December 16, 2002

Wights, Uruks and Firstborn
Brett C.

Some answers posed to questiosn about the various races.

Wights

The first thing to understand about the Barrow Wights is that they are NOT the spirits of the fallen dead mortals whose mounds [graves] they inhabit. Although they do seem to posses some power to make their victims experience past-life experiences from the owners graves [after rescue from the Barrow Merry awakes with the brief dream memory of the owners death at the hands of the forces of Angmar] they are actually spirits called forth by the Lord of Nazgul aka the WitchKing of Angmar to infest the ancient graves of the Dunedain. 'A shadow came out of dark places far away, and the bones were stirred in the mounds,' as it says 'In the House of Tom Bombadil'. The incantation spoken by the wight in the Barrow while Frodo listens speaks of a time when the Dark Lord will rule as a sort of evil messiah lording over a dark resurrection of the dead, taking the place of Eru himself, so clearly these spirits are closely allied with Sauron [or Morgoth]. More proof that they are not ghosts can be found in the fact that they became active only long after the burial of the bodies in the tombs, while in all cases of true undead spirits [The Nazgul, the Dead men of Dunharrow, the spirit of Gorlim who warned Beren in the Silmarillion] the spirit abides on earth from the time of its death until the bonds holding it there, whether of magic, duty, or guilt, are broken. It is even argueable that the Barrow Wights are the spirits of fallen Maiar who have had their earthly bodies slain and their
spirits consigned to the outer darkness, as was the final fate of Saruman. This might explain Tom's song against the Wight 'lost and forgotten be, darker than the darkness, where gates stand forever shut, til the world is mended.' Such spirits, lacking the Ring for a physical focus as in the case of Sauron, would possibly only be able to manifest their power by reanimating the bodies of the long dead Dunedain.

Speaking of which...

The Firstborn [and others]

I believe Tolkein did borrow freely from the Norse legends in crafting the sagas fo Middle Earth. The Rohirrm are heavily based on the Saxons in England, and they were a member of the Teutonic tribes and so originally shared many
legends with the Vikeings with whom the Light Elves are associated. The Tuatha de Dannnan [pronounced, I think, Too-ah day Dah-nun] are more easily identified in the Dunedain, the men of the West. Remember, Elendil and his sons arrived in Middle Earth in nine ships carried amid the clouds by huge waves; the de Dannan of Irish myth came to Eire in nine flying ships during a cloud of darkness and storm. They also brought with them four great magic artifacts - the Sword of the Moon that could cut any armour [Anduril] the Spear of the Sun that sought out its enemies [Aiglos, the spear born by Gil-galad?] the Lia Fail, the stone that would cry out when sat upon by the true High King [the stone of Erech, by which the true heir of Isildur can summon the Oathbreakers] and the Cauldron of Plenty, which many believe to be the basis for the Arthurian grail legend [not literally represented in LOTR, but perhaps symbolically present in the fact that the 'hands of the King are the hands of a healer.']

The Uruk-hai

In the book the Uruk-hai are a kind of half-orc, bred between the races of men and Orcs. I believe they are distinct from the Uruks of Mordor Gandalf sees outside the Chamber of Mazarbul. Those, while still 'large and evil' did not stand quite man high [see description of the orc chief who spears Frodo] while Saruman's troops are man tall at least. My conclusion is that the Uruks are a superior breed of true-blooded orc [like Grishnahk] bred by Sauron, while the Uruk-hai, or Great Uruks, are a mix of this breed with the race of men [the meaning of goblin men is unclear, but perhaps refers to men who have been corrupted by the Shadow?], and an invention used only by Saruman.