Beorn and the Beornings

[Ingwë]

Two week ago I was asked about the Beornings: who are they, how many are they, is there any information about that race.
We know that Beorn helped the Dwarves and Bilbo while they were going to Mirkwood. He was a bear and a human. But how many are the Beornings? In the Lord of the Rings we find something interesting:

Gimli was uneasy.
'What do you know of these horsemen, Aragorn?' he said. 'Do we sit here waiting for sudden death?'
'I have been among them,' answered Aragorn. 'They have long been the friends of the people of Gondor, though they are not akin to them. It was in forgotten years long ago that Eorl the Young brought them out of the North, and their kinship is rather with the Bardings of Dale, and with the Beornings of the Wood, among whom may still be seen many men tall and fair, as are the Riders of Rohan. '

It is very interesting. I suppose Beorn died. But how many creatures like Beorn exist in the Middle earth? What is he? And how many are his inheritors?

 

[Alatar]

I think beron was unique in that there is no other mention of skinchangers, though his children still retain the shape shifting ability. The Beronings, bardings and the eothred(rohan) hknown collectively as the northmen, are desended from the 1,000 people of beor and marach that were lead out of beleriland and some of the haleth who dwelt by ruhn. I think .

 

[ingolmo]

I'm not sure, but I think that the Beornings were cute little teddy bears.
No. Just Joking.
I think that they are a race like the dwarves, just as the dwarves were created by Aule, the Beornings were created by maybe Orome, who was a master of animals. But the beornings never were too many, which was a reason why they never took part too actively in the wars of Middle-earth. Or they could just have been like Tom Bombadil, who is like a being made just for the Old Forest, or forests in general. The Beornings would then be beings of the Misty Mountains, to live while they live, and perish when they perish.

 

[Hammersmith]

I'm fairly sure they were one of the abandoned scraps of mythology that appeared only in The Hobbit. Tolkien's mention of it is brief and seems like a grudging acknowledgement or a distracted attempt to sink them into place in a changed mythology.

If I had to guess on their ancestry, I'd suggest that their shape changing ability was one gifted to one of their line by the Vala in time gone by. We have precedent for shape shifting with Sauron's werewolf, a power he utilised to appear in beautiful forms before losing it in Numenor's fall, so I suppose Beorn isn't too radical a deviation for Tolkien. Indeed, when compared to Sauron's power it becomes more likely that it was a gift rather than the mark of an individual species.

 

[Celebthôl]

There were thousands of them, according to a book i read, they hid themselves well about the misty mountains...

 

[Arat Macar]

"In the third Age of the Sun there was a race of solitary northmen who guarded the Ford of Carrock and the High Passes in Rhovanion from the Orks and Wargs. These people were the Beornings, and they were black-haired, black bearded Men clothed in coarse wool garments. They carried the woodman's axe and were gruff, huge-muscled, but honerable.

They were named after a fierce warrior called Beorn, who by some spell could shift form and become a great bear. In terror of this bear-man the Orks and Wargs of the Misty Mountains kept from his road.

In the war of the Ring the Beornings led by Grimbeorn, son of Beorn, advanced fiercely with the Woodmen and the Elves of Mirkwood, and drove evil from that place for ever." - Tolkien Encyclopaedia

 

[AraCelebEarwen]

Odd question

Are there any possibilities that a Beorning could change into anything other then a bear? Or were there females, and if so did they change? Sorry, but it's something that I've been thinking about but never figured out...

 

[Durin's Bane]

I don't believe thay would be called beornings if they would change into something else... but this doesn't mean they would not exist... so it is possible... isn't it?

 

[AraCelebEarwen]

Are there any reports/story of 'skinchangers' being able to pick what they change into? I have tried to read the Sil. but have yet to finish it.

I have heard about wolves, bats and things like that, but keep thinking, "..is that all? There must be more then that...?" Do you think it is possible for... let's say a girl... to change into whatever shape 'fits her best'? Tolkien didn't do much with wives, daughters and women in general... so can we just 'fill in' with some possibilities of our own? Or is there a rule about that somewhere?

 

[OldTomBombadil]

Tolkien stated in Letter 144, dated 25 April 1954:

Beorn is dead; see vol. I p.241. He appeared in The Hobbit. It was then the year Third Age 2940 (Shire-reckoning 1340). We are now in the years 3018-19 (1418-19). Though a skin-changer and no doubt a bit of a magician, Beorn was a Man.

(In the passage of The Fellowship of the Ring referenced above we see that Beorn's son, Grimbeorn the Old, was the lord of the Beornings during the time of the War of the Ring.)

Since Tolkien did not elaborate, there is no way of knowing how many Beornings there were during the War of the Ring. He also did not write of any other skin-changers, so we have to assume that the Beornings were unique.

By the way, Bjørn is the Danish and Norwegian for "bear". The same word is "björn" in Swedish. These translations of Bjorn rejects Queen Hvit's Advances: The Curse and Bjorn's Transformation into a Bear... may interest you. (Tolkien borrowed many elements in his stories from Norse legends.)

 

[Ingwë]

If the Beornings are a different race I suppose there are female Beornings. And as far as I remember in the Hobbit it is said that the inheritors of Beorn could transform themselves in bears.

Celebthôl, which book is it?

 

[Alatar]

I think that they are a race like the dwarves, just as the dwarves were created by Aule, the Beornings were created by maybe Orome, who was a master of animals. But the beornings never were too many, which was a reason why they never took part too actively in the wars of Middle-earth. Or they could just have been like Tom Bombadil, who is like a being made just for the Old Forest, or forests in general. The Beornings would then be beings of the Misty Mountains, to live while they live, and perish when they perish.

Nah, they are men, but through some unique magic, maybe radgast, beorn could change skin.

 

[Walter]

By the way, Bjørn is the Danish and Norwegian for "bear". The same word is "björn" in Swedish. These translations of Bjorn rejects Queen Hvit's Advances: The Curse and Bjorn's Transformation into a Bear... may interest you. (Tolkien borrowed many elements in his stories from Norse legends.)

The entire Saga of Hrolf Kraki can be found here. There are some more similarities to discover and Beorn should/could also be seen in the context of Beowulf...

Shippey, btw., considers Beorn ...in a way the least invented character in the book. (=The Hobbit)

 

[Arat Macar]

Nah, they are men, but through some unique magic, maybe radgast, beorn could change skin.

Right, read my earlier post. Beorn was the only one who could change as far as we know. It seem to be due to a spell not a genetic thing. His decendents clan/tribe/race were named for him (his name) not because they share his ability.

I think Radagast is a good bet re the source of the spell.

 

[Ingwë]

I read 'The Hobbit' (again) and in chapter 18, at the end of that chapter, we find that Beorn's heirs can transform long after his death...
That mean he is not unique and he is not a Wizard or something like that - a magician