How many forms can Beorn take and what are they?

[MatthewLover]

Why does Beorn change into different creatures?
Also, how many things can he turn into and what are they????

 

[Celebthôl]

I think he can only change from Man to Bear, he can do it because of his lineage from the Great Bears of the mountains me thinks...no quotes though

 

[BlackCaptain]

I beleive he is some sort of descendant of Beren, who could change his skin. But I'm not sure. Only bear...

 

[Theoden_king]

Originally posted by MatthewLover
Why does Beorn change into different creatures?

Well why not if you have the ability to?

Originally posted by MatthewLover
Also, how many things can he turn into and what are they????

Just a bear.

 

[Manveru]

from ''The Hobbit'', Chapter 7:
He changes his skin; sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes he is a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard. I cannot tell you much more, though that ought to be enough. Some say that he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came. Others say that he is a man descended
from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world, and before the goblins came into the hills out of the North. I cannot say, though I fancy the last is the true tale.

From this description we learn that Beorn could only change into one creature (''huge black bear'') and that he probably is ''a man descended from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world, and before the goblins came into the hills out of the North'' (as Gandalf was willing to believe in--the cite above). So BlackCaptain...I'm with You...also think that Beorn could be 'some sort of descendant of Beren' as You stated

 

[Beorn]

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.

Letter #144

'Eorl the Young was lord of the Men of Éothéod. That land lay near the sources of Anduin, between the furthest ranges of the Misty Mountains and the northernmost parts of Mirkwood. the Éothéod had moved to those regions in the days of King Eärnil II from lands in the vales of Anduin between the Carrock and the Gladden, and they were in origin close akin to the Beornings and the men of the west-eaves of the forest.

Appendix A.

If anyone is willing to do some research on the origins of the House of Eorl, it may turn up something in terms of my ancestry.

There is more in the Histories of Middle-earth, but I don't have the specific quotes in regards to myself.

 

[Celebthôl]

tut tut, doesnt even know his own ansestry

Didn't the men of Eorl have something to do with the three houses of the Númenoreans?

 

[Glomund]

I think the Eorlingas were the descendants of the men who came into the wars with Morgoth, and fought on the side of the elves, after the three houses who became Numenorians. so Beorn probably was not a descendant of Beren.