Esgaroth
Esgaroth | |
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Wilderland |
Esgaroth, or Lake-town, is a fictional community of
At the time in which The Hobbit is set, Esgaroth appears to be a city-state, and a republic with no king (the only real republic shown in Middle-earth). The Master of Lake-town was said in-universe to be elected from among the "old and wise"; scholars have noted that all the same, he was trapped by his greed. Tolkien modelled the town closely on the real neolithic pile dwellings that were discovered near the Alps in the 19th century.
Fictional role
Geography
Esgaroth was located in north-eastern
Language
The inhabitants of Esgaroth knew the language spoken by most of Tolkien's Middle-earth,
Master of Lake-town
Master of Lake-town is the title given to the elected leader of Esgaroth. The Master of the town when Bilbo and Thorin's Company arrived in The Hobbit was portrayed as a capable businessman, but more than a little greedy and cowardly.[T 2] He was stated as having run off with a large amount of gold and dying in the epilogue.[T 3]
Concept and artwork
Tolkien made a series of drawings of Bilbo's escape from the Elves, as he floated with the Dwarves in barrels down to Esgaroth. The finished drawing shows a town on wooden piles above the lake, accessed by a walkway. He modelled the town closely on the
Fictional etymology
Compared to Dale, the other town in the valley of the River Running, Esgaroth is the more "mannish" and vernacular settlement. Its masters do not have any elvish-sounding names as the former kings of Dale, nor is Esgaroth a monarchy. This stems from the fact that in the past, Esgaroth was less influenced by the refined Númenorean civilisation than Dale.[6]
The meaning of the name Esgaroth is unclear. While it is not
Analysis
At last the people in a body
To the Town Hall came flocking:
'Tis clear, cried they, our Mayor's a noddy;
And as for our Corporation — shocking
To think we buy gowns lined with ermine
For dolts that can't or won't determine
What's like to rid us of our vermin!
Robert Browning, 1842
Douglas A. Anderson notes in The Annotated Hobbit that Lake-town's Master and councillors possibly derive from Robert Browning's "Mayor and Corporation" in his 1842 poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Anderson comments that Tolkien "loathed" the poem, and that in 1931 he wrote a satirical poem called "Progress in Bimble Town" dedicated to the "Mayor and Corporation".[9]
Esgaroth has been interpreted as Tolkien's criticism of
The
It has been observed that there is an internal division in the minds of the people of Esgaroth. What they remember of the town's glorious past is preserved in songs and tales, but this lore is not considered actual history by the people but rather fiction. A few songs looked into the future foretelling the return of the dwarven kings and a new age of prosperity. The unexpected arrival of Thorin therefore causes great excitement among the Esgarothians who immerse "themselves in a fantasy that is only tangentially connected to the old prophecies ... and is almost completely detached from the world around them." The practical Master is capable of adapting to this new situation by assisting in the composition of new songs from which he profits. Eventually it is Bard though whose voice in the battle against the dragon is the voice of legend when he is revealed as the direct heir of Girion, Lord of Dale.[13]
In other media
In Peter Jackson's 2012–2014 The Hobbit film series, Stephen Fry plays the role of the Master of Lake-town in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.[14]
In the 2006
References
Primary
- ^ Tolkien 1955, Appendix A.III "Durin's Folk"
- ^ a b Tolkien 1937, Chapter 10 "A Warm Welcome"
- ^ Tolkien 1937, "Epilogue"
- ^ Tolkien 1937, Chapter 14 "Fire and Water"
Secondary
- ISBN 0618134700.
- ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 131–133.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-261-10360-3.
- ^ Rateliff 2007, p. 448.
- OCLC 458786610.
81 figures, 35 planches [plates]
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7864-8728-8.
- ^ Rateliff 2007, p. 418.
- ISBN 978-0-95432-070-6.
- ^ Tolkien 1988, p. 213, note 3.
- ISBN 978-1-58617-328-9.
- ISBN 978-1443839716.
- ^ a b c Sabo, Deborah (15 October 2007). "Archaeology and the Sense of History in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth". Mythlore. 26 (1). article 7.
- ISBN 978-0-547-73946-5.
- ^ Bulbeck, Pip (19 May 2011). "Stephen Fry Joins 'The Hobbit'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
- ^ Radcliffe, Doug (20 March 2006). "The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II Walkthrough". GameSpot. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-00-723555-1.
- ISBN 978-0261102750.
- ISBN 978-0-3954-7690-1.
- ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0.
- OCLC 519647821.