. He was unconcerned with the mechanics of Sauron bringing It back from Numenor, or Orome carrying weapons for the entire Elvenhost on Nahar. Nowhere did he explain the Great Eagles, except in Manwe's words to Yavanna which confuse as much as they illumine. He never explained (and perhaps didn't know) whether it was Sauron or Caradhras itself which defeated the attempt on the Redhorn Gate. Are the Ents in origin trees with spirits indwelling, or tree-like beings of independent creation? The origin and story of the old man Brego encountered at the Dark Door is a permanent mystery. As he once commented, compared to real-world (medieval) history, the one he produced was somewhat too consistent and thorough.

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Well, Bombadil is an enigma because he was dragged in from outside M-e & already existed - ie he wasn't invented for LotR. He can't be explained in terms of M-e rules. Its not simply that Tolkien didn't account for Tom - he couldn't. I'm not sure that the other 'mysteries' you cite are the same - they were always part of the Legendarium - Tolkien just didn't get around to explaining them. They don't feel 'out of place', they simply aren't accounted for.

Now, Beorn, the Trolls & the rest in TH are simply 'there' in the world of TH - Bilbo wanders along with Gandalf & the Dwarves & bumps into these beings & we (because of the kind of story TH is) simply accept them without requiring an explanation.

The examples you cite are only mysteries because Tolkien didn't explain them, but I don't think he would have had a problem doing so if challenged - reading the letters he seemed perfectly happy, & more than capable, to account for origins of characters & objects. Only Tom seems to defeat him. Tolkien can't (rather than won't - it seems to me at least) account for Tom. I suspect Beorn would have left him just as stumped. Beorn appears out of Northern legend & there is nothing like him in Arda.