Beornings v. Woodmen (eek! research!)
Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 4:31 am
Nope, it's not a 'who would win' showdown...just another ramble-y, popscholarly essay!
The deeper I get into Tolkien, the more interesting it gets!; little things I come across (and forget) manage to embed themselves somewhere in my brain, send down roots, and pop up when least expected much later!
Last year, when I was cooking up my Anduin Woodman persona, I wrote that I was “wary of associating too closely with the Beornings, as direct descent from a sole were-bear chieftain seems to negate ‘common-ness’ to me.â€
When I was starting to research and collect sources as part of the pre-planning stages for this impression, I naturally briefly considered the Beornings—especially since the vast majority of information I gathered was in the context of Bilbo’s stay at Beorn’s homestead. However, I passed them over in favor of the Woodmen of Mirkwood—despite the fact that they are always heard from and never seen—as I assumed that the culture of Wilderland was probably homogenous enough that what worked for one group would work for the other. Well, you know what happens when you assume…
Unfortunately, as we never actually see any of Tolkien’s Woodmen, I cannot in good faith claim that my 'Aistan' impression is an accurate portrayal of their culture.
In light of this, now more than a year later, I find myself impelled to revise this persona.
Originally, I first asked if Aistan could be a Beorning and quickly dismissed the possibility, but now I believe my initial knee-jerk reaction to that term may have been, to paraphrase a certain Ent, “much too hastyâ€.
So…let’s first dissect what exactly a Beorning is.
If the term ‘Beorning’ is understood to refer to a late-Third Age race of skin-changers descended from Beorn himself (or the older race to which he belonged), then Aistan would probably not be much of a Beorning—maybe through marriage, or only distantly related. (This seems to be how most folks interpret ‘Beorning’.)
But…if the term ‘Beorning’ refers to the regional chiefdom/culture that was united under Beorn (think more “regional stylistic similarity†and less "cave-bear-cult") following the Battle of Five Armies (TH 295-296), I think I can make a case for it….
Believe it or not, Tolkien actually seems to suggest the latter: in the Unfinished Tales index, the entry for ‘Beornings’ reads simply ‘Men of the upper Vales of Anduin’, with no mention of skin-changing powers or bear-heritage at all! (UT 442).
Bears aside, we know that Men lived along the Anduin “in the borders of the forest†as early as the mid-Second Age (following the War of the Elves and Sauron (HoME Vol 12)
In the second year of the Third Age, a group—clearly identified as Woodmen—from western Mirkwood (then Greenwood the Great) sent runners to Thranduil following the Disaster of the Gladden Fields (UT 288).
In 2941 TA, we learn that “bold men had of late been making their way back into [the upper vales of Anduin] from the South, cutting down trees, and building themselves places to live in among the more pleasant woods in the valleys and along the river-shores†(TH 102). Fiddly as The Hobbit can be as a source, combined with what we know from later sources, it seems safe to say that these ‘bold men’ are not the Woodmen, who have been living within Mirkwood for more than an Age.
Men have been living under the eaves of Mirkwood for a long, long time by the time Thorin’s Company comes through the neighborhood. Dr. Corey Olson would have us believe that the Quest of Erebor was a major (albeit unintentional) player in bringing about Beorn’s rise to regional chieftain—owing to their disruption of the orc & warg raid on the Mannish villages near Goblin-town, ‘activating’ Beorn as a force for Good, and having him play a decisive role in the Battle, which gave him a claim to fame (killer of THE major regional orc-leader following the death of Azog) that increased his reputation in the area and rallied Men to him.
Following the Battle of Five Armies, Beorn became “a great chief afterwards in those regions and ruled a wide land between the mountains and the wood†(TH 295-296), and by the time of the War of the Ring, his son “Grimbeorn…was now the lord of many sturdy men, and to their land between the Mountains and Mirkwood neither orc nor wolf dared to go†(FotR 256).
After the victories in Wilderland as part of the War of the Ring, Thranduil and Celborn agreed to divvy up the Forest (renaming it Eryn Lasgalen), giving “all the wide forest between [the Mountains of Mirkwood and the Narrows] … to the Beornings and the Woodmen.†(Appendix B, 415). It is interesting that Tolkien makes this distinction between the two groups.
In light of the above evidence, here is what I have concluded.
Prior to the Battle of Five Armies and the creation of a regional ‘Beorning culture’, upper Wilderland was inhabited by three groups of Men:
*Northmen living on either side of the Anduin—remnants of the Eothed, and those migrating into the area from the south (most likely descendants of Vidugavia’s ‘kingdom of Rhovanion’);
*Beorn the skin-changer (who may have come from the Misty Mountains originally),
*and the Woodmen who had been living under the eaves of Mirkwood since the Second Age (at least).
After the Battle of Five Armies, Beorn unites the Men of the Anduin valley as chief of the ‘Beornings’: the group is comprised mostly of
*regular Northmen living on either side of the Anduin;
*and a smaller number of what most think of as Beornings—those who retain the skin-changing power, in addition to (I imagine) his ‘vegan’ habits as a unique identifier of their culture (a la kosher practices).
Under the eaves of Mirkwood, the Woodmen continue to live much as they always have—except that after the War of the Ring, they are relatively free to expand their settlements into the forest, purged of evil influences.
So. What this means for you guys is…not much. Over the next week or so I'll be tweaking my complete kit on the MERWiki to reflect my Beorning rebranding (and updating with some new kit items!), so stay tuned?
