Drúedain: Difference between revisions
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== History == |
== History == |
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The Drûgs were the first to migrate from Hildórien, the land where the race of Men awoke in [[Rhûn|the east]] of Middle-earth. Initially they headed south, into [[Harad]], but then they turned north-west, becoming the first Men to cross the great river [[Anduin]].<ref group=T>J. R. R. Tolkien (1980), ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', George Allen & Unwin, part 4 ch. 1 p. 383; {{ISBN|0-04-823179-7}}</ref> Many of them settled in the [[White Mountains (Middle-earth)|White Mountains]], where they were the [[Indigenous peoples|first people]]. |
The Drûgs were the first to migrate from Hildórien, the land where the race of Men awoke in [[Rhûn|the east]] of Middle-earth. Initially they headed south, into [[Harad]], but then they turned north-west, becoming the first Men to cross the great river [[Anduin]].<ref group=T>J. R. R. Tolkien (1980), ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', George Allen & Unwin, part 4 ch. 1 p. 383; {{ISBN|0-04-823179-7}}</ref> Many of them settled in the [[White Mountains (Middle-earth)|White Mountains]], where they were the [[Indigenous peoples|first people]]. |
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Some of the Drúedain continued north-west, settling in [[Beleriand]]. There a band lived among the Second House of Men, the Haladin, in the [[First Age]] in the forest of [[Brethil]], whence the Elves came to know and love them. |
Some of the Drúedain continued north-west, settling in [[Beleriand]]. There a band lived among the Second House of Men, the Haladin, in the [[First Age]] in the forest of [[Brethil]], whence the Elves came to know and love them. |
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Although a number of the Drúedain came with the Edain to [[Númenor]], they had left or died out before the [[Akallabêth]], as had the Púkel-men of [[Dunharrow]]. At the end of the [[Third Age]] the Drûgs still lived in the Drúadan Forest of the White Mountains, and on the long cape of [[Andrast]] west of [[Gondor]]. The region north of [[Andrast]] was still known as [[Drúwaith Iaur]], or "Old Drûg land". |
Although a number of the Drúedain came with the Edain to [[Númenor]], they had left or died out before the [[Akallabêth]], as had the Púkel-men of [[Dunharrow]]. At the end of the [[Third Age]] the Drûgs still lived in the Drúadan Forest of the White Mountains, and on the long cape of [[Andrast]] west of [[Gondor]]. The region north of [[Andrast]] was still known as [[Drúwaith Iaur]], or "Old Drûg land". |
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Nevertheless, the Drúedain of Ghân-buri-Ghân's clan came to the aid of the Rohirrim during the [[War of the Ring]]. A large company of Orcs had been sent to the Drúadan Forest to waylay the host of Rohan as it made its way to the aid of [[Gondor]]. It was the Drúedain who held off the Orcs with poisoned arrows whilst they guided the Rohirrim through the forest by secret paths. Without their help the Rohirrim would not have arrived at the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]], and [[Sauron]] would likely have triumphed. As a result, the Drúedain gained the respect of other Men, and King [[Aragorn|Elessar]] granted the Drúadan Forest "forever" to them in thanks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Day |first=David |title=Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nzh93npJTe4C&pg=PA250&dq=Ghan-Buri-Ghan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xRweVPanGoLIiwLTnIFg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Ghan-Buri-Ghan&f=false |year=1991 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=250}}</ref> |
Nevertheless, the Drúedain of Ghân-buri-Ghân's clan came to the aid of the Rohirrim during the [[War of the Ring]]. A large company of Orcs had been sent to the Drúadan Forest to waylay the host of Rohan as it made its way to the aid of [[Gondor]]. It was the Drúedain who held off the Orcs with poisoned arrows whilst they guided the Rohirrim through the forest by secret paths. Without their help the Rohirrim would not have arrived at the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]], and [[Sauron]] would likely have triumphed. As a result, the Drúedain gained the respect of other Men, and King [[Aragorn|Elessar]] granted the Drúadan Forest "forever" to them in thanks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Day |first=David |title=Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nzh93npJTe4C&pg=PA250&dq=Ghan-Buri-Ghan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xRweVPanGoLIiwLTnIFg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Ghan-Buri-Ghan&f=false |year=1991 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=250}}</ref> |
