September 7, 2002

Spiritual Matters
Brett C.

Hello Radagast. Regarding your queston about Glaurung, if you check out the chapter in the Silmarillion 'Of Aule and Yvanna' you will see that when Yvanna speaks to Manwe the Elder King recieves a vision of the Treeheards, and that at that time many spirits enter Arda. Some come to inhabit trees and become Ents, while presumably others go on to inhabit certain animals, such as the Great Eagles, endowing them with greater intelligence and the power of speech [though not necessarily free will, since they are not named in TreeBeard's song regarding the Free Peoples]. Possibly Morgoth seized or seduced some of these spirtis and corrupted them, as he did the Elves he found when they ememrged. This may answer your question, and others regarding the nature of Werewolves in Middle Earth, but Tolkien seemed to take pains to never reveal too much of the nature of his creation, which I feel contributes to its compelling realism in the face of more detailed fantasy novels which have never really seized on my imagination,. Thus the origin of these 'spirits from outside' is a matter of conjecture.