The deeper I get into Tolkien, the more interesting it gets!; little things I come across (and forget) manage to embed themselves somewhere in my brain, send down roots, and pop up when least expected much later!
Last year, when I was cooking up my Anduin Woodman persona, I wrote that I was “wary of associating too closely with the Beornings, as direct descent from a sole were-bear chieftain seems to negate ‘common-ness’ to me.â€
When I was starting to research and collect sources as part of the pre-planning stages for this impression, I naturally briefly considered the Beornings—especially since the vast majority of information I gathered was in the context of Bilbo’s stay at Beorn’s homestead. However, I passed them over in favor of the Woodmen of Mirkwood—despite the fact that they are always heard from and never seen—as I assumed that the culture of Wilderland was probably homogenous enough that what worked for one group would work for the other. Well, you know what happens when you assume…
Unfortunately, as we never actually see any of Tolkien’s Woodmen, I cannot in good faith claim that my 'Aistan' impression is an accurate portrayal of their culture.
In light of this, now more than a year later, I find myself impelled to revise this persona.
Originally, I first asked if Aistan could be a Beorning and quickly dismissed the possibility, but now I believe my initial knee-jerk reaction to that term may have been, to paraphrase a certain Ent, “much too hastyâ€.
So…let’s first dissect what exactly a Beorning is.
If the term ‘Beorning’ is understood to refer to a late-Third Age race of skin-changers descended from Beorn himself (or the older race to which he belonged), then Aistan would probably not be much of a Beorning—maybe through marriage, or only distantly related. (This seems to be how most folks interpret ‘Beorning’.)
But…if the term ‘Beorning’ refers to the regional chiefdom/culture that was united under Beorn (think more “regional stylistic similarity†and less "cave-bear-cult") following the Battle of Five Armies (TH 295-296), I think I can make a case for it….
Believe it or not, Tolkien actually seems to suggest the latter: in the Unfinished Tales index, the entry for ‘Beornings’ reads simply ‘Men of the upper Vales of Anduin’, with no mention of skin-changing powers or bear-heritage at all! (UT 442).
Bears aside, we know that Men lived along the Anduin “in the borders of the forest†as early as the mid-Second Age (following the War of the Elves and Sauron (HoME Vol 12)
In the second year of the Third Age, a group—clearly identified as Woodmen—from western Mirkwood (then Greenwood the Great) sent runners to Thranduil following the Disaster of the Gladden Fields (UT 288).
In 2941 TA, we learn that “bold men had of late been making their way back into [the upper vales of Anduin] from the South, cutting down trees, and building themselves places to live in among the more pleasant woods in the valleys and along the river-shores†(TH 102). Fiddly as The Hobbit can be as a source, combined with what we know from later sources, it seems safe to say that these ‘bold men’ are not the Woodmen, who have been living within Mirkwood for more than an Age.
Men have been living under the eaves of Mirkwood for a long, long time by the time Thorin’s Company comes through the neighborhood. Dr. Corey Olson would have us believe that the Quest of Erebor was a major (albeit unintentional) player in bringing about Beorn’s rise to regional chieftain—owing to their disruption of the orc & warg raid on the Mannish villages near Goblin-town, ‘activating’ Beorn as a force for Good, and having him play a decisive role in the Battle, which gave him a claim to fame (killer of THE major regional orc-leader following the death of Azog) that increased his reputation in the area and rallied Men to him.
Following the Battle of Five Armies, Beorn became “a great chief afterwards in those regions and ruled a wide land between the mountains and the wood†(TH 295-296), and by the time of the War of the Ring, his son “Grimbeorn…was now the lord of many sturdy men, and to their land between the Mountains and Mirkwood neither orc nor wolf dared to go†(FotR 256).
After the victories in Wilderland as part of the War of the Ring, Thranduil and Celborn agreed to divvy up the Forest (renaming it Eryn Lasgalen), giving “all the wide forest between [the Mountains of Mirkwood and the Narrows] … to the Beornings and the Woodmen.†(Appendix B, 415). It is interesting that Tolkien makes this distinction between the two groups.
In light of the above evidence, here is what I have concluded.
Prior to the Battle of Five Armies and the creation of a regional ‘Beorning culture’, upper Wilderland was inhabited by three groups of Men:
*Northmen living on either side of the Anduin—remnants of the Eothed, and those migrating into the area from the south (most likely descendants of Vidugavia’s ‘kingdom of Rhovanion’);
*Beorn the skin-changer (who may have come from the Misty Mountains originally),
*and the Woodmen who had been living under the eaves of Mirkwood since the Second Age (at least).
After the Battle of Five Armies, Beorn unites the Men of the Anduin valley as chief of the ‘Beornings’: the group is comprised mostly of
*regular Northmen living on either side of the Anduin;
*and a smaller number of what most think of as Beornings—those who retain the skin-changing power, in addition to (I imagine) his ‘vegan’ habits as a unique identifier of their culture (a la kosher practices).
Under the eaves of Mirkwood, the Woodmen continue to live much as they always have—except that after the War of the Ring, they are relatively free to expand their settlements into the forest, purged of evil influences.
So. What this means for you guys is…not much. Over the next week or so I'll be tweaking my complete kit on the MERWiki to reflect my Beorning rebranding (and updating with some new kit items!), so stay tuned?