| This article is about the vague term. For the winged steeds of the Nazgûl, see Black Wings. |
Fell beasts and fell creatures were vague terms used to describe different monstrous, evil, and dangerous animals and other creatures that existed in Middle-earth (but not in Aman)[1] from the Elder Days until the late Third Age. The Black Wings[2] of the Nazgûl,[3] in addition to Werewolves,[4] were described as fell beasts. The Nazgûl themselves[5] and hill-trolls[6] are sometimes called fell creatures. In some cases Orcs, Trolls, and Dragons were distinguished from fell beasts.[7]
History[]
When the Spring of Arda was marred, some beasts became monstrous creatures with horns and tusks. In Utumno, Melkor bred monsters of different shapes and kinds.[8] At these times, Oromë came to Middle-earth as a hunter of monsters and fell creatures.[9][10]
While Melkor was captured by the Valar, not all of his evil creatures were destroyed. They multiplied in the darkness, and even before the return of Morgoth, fell beasts of the North were roaming far and wide in the lands east of the Blue Mountains, so Nandor who inhabited woods of Eriador were frightened and fled from the plains to the hills or migrated to Ossiriand.[11] Soon fell creatures came even to Beleriand over passes in the mountains and from the dark forests of the south.[11] When Morgoth returned, he gathered countless hosts of beasts, Úmaiar, and Orcs in Angband,[12] while the wilderness of Nan Dungortheb was inhabited by fell creatures of Ungoliant[13] including spiders and other monsters.[4]
Fell beasts continued to trouble Middle-earth during the Second Age and the Third Age.[7] In the Third Age, many fell beasts and evil creatures began hunting in the Greenwood when the forest became haunted by darkness.[7] The Witch-king gathered many fell creatures as well as Orcs and evil Men in his realm of Angmar in order to destroy the Dúnedain of Arnor.[14] The Dúnedain of Gondor also faced threats from monsters in addition to Orcs and evil Men.[7] During the War of the Ring, Frodo Baggins had a vision atop the Seat of Seeing wherein he saw Wood-elves and Woodmen battling against fell beasts in Mirkwood.[15]
Etymology[]
As with the expression "fell things" occurring in The Lord of the Rings,[16] the word fell means "dreadful, terrible, fierce, cruel" in this sense as an archaic English word.
Similar terms[]
Monsters,[9] fell beings,[11] foul creatures[17] and evil creatures[9] were similarly vague and perhaps even more broad terms. Both monstrous spiders[12] and Orcs,[18][19] were sometimes called "foul creatures" while Oliphaunts were sometimes called "monsters"[3] and "great monsters"[3] as well as occasionally "great beasts."[3]
Beasts of Angband was a term to describe all beasts in the hosts of Morgoth, such as wolves and maybe dragons as well.[20]
Misshapen beasts, alongside Úmaiar, dragons, and Orcs, were among evil things devised by Morgoth in the days of his dominion that continued to trouble Men during the Dark Years of the Second Age.[21]
Spell-enslaved beasts, alongside Orcs, Trolls, Easterlings, and Haradrim, were a part of Sauron's army in the Battle of the Morannon.[22][23] The exact nature of these beasts is untold.
References[]
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers, Book Four, ch. III: "The Black Gate is Closed"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Lord of the Rings, Vol. III: The Return of the King, Book Five, ch. VI: "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien"
- ↑ Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Three: The Third Age, IV: "The Hunt for the Ring", "(i) Of the Journey of the Black Riders according to the account that Gandalf gave to Frodo"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Vol. III: The Return of the King, Book Five, ch. X: "The Black Gate Opens"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 The Silmarillion, "Valaquenta"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Beginning of Days"
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Sindar"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Flight of the Noldor"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, "Of Maeglin"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, ch. X: "The Breaking of the Fellowship"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, ch. III: "Three is Company"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers, Book Four, ch. X: "The Choices of Master Samwise"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Vol. III: The Return of the King, Book Six, ch. VI: "Many Partings"
- ↑ Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Three: The Third Age, I: "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, "Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor"
- ↑ The Chronology of The Lord of the Rings, V. A Published Chronology: Appendix B, 1. "Here at the end of all things", pg. 149 (entry for March 25 in Table 14 continued)
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Vol. III: The Return of the King, Book Six, ch. IV: "The Field of Cormallen"