Middle-earth Mysteries - The Beornings
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- čas přidán 19. 09. 2023
- In this video, we look at the group of Men known as the Beornings. Who were they? Where did they come from? And where did they learn the power of shapeshifting into bears?
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Rhadagast is a good theory. After all, the Istari (including Rhadagast) were sent to Middle Earth to fight Sauron. This could have been one of Rhadagast's contributions to that
Radagast was actually sith the whole time.
They weren't actually sent to fight but guide the free peoples in their resistance to sauron.
The fact he set up home close to Dol Guldur rather indicates he didn’t abandon his purpose as has been claimed!
@@simonmorris4226 it was so he could be close to his sith master
The theatrical Hobbit movie gave Beorn so little time they should have called the Carrock Beorn’s extended stay and rent-a-pony.
I honestly don't even remember their stay at Beorn's. I think I only watched each film once.
Very wise. I would give a great deal to have skipped them altogether particularly the 2nd one. Thank you for your great work and Happy Hobbit Day!
@@neildaly2635Unfortunately corporate mandate stretched them out into an unnecessary trilogy. They should have probably been 2 normal length films or 1 extended film, rather than 3 extended films that wonder off from the story of The Hobbit book
@@neildaly2635the hobbit trilogy was infinitely better than the Disney star wars sequels or the Amazon rings of power. Main issues I have with them is the lower production quality, unnecessary changes to the story and just felt rushed in general
It makes sense given what went on behind the scenes. Very little pre production, and what was done was under Guillermo del Toro not pj so all had to be thrown out. They should have delayed the whole thing by a year or two if they ever wanted lotr quality. @@lylemoore3827
I think Tolkien liked to have opposites and balance: Ents/Trolls, Elves/Orcs so I might imagine: Werewolves/Skinchangers.
Hey, never thought of it. That's VERY likely ❤❤❤
I always thought that Beorn’s race have something to do with Oromë, as they both were described as people of nature, having great wrath, and slaying the beasts of Morgoth. 🐻
I have another theory: Oromë.
Oromë was the hunstman of the Valar, and he used to offen cross the Misty Mountains to hunt the evil creatures of Morgoth. I can absolutely see Oromë granting Beorn the power to hunt the goblins and wargs around the Misty Mountains and avenge his people. Plus Oromë is a Vala, like Ulmo, who similarly gave Elwing the power to shapeshift.
The one problem with this theory is that the Valar generally stayed out of Middle Earth during the Third Age. In fact that's why they sent the Istari to Middle Earth in the first place. So yeah, maybe Radagast is the more likely theory. Oromë is cooler, though.
Ever since reading the Hobbit as a kid, I was fascinated by what Beorn ate and what he gave Thorin and Co to eat. From memory, he lived off a diet of bread, honey and clotted cream. I always wondered what the heck his digestive system must have been like living off a diet like that.
Assuming that Beorn had ancestors going back to the 1st or 2nd Age, and assuming they had similar powers to him, then perhaps one of the Valar revealed themselves to this group of men, or to one such man (the distant forefather of Beorn), and gifted them the ability to skin-change and become a bear?
Orome is one possibility as he was often active in the Years of the Trees directly conducting sorties and skirmishes in Middle Earth against Morgoth's creatures. This was probably much less infrequent during the years of the sun portion of the First Age. But allowing a man to turn into a powerful, ferocious bear seems something Orome might do.
Another possibility is Ulmo who has been repeatedly shown to meddle with events in the First Age, and perhaps to a decreasing extent the Second Age and Third Age. All he would have to do is go to an untainted river or stream find a man, give the man the gift of skin-changing into a bear and tasking that man with protecting a certain area. Ulmo could also see deep into the future- so that's a possibility too. Plus Ulmo was an impeccable judge of character and seemed to have a knack for picking the right people to do something for him.
Thanks for the video. I'm always excited when you drop a new one.
Bad news though: even that Tom Bombadil mock-theory was anticipated at least a half century ago by _Bored of the Rings_ . From wikipedia: _'Tom Bombadil appears as "Tim Benzedrine", a stereotypical hippie married to "Hashberry". Her name alludes to Haight-Ashbury, a district of San Francisco nicknamed Hashbury for its hippie counterculture at that time.'_ I thought this book was hilarious as a kid, and still found it amusing when last I read it a few years ago. I highly recommend it for any LotR geek who can have a sense of humor about the books, which you clearly are.
