They are one of the more mysterious races of
Middle-earth. It’s possible that even within Middle-earth, they were merely the stuff of
myth. Yet, while they are mentioned little in the works Tolkien published, we find they once
played a much larger role in his vision for Arda Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we
cover the Giants of Middle-earth. Like dwarves and trolls, and many other
mythological creatures, we find Giants within the pages of Middle-earth’s history. However, unlike
others, the existence of giants is up for debate, as they are only briefly mentioned and often
come in earlier drafts of Tolkien’s writings. The most concrete instance of giants appearing
comes in the pages of The Hobbit, where we find Bilbo and the Dwarves attempting to cross
the Misty Mountains after departing Rivendell. There they were sheltering under a hanging rock
for the night, and he lay beneath a blanket and shook from head to toe. When he peeped out in
the lightning-flashes, he saw that across the valley the stone-giants were out, and were
hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them, and tossing them down
into the darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little
bits with a bang. Then came a wind and a rain, and the wind whipped the rain and the hail about
in every direction, so that an overhanging rock was no protection at all. Soon they were getting
drenched and their ponies were standing with their heads down and their tails between their
legs, and some of them were whinnying with fright. They could hear the giants guffawing
and shouting all over the mountainsides. As we know, The Hobbit is quite different
in tone to Tolkien’s other works. It is far more a whimsical children's tale than what
some might see as the more serious later works. This has lead many to believe that
the Stone Giants of this story are simply a figment of Bilbo’s imagination as he
experiences something far more terrible than his hobbit mind could comprehend. Immediately
before the description of the Stone-giants, we find the storm itself being
described through Bilbo’s eyes… All was well, until one day they met a
thunderstorm—more than a thunderstorm, a thunder-battle. You know how terrific a really
big thunderstorm can be down in the land and in a river-valley; especially at times when two great
thunderstorms meet and clash. More terrible still are thunder and lightning in the mountains
at night, when storms come up from East and West and make war. The lightning splinters on
the peaks, and rocks shiver, and great crashes split the air and go rolling and tumbling into
every cave and hollow; and the darkness is filled with overwhelming noise and sudden light. Bilbo
had never seen or imagined anything of the kind. Some