What about the beornings?

[Sengir Buendia]

In fact I'm not sure who the beornings are... I suppose they are Beorn's descendants and/or the men who lived between Misty Mountains and Mirkwood at the time of The Hobbit.

Anyway, I don't remember having heard of them anywhere other than The Hobbit. There it is said that they freed the Misty Mountains of the last orcs that remained after the battle of five armies and that peace reigned then. Did these men have any participation in the war of the ring? Who in fact were they? Why could they become bears? Is there any information about Beorn and his people elsewhere? Origins, genealogy and stuff?

It must be said Beorn ALONE changed the tide of the battle of five armies, killing the orc-lord and his guards and thus scattering the remaining orc army. Such powerful allies would have been quite useful in the Pellenor fields!

 

[Greenwood]

I think I remember Gimli mentioning them when he is introduced to lembas as the Fellowship leaves Lothlorien. I think he says the lembas is even better than the honeycakes of the Beornings. As to their being allies in the War of the Ring, one can assume that they are fighting near their own homes, perhaps with the men of Dale and the elves of Erebor.

 

[Dáin Ironfoot I]

They were also given a Western portion of Greenwood after the War of the Ring, so it is my opinion that they helped the Elves of Mirkwood, rather than the Bardings or Longbeards of Erebor. Grimbeorn, son of Beorn, was Chief of the Beornings at this time.

 

[Greenwood]

They were also given a Western portion of Greenwood after the War of the Ring, so it is my opinion that they helped the Elves of Mirkwood, rather than the Bardings or Longbeards of Erebor. Grimbeorn, son of Beorn, was Chief of the Beornings at this time.

I was sure they were fighting with someone against the forces of Sauron. I just didn't have my books handy to consult.

Of course, I am happy to reward them with some of my woods for their valor against a common enemy.

 

[Gothmog]

In The Fellowship of the Ring: Many Meetings there is the first mention of the "Beornings" when Frodo and Gimly are talking.

Throughout the rest of the meal they talked together, but Frodo listened more than he spoke; for the news of the Shire, apart from the Ring, seemed small and far-away and unimportant. while Glóin had much to tell of events in the northern regions of Wilderland. Frodo learned that Grimbeorn the Old, son of Beorn, was now the lord of many sturdy men, and to their land between the Mountains and Mirkwood neither orc nor wolf dared to go.
'Indeed,' said Glóin, `if it were not for the Beornings, the passage from Dale to Rivendell would long ago have become impossible. They are valiant men and keep open the High Pass and the Ford of Carrock. But their tolls are high,' he added with a shake of his head; `and like Beorn of old they are not over fond of dwarves. Still, they are trusty, and that is much in these days. Nowhere are there any men so friendly to us as the Men of Dale. They are good folk, the Bardings. The grandson of Bard the Bowman rules them, Brand son of Bain son of Bard. He is a strong king. and his realm now reaches far south and east of Esgaroth.'

 

[Dáin Ironfoot I]

I think its also important to mention that they were not all shapeshifters, probably only VERY few (as in Beorn's line and possibly a few others).

 

[Inderjit S]

I think Beorn was the only-shape shifter.

The wood-men may have ruled under the tutelage of Beorn or his sons. Frodo also sees the destruction and defeat of Grimbeorn's realm on his vision on Amon Hen.

 

[aragil]

The Beornings share a common heritage with Bardings of Dale and with the Eotheod (forefathers of the Rohirrim), as evidenced by Aragorn's statement in The Riders of Rohan:

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.

They all belong to the collective group known as the "Northmen", of which at least the Rohirrim fought at Pelannor. Much of the history of the Northmen is mentioned in Appendix A, both with the mentions of the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor, as well as the description of the Hous of Eorl. For instance, the main part of the cavalry in the Last Alliance was composed by Northmen, as well as Gondor's cavalry which helped to wipe out the Kingdom of Angmar in the North (actually, I believe that was mentioned in UT).

In both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings the Woodsmen that live between Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains are often mentioned in proximity to the Beornings, though I don't think they are ever mentioned together in the same passage. The reason for this is (I believe) because the two are synonymous. If we look at UT we again see that the woodsmen have been around for a long time- they routed the Orcs that slew Isildur at Gladden Fields- too bad they didn't show up a bit earlier!

However, I'd agree with Inderjit S that Beorn was the only one of the lot that could actually change shape. I should point out that this whole discussion of the Northmen clashes with Gandalf's guesses at Beorn's origins in The Hobbit. There Gandalf supposes that Beorn is one of those men who lived in the Mountains before the Orcs, and who had been driven out by them. Of course, it is easy enough to simply say that Gandalf would be wrong in his supposition, especially considering the latest that the Orcs could have driven anybody out of the mountains would have been TA 2480, 460 years before Bilbo and co. meet Beorn!

 

[The Tall Hobbit]

From The Hobbit

Beorn indeed became a great chief afterwards in those regions and ruled a wide land between the mountains and the wood; and it is said that for many generations the men of his line had the power of taking bear's shape, and some were grim men and bad, but most were in heart like Beorn, if less in size and strength. In their day the last goblins were hunted from the Misty Mountains and a new peace came over the edge of the Wild.

 

[aragil]

From The Hobbit:
Beorn indeed became a great chief afterwards in those regions and ruled a wide land between the mountains and the wood; and it is said that for many generations the men of his line had the power of taking bear's shape and some were grim men and bad, but most were in heart like Beorn, if less in size and strength. In their day the last goblins were hunted from the Misty Mountains and a new peace came over the edge of the Wild.

"It is said", i.e. legend has it. Might as well go by Gandalf's description:

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. He is not the sort of person to ask questions of.

Of course, the Orcs inhabited the Misty Mountains c. TA 2480, while Woodmen (i.e. Beorn's kin) had been living in the area of the Carrock for at least 25 centuries!! Of course, you could say that this is just a discrepancy between Tolkien's feelings on the matter between writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. But, since this is the LotR board on the forum, LotR text would win!

 

[Úlairi]

Have we actually considered what Beorn is? I mean, does he have a father? I'm a little hazy on the history, he doesn't die in the battle of Five Armies as far as I know. Was he one of the ancient bears, perhaps some form of kelvar, was he the result of some disgusting form of cross-breeding devised by Melkor but rebelled?

 

[Flame of Udûn]

Beorn is dead. 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.

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien Letter 144

 

[Beleg]

How did he get his shape-shifting abilities?
Not sure if this has ever been explained.

 

[Maeglin]

It is never said, and Gandalf isn't sure either, as he says in the Hobbit, and you don't ask questions of Beorn.