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==Significance== |
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===Individual Drúedain=== |
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{{further|Woodwose}} |
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Ghân-buri-Ghân is perceived as a "leftover," a prehistoric type of human surviving in the modern world. Like the rest of his people, Ghân has a flat face, dark skin and eyes, and wears only a grass skirt.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PQSpu0lU8K4C&pg=PT123&dq=Ghan-buri-Ghan&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FhU-Uq27C-qpiQLJqIGgDg&ved=0CEEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Ghan-buri-Ghan&f=false Chance, Jane, ''Tolkien the Medievalist''], Routledge, 2005, page 100</ref><ref group=T>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Mark Eddy |title=Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues |url=https://archive.org/details/tolkiensordinary00smit |url-access=registration |quote=Ghan-Buri-Ghan |year=2002 |publisher=Intervarsity Press |isbn=0-8308-2312-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/tolkiensordinary00smit/page/108 108]}}</ref> He is seen as a good man with a kind of primitive nobility, a classic example of the [[noble savage]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FRiViwMylSUC&pg=PA286&dq=%22Ghân-buri-Ghân%22+-inpublisher:icon&lr=&ei=B_ygS8S6MoyaMrTdtdQH&cd=14#v=onepage&q=&f=false Rutledge, Fleming, ''The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in the Lord of the Rings,''] page 286, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004</ref> He is by no means stupid, and he "refuses to be patronized."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Wo9asc1i09YC&pg=PA79&dq=ghan-buri-ghan&lr=&ei=Mv6gS52JGJTaMcmenNIH&cd=23#v=onepage&q=ghan-buri-ghan&f=false Stanton, Michael L., ''Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards: Exploring the wonders and worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien,''] page 79, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001</ref> |
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== Adaptations == |
== Adaptations == |
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Revision as of 15:37, 8 March 2020
| Drúedain | |
|---|---|
| In-universe information | |
| Other name(s) | Woses, Drughu, Oghor-hai, Púkel-men |
| Creation date | First Age |
| Home world | Middle-earth |
| Base of operations | Drúadan Forest |
| Language | Drûg |
| Leader | Ghân-buri-Ghân |
The Drúedain are a fictional race of Men which were counted amongst the Edain, who made their way into Beleriand in the First Age, and were friendly to the Elves. They are part of the Middle-earth legendarium created by J. R. R. Tolkien.
The Drúedain are based on the mythological woodwoses.
Names and etymology
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The Drúedain called themselves Drughu. When the Drúedain settled in Beleriand, the Sindarin Elves adapted this to Drû (plurals Drúin, Drúath) and later added the suffix -adan "man", resulting in the usual Sindarin form Drúadan (plural Drúedain).[T 1] Tolkien also used the form Drûg, with a regular English plural Drûgs.[T 2]
Drughu became Rú in Quenya, with the later suffixed form Rúatan (plural Rúatani).[T 1] The Orcs called the Drúedain Oghor-hai.[T 2] The word used for them by the Rohirrim during the Third Age was represented by Tolkien as Púkel-men,[1][T 3] which includes the Anglo-Saxon word pūcel "goblin, troll" (surviving also in Shakespeare's Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and twice in Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill).[2]
In Westron, the Common Tongue of western Middle-earth, the Drúedain were called the Wild Men, or the Woses.
Appearance
The appearance of the Drúedain is entirely different from the appearance of the other races of the Middle-earth legendarium. They are a bit like Dwarves in stature and endurance, stumpy, clumsy-limbed (with short, thick legs, and fat, "gnarled" arms), had broad chests, fat bellies, and heavy buttocks. According to the Elves and other Men, they had "unlovely faces": wide, flat, and expressionless with deep-set black eyes that glowed red when angered. They had "horny" brows, flat noses, wide mouths, and sparse, lank hair. They had no hair lower than the eyebrows, except for a few men who had a tail of black hair on the chin. They were short-lived and had a deep hatred of Orcs. They were known to have certain magical powers and to be still in meditation for long periods of time.
