Warg
In the
Through
Etymology and origins
The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey states that Tolkien's spelling "warg" is a cross of Old Norse vargr and Old English wearh. He notes that the words embody a shift in meaning from "wolf" to "outlaw": vargr carries both meanings, while wearh means "outcast" or "outlaw", but has lost the sense of "wolf".[3] In Old Norse, vargr is derived from the
Tolkien's word 'Warg' clearly splits the difference between Old Norse and Old English pronunciations, and his concept of them – wolves, but not just wolves, intelligent and malevolent wolves – combines the two ancient opinions.[5]
In
The medievalist and Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns writes that Tolkien uses the fact that wolves were among the Norse god Odin's war beasts "in a particularly innovative way".[9] Odin kept two wolves, Freki and Geri, their names both meaning "Greedy"; and in the final battle that destroys the world, Ragnarök, Odin is killed and eaten by the gigantic wolf Fenrir. Thus, Burns points out, wolves were both associates of Odin, and his mortal enemy. She argues that Tolkien made use of both relationships in The Lord of the Rings. In her view, both the dark lord Sauron and the evil Wizard Saruman embody "attributes of a negative Odin".[9] She points out that Saruman has wargs in his army, while Sauron uses "the likeness of a ravening wolf"[T 1] for the enormous battering ram named Grond which destroys the main gate of Minas Tirith. On the other side, the benevolent Wizard Gandalf leads the fight against the wargs in The Hobbit, using his ability to create fire, and understands their language. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf again uses magic and fire to drive off a great wolf, "The Hound of Sauron",[T 2] and his wolf-pack; Burns writes that the wolves' attempt "to devour Gandalf hints at Odin's fate", recalling the myth of Fenrir and Odin.[9]
J. R. R. Tolkien
... and in the middle of the circle was a great grey wolf. He spoke to them in the dreadful language of the Wargs. Gandalf understood it. Bilbo did not, but it sounded terrible to him, and as if all their talk was about cruel and wicked things, as it was. Every now and then all the Wargs in the circle would answer their grey chief all together ...
Tolkien's description of wargs in The Hobbit[T 3]
In
Tolkien's wargs influenced the ten-year-old Rayner Unwin to write a positive review of The Hobbit, with the words "Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who lived in his hobbit hole and never went for adventures, at last Gandalf the wizard and his dwarves persuaded him to go. He had a very ex[c]iting time fighting goblins and wargs." The review led his father, Stanley Unwin, to publish the book, still doubting its likely commercial success.[12]
The critic Gregory Hartley treats wargs as "personified animals", along with the
Other authors and media
In
See also
References
Primary
- ^ Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 4, "The Siege of Gondor"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 4, "A Journey in the Dark"
- ^ a b Tolkien 1937 ch. 6 "Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire"
Secondary
- ^ ISBN 978-1-60925-312-7.
- ^ Olsson, Göran. "Hunnestadsmonumentet" [The Hunnestad Monument] (in Swedish). Hunnestad.org (Village). Retrieved 10 May 2020.
Hunnestadsmonumentet kom till i en tid då makten centraliserades i Norden. Inristningen bör ha skett under en period, åren 985-1035, då Sven Tveskägg eller Knut den store hade makten i Skandinavien, eller de närmaste åren efter denna period.
- ISBN 978-0261102750.
- Clarendon Press.
- ^ ISBN 978-0261-10401-3.
- ISBN 978-0-85991-513-7.
- ISBN 978-0-19-283946-6.
- ISBN 978-0-8153-1660-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0802038067.
- J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. p. 433.
- ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
- ISBN 978-1-78694-682-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7864-8473-7.
- OCLC 889426663.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-9631-0.
- ISBN 978-0-691-23274-4.
- OCLC 953456168.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0.
- OCLC 9552942.
- OCLC 519647821.