I haven't read Bored of the Rings in ages! i love that book, need to get me a copy.
Oh man, and here I thought I was clever. Those are great names as well.
One of my favorite memories from Bored of the Rings..."Do you wanna rap?" Tim asked. "Rap?" replied Frito. "You know. Make werds wif your mouf."
Got to say, when I first watched your channel I didn't connect like I did other channels. But now I've watched a few I'm just binging them, you've covered some really interesting and original topics; great job keep it up.
New video within a week? I’ve been binging your videos for the last month.
Could it be that Ulmo maybe gave the ancestor of Beorn the gift to shapeshift? Ulmo has went up rivers before to speak to the children of Erú and also like you said gave Elwing the power to shapeshift into a bird when she threw herself into the sea. The Anduin is literally right there so it’s not a crazy stretch to think Ulmo came all the way up the Anduin and found Beorn’s ancestor and his people driven out by the orcs in the mountains and wanted to help. Ulmo was also much more forgiving of the children’s misdeeds and had much more compassion for them than many of the Valar. I don’t see that compassion and forgiveness changing between the War of Wrath and the War of the Ring but that’s just me.
I suppose it's possible, but Ulmo turning someone into a bear doesn't fit as well as Ulmo turning someone into a seabird given that Ulmo is the Lord of Waters.
Great video as always
Thanks for the video Darth!
Love the idea of Radagast teaching the Beornings how to skin change.
It would’ve been cool to see them in the first age maybe helping the house of Bëor in Dorthonion, they could share some common ancestry!
Anyways, keep the vids coming!
A question unrelated to this video that has crept into my mind ever further since i finished my last session of the Silmarillion.
What was the Host of the Valar made up of during the War of Wrath?
One would assume that it included Valar since the armies of Morgoth were swept before them. On the other hand the war lasted for 40 years; would it really have taken them that long to dispose of Orcs, Balrogs, Wolves when in actuallity they swept them? But then again, if there were no Valar - how could they even compete with Morgoth vast Armies of which no count in number is told yet spread further than the plains of Anfauglith. No armies of elves, men or dwarfes prior or in any sort of combination deafeated them.
This comment will be extremely long, so sorry for that. I want to tell my own fan theory about Beorn, but first of all I need to add some information that you haven't mentioned in your video.
1. In early manuscripts of "The Hobbit" the name of that character wasn't Beorn, it was Medwed. And this name obviously came from Slavic root that means "bear" (or, literally, "honey-eater"), such as Russian "medved'". It is speculated that Tolkien based this character on character(s) from several Russian fairy-tales named Ivashko Medvedko (that can be translated as "Little John the Bear" or something like that). This character was mentioned by R.W. Chambers (who was a friend of Tolkien) in his work "Beowulf: An Introduction to the Study of the Poem...", which Tolkien obviously had read.
2. Tolkien also wrote a short story named "Sellic Spell", which is a fairy-tale based mostly upon the "Beowulf" poem (and a little bit upon Russian fairy-tale, as it seems to me). It is obvious from that story that Tolkien thought that the name Beowulf (or Beewulf as the hero is called in this tale) comes from bee-wulf, a metaphorical name for a bear. Another source of inspiration for Beorn was Bothvar Bjarki (Bothvar the Little Bear), a hero from the Saga of Rolf Kraki (also mentioned by R.W. Chambers in his work).
3. All this characters have in common that their names mean "bear" in some way (the word "beorn" means "valiant man" in Anglo-Saxon but may be cognate with Old Norse "bjǫrn", "bear") and they are strong as bears (and sometimes have some bear-like traits in apparence). There are a lot of stories all around North Europe about such heroes, they are known as "Bear's Son Tale" to folklorists. Many are mentioned in the work of R.W. Chambers and so were familiar to Tolkien. There is also Latvian epic tale Lāčplēsis (literally Bear-slayer) about such hero (he also has bear ears), although I am not sure that Tolkien was familiar with that story.
4. In many of these stories the hero is a decendant of a bear. In both Russian versions of the tale about Ivashko Medvedko that I've found the father of the hero is a bear (in one version his mother is a turnip turned into human girl, but that's probably not important to our discussion). The father of Bothvar Bjarki was a prince turned into a bear by evil magic. In the "Lāčplēsis" the mother of the hero was a she-bear. While parents of Beowulf from the poem were humans, parents of Beewulf from "Sellic Spell" were unknown and he was found in a bear's den.
5. Returning to Beorn, it is possible to assume that his ability to turn into a bear was hereditary (some of his descendants also were able to take the shape of a bear). So it is possible that he also inherited this ability. One of his ancestors (or maybe one of his parents) may be a bear. Probably not an animal but a Maia in a shape of a bear. If his other parent was a human, then Beorn will be a human himself (as Luthien is an elf although her mother is a Maia). So my hypothesis is that sometimes ago there was a Maia in a shape of a bear in the Misty Mountains, who took a human wife (or maybe a human husband) among the humans who lived in the vales of Anduin, and Beorn was their child (or more distant descendant). Then that Maia was killed or driven out from the mountains by giants and/or goblins and Beorn had to return to the vales.
That's definitely possible as well. It would still leave Beorn as a Man, but would explain how he's a "bit of a magician" as Tolkien put it.
Ah man, youre the best. Never stop being you and giving us zesty content
Really fun analysis thanks!
Isn't it established that Beorn was driven out of the Misty Mountains by the giants? Not that this answers the question of how Beorn got his powers, but it does make me imagine that he probably wasn't unique. I would guess that Beorn was (as of the Hobbit) the last of his kind left (although he clearly had children of his own).
Future mysteries video suggestion: the various mountain ranges on the Ambarkanta maps and their fates that aren't in either the Silmarillion map or the LotR maps (e.g. Grey, Red, Yellow, Wind, and Sun)
Being driven from the mountains by giants is one of the origins that Gandalf presents. But it's also attached to the origin that Beorn was a descendant of bears. The other origin is that he is a Man, and that he was driven away by Orcs. In that same explanation, Gandalf says that he believes the latter is the true tale, but he can't be sure.
Cool video! What about one on the Mewlips? Or perhaps Boldogs or the Badger folk of the Old Forest. Also, your map videos are super helpful, particularly the Utumno one and the remnants of Beleriand one, so thanks!
5:45 Very smart connection you made there, with Elwing, but I have an issue with Radagast teaching shapeshifting to the Beornings:
If could teach them, he must have known how to shapeshift himself, but we never heard of it anywhere! I do not think Saruman would treat the Brown Wizard so lightly if he knew he could transform into a giant bear any second.
What is my explanation then? It is not much better, but given the fact that the Drúedain also had powers, long before Radagast could grant them, I guess it was Yavanna/Orome who blessed those people such, mayhap because they had to deal with dark creatures beyond their mortal strength.
10:00 No! Tom Bombadil was not a loon! He beat Old Man Willow, and the Barrow Wight, and he remembered Cardolan and Arthedain and Rhudaur!
Oh, and for that last joke the video is disliked rather than liked.
I would assume that only a valar can give a mortal the power to skinchange, so maybe ulmo gifted some men near the anduin this ability
It's a more out there headcanon and not something I'd actually defend as likely; but it's fun to imagine the possibility that Radagast didn't teach or grant Beorn his abilities but that Beorn has them because Radagast is his father (or further-removed ancestor).
That's amusing. If it were the case, it must be nice for Beorn to know that his entire existence is a "mistake", and was caused by someone not doing their job properly. Might explain why he's so grumpy.
Has everyone forgotten the third race of edain? Really? And i date assume people know that the edain existed well ahead of the third age, right? And had their names from the very start.
The house of Bëor dark haired and stoutly built.
Rohirrim are descendants of house of Hador (and lesser men ) and Dúnedain are descendants of Hador and Bëor mixed. Bëornings are likely descendants of... *Drumroll* the Bëorians... Would make sense maybe? Or at the very least got their name after them, just as the character himself was likely named after the original Bëorn...
"Beorn" is an Old English word meaning "man" or "hero" that Tolkien used to translate that character's (old-fashioned) Westron name. Similar to how Tolkien translated the name of Frodo's gardener "Banazîr" to "Samwise".
So while the character we know as Beor was actually called that in Middle-earth (since it's a word in Taliska, a language spoken in Middle-earth) ever since he adopted that name, noone in Middle-earth ever called the guy who could turn into a bear "Beorn". That's just Tolkien's "translation" of his actual, in-universe name found in the Red Book.
@@SNWWRNNG what was beorn's name in the Red Book? I haven't seen that
Despite the similarity, the two names aren't connected. Bëor is a Sindarin word that means "vassal". His original name was Balan, which was Taliskan. As SNWWRNNG explained, Beorn is a the Old English translation of Beorn's actual name, which we don't know (and it's the same for many characters, including The Hobbits and the Rohirrim). It was very likely a Northman name, so it actually would've had more in common with "Balan" rather than "Bëor".
@@doop2541 Unfortunately, we don't know. Tolkien only gives a few of the non-translated names. One is Theoden, whose actual name would've been "Turac".
Hey awesome video! Speaking of The Hobbit and its Mysteries, covering Ogres or the Were-worms of the Last Desert might be another great topic for an upcoming vid! Ogres actually have quite a bit about them in the early writings! The were-worms of the Last Desert might have some connection with Rhun and its Asiatic influences
I've thought about covering all of those strange creatures that were on the periphery of Tolkien's writings in one video.
@@DarthGandalfYT yeah i’d be down for that! There so briefly stated it would make sense
Good video.
amazing content - thank you so much.
big fan like everybody here.
I do youtube videos myself
maybe consider making your start page a bit different listing the most populair videos first - people are prone to watch these more and they will generate more views and subscribers.
Just a tip from one who loves your content!
In one the Middle Earth Roleplaying games adventures a wizard had orcs that could turn into wolves. He was also a werewolf I believe. Same campaign there was a pukel man from the druedain that would come alive if enemy came near.
"Tom bombadill being some forest bloke that's permanently high on shrooms"
Maybe he's the tolkien version of Snowflame, the gains power based the amount of shrooms he consumes. That would explain how he basically told the Barrow-wights to "pi$$ off" and how he managed to defeat Old Man Willow. He was fuelled by his excessive shroom consumption..
If I remember right, Beorn had family that were captured and tortured due to the ability, Beorn was the last of his people until he had children of his own who may or may not have kept the ability. LotRO took that to apply for other skinchangers due to the captured Beornings...of course, the Gauradan are also kind of varied about if their origins were that or due to the giant wolf spirit thing that they grey company encountered on their way south (I believe in Enedwaith) that wasn't hostile.
You also have the stuff from the Adventures in Middle Earth that took the view of Beorn being the last actual skinchanger and his descendents just had some sort of spiritual bear ability rather than actual transformations
Hmm I wonder if the dancing bears of Numenor and some dark sorcery could have something to do with it.
This is a fun theory. I really like it.
Seems to me that the simplest explanation is that Radaghast and Beorn are the same being. The Istari don’t really know each other’s business or purpose
I like this idea very much. Thanks for the comment!
@@triumph.over.shipwreck You’re welcome, and thank you for saying so.
I was thinking orome before you brought up radagast.
My own theory is that the form and mind of Bombidale is Morgoth's prison
maybe do a video on the were worms Bilbo mentions in the hobbit which are a huge mystery in themselves.
Beorn is Rbadagast's build a bear also known as a Werebear.
I think you should do a video on why Gondor didn’t defend Minas Ithil more? They hold out for two years and weren’t as powerful as they were.
If I recall, they were busy defending the westfold
I think Radagast's theory is quite likely. But not to Beorn only, as Beorn mentions that there were once many Skin-chsngers. And that he was the only ine left. However we dont know if thats true. I believe that the Ancient Beornings might have gotten the power frlm a maiar/istari.
I would guess only Beornings could shapeshift. If they could then Sauron would have tried to corrupt them. Unless the shapeshifters were those who resisted in the East and South?!? 🤔😉
Nice theory
A video on the fading of magic will be interesting, and while on this topic wss sauron true to his word? Because the rings of power did actually preserve magic in the world for nearly two whole ages longer that what were supposed to be
The Three (Elven rings) certainly did work. As for the other Rings of Power, I'm unsure, but I think they might have worked as well, but were probably more "malevolent" in what they could achieve.
This occurred to me. Not that this can be proven, but what if the source of their magical shape shifting powers came from a union with a Maia in their ancestry? The Radagst theory is interesting, but the Maia idea has more traction because it has precedence with Melian in the ancestry of Elrond. Anyways, those are my thoughts.
Paul M.
Atlanta, GA
We may both be siths, but Im still gayer.
firsttttttt