History
The Drûgs were the first to migrate from Hildórien, the land where the race of Men awoke in the east of Middle-earth. Initially they headed south, into Harad, but then they turned north-west, becoming the first Men to cross the great river Anduin.[T 4] Many of them settled in the White Mountains, where they were the first people.
Some of the Drúedain continued north-west, settling in Beleriand. There a band lived among the Second House of Men, the Haladin, in the First Age in the forest of Brethil, whence the Elves came to know and love them. Aghan the Drûg is a protagonist in "The Faithful Stone", a short story set in Beleriand in the First Age.
Although a number of the Drúedain came with the Edain to Númenor, they had left or died out before the Akallabêth, as had the Púkel-men of Dunharrow. At the end of the Third Age the Drûgs still lived in the Drúadan Forest of the White Mountains, and on the long cape of Andrast west of Gondor. The region north of Andrast was still known as Drúwaith Iaur, or "Old Drûg land".
The term Púkel-men used by the Rohirrim was also applied to the fearsome statues constructed by the Drúedain to guard important places and homes; some evidently had the power to come to life.[T 5] Because of their ugly appearance and frightening statues the Drúedain were feared and loathed by other Men of the region; they were considered little better than Orcs, and there was much enmity between those peoples.
Nevertheless, the Drúedain of Ghân-buri-Ghân's clan came to the aid of the Rohirrim during the War of the Ring. A large company of Orcs had been sent to the Drúadan Forest to waylay the host of Rohan as it made its way to the aid of Gondor. It was the Drúedain who held off the Orcs with poisoned arrows whilst they guided the Rohirrim through the forest by secret paths. Without their help the Rohirrim would not have arrived at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and Sauron would likely have triumphed. As a result, the Drúedain gained the respect of other Men, and King Elessar granted the Drúadan Forest "forever" to them in thanks.[3]
Significance
Ghân-buri-Ghân is perceived as a "leftover," a prehistoric type of human surviving in the modern world. Like the rest of his people, Ghân has a flat face, dark skin and eyes, and wears only a grass skirt.[4][T 6] He is seen as a good man with a kind of primitive nobility, a classic example of the noble savage.[5] He is by no means stupid, and he "refuses to be patronized."[6]
Adaptations
Ghân-buri-Ghân is featured in the promotional expansion card set of The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game[7] and in the Lord of the Rings board game. The image for the latter was designed by illustrator John Howe.[8]
He is portrayed on a Decipher card by Wii Kuki Kaa, a New Zealand actor from the Maori tribes of Ngati Porou and Ngati Kahungunu. Kaa was originally chosen to play Ghân-buri-Ghân in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, but his character did not make the shooting phase. Weta Workshop subsequently designed the decipher card.
References
Primary
- This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.
- ^ a b Unfinished Tales, "The Drúedain", p. 385, note 8.
- ^ a b Unfinished Tales, "The Drúedain", pp. 377, 379.
- ^ Unfinished Tales, "The Drúedain", p. 384.
- ^ J. R. R. Tolkien (1980), Unfinished Tales, George Allen & Unwin, part 4 ch. 1 p. 383; ISBN 0-04-823179-7
- ^ Unfinished Tales, "The Drúedain: The Faithful Stone", pp. 380–382.
- ^ Smith, Mark Eddy (2002). Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues. Intervarsity Press. p. 108. ISBN 0-8308-2312-3.
Ghan-Buri-Ghan
Secondary
- ^ The Return of the King, "The Muster of Rohan".
- ^ Hall, J. R. Clark (2002). A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (4th ed.). University of Toronto Press. p. 275. ISBN 978-0802065483.
- ^ Day, David (1991). Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. Simon and Schuster. p. 250.
- ^ Chance, Jane, Tolkien the Medievalist, Routledge, 2005, page 100
- ^ Rutledge, Fleming, The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien's Divine Design in the Lord of the Rings, page 286, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004
- ^ Stanton, Michael L., Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards: Exploring the wonders and worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, page 79, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001
- ^ "List of the 139 cards in the expansion Promotional Cards". Trade Cards Online. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
- ^ "Ghan-Buri-Ghan". Illustrator John Howe. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
Sources
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 519647821.
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). Unfinished Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Part Four, I. ISBN 978-0-395-29917-3.
