🧌Giants of the ⛰️Misty Mountains

Another of Tolkien's great mysteries!!!

I guess this is yet another one of Tolkien's great mysteries. But as always, I do have a theory. The Fellowship did not pass through the same area as when Bilbo did in 'The Hobbit', correct?! So, perhaps the stone giants were situated in one particular area of the Misty Mountains and nowhere else, just like 'Old Man Willow'! Anyone agree???

I really dont know, I just think that Tolkien couldnt find a suitable way to put the Giants in the trilogy.

Correct me if i am wrong but ....

in The Fellowship doesn't Tolkien mention about Giants moving from the east? So that must mean that There were giants

I was as confused when I read about them (which was just today since I am reading The Hobbit for the first time). The mystery remains that if those giants were that powerful and important then why don't we see them anywhere else? My opinion is that Tolkien considers the giants as part of the mountains not just living on them. It's like salt being part of the sea or something. Maybe they were moving figures but part of the world Eru created. Maybe if we had such figures as part of our nature we wouldn't be so confused. As for Caradhas, I think it was something like a mountain god. Or maybe the mountain itself turned to a living thing. This method of turning objectss like mountains or rivers to living things is not uncommon. Tolkien had studied a lot about other cultures. This method is very common in Greek mythology (I am Greek so I know some stuff about it). The ancient Greek liked it a lot. Maybe Tolkien liked it also so he wanted to add this in his magnificent work. Well it is obvious that it worked well!

Stone Giants Who or What?

The Hobbit mentions Stone Giants during the storm Thorin and Company suffered through in their passage of the Misty Mountain pass. Later after the escape from the Goblins Gandalf mentions that he must find a "more or less friendly giant" to close up the cleft the Goblins have. Who or what are these creatures and why do they not appear in Lord of the Rings when virtually every other creature written about in the Hobbit does.?

I think Tolkien left it out because they had no real revelence to the plot. I think also He did not really have enough time to go into depth about the origans of these creatures.
It does mention about Giants moving away from the east though as an example of the queer happenings in Middleearth.

This has been discussed before. When it first appeared, I expressed the opinion that they were something like the spirit of mountain Caradhas. Parts of the mountain or the mountain itself. Things of nature like the trees, the sand and the rain. Or perhaps there were no sone giants and Tolkien just meant that there were a lot of stone falling as if stone giants were throwing them.

Stone Giants

Your Caradhras explanation is an excellent mind-picture of Stone Giants. I don't think it could have been just cascading stones, though - that explanation doesn't sound like Gandalf to me.

ps: have you ever read Tom Holt's novel about Alexander the Great?

Spirits of Place?

I subscribe to the idea that the stone giants were spirits too - but more like 'Spirits of Place' give physical shape. I see this a lot in Tolkien's work - though I'm sure most members would disagree with me. The best example of this is Goldberry - who to me is very like the water nymphs of Greek Mythology - she is a spirit of place - the spirit of the Wythewindle, or most likely Wythewindle's daughter. That's how I interpret the title 'River's Daughter'. I also interpret Bombadil as a 'spirit of place' too, though in his case one of greater power. Like the Dryads and Naiads of Greek Mythology - these spirits are tied to their 'natural' homes - though in Tom's case I guess at one time this was far larger than the Old Forest region - possible the original Great Forest of Western ME.

Re: Spirits of Place?

Originally posted by Turgon
I subscribe to the idea that the stone giants were spirits too - but more like 'Spirits of Place' give physical shape. I see this a lot in Tolkien's work - though I'm sure most members would disagree with me. The best example of this is Goldberry - who to me is very like the water nymphs of Greek Mythology - she is a spirit of place - the spirit of the Wythewindle, or most likely Wythewindle's daughter. That's how I interpret the title 'River's Daughter'. I also interpret Bombadil as a 'spirit of place' too, though in his case one of greater power. Like the Dryads and Naiads of Greek Mythology - these spirits are tied to their 'natural' homes - though in Tom's case I guess at one time this was far larger than the Old Forest region - possible the original Great Forest of Western ME.

Click to expand...

I think I would have to agree with you on this one.
It seems to me that the reason tolkien did not go into great detail about these creatures is because he had not the time nor were they a real important part of the plot. I always thought of them as giants who could lay down in such a way as to look like large stones. But this cunclusion is drawn not from Tolkien, but from CS Lewis who wrote about Stone Giants in his book The Silver Chair. Since CS Lewis and Tolkien were good friends, it only stands to reason that they also shared similar characters in their stories. Just a thought.

-me

Giants...

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"... across the valley the stone-giants were out, and were hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them, and tossing them down into the darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang."

"If we don't get blown off, or drowned, or struck by lightning, we shall be picked up by some giant and kicked sky-high for a foot ball."

"Some say that he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came."
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Never have I had such a time with placing any of Tolkien's creatures as I have with Giants. Where did they come from? Where did they go? With such monsterous creatures stomping around, why didn't Sauron put a spell on these Giants and use them to stomp Gondor off the map?

I can't find any reference to "stone-giants" anywhere but 'The Hobbit'.

Do any references exist in any other of his works?

...let alone that there are Good Giants and Bad Giants...Gandalf mentions getting a Giant to plug up the Goblin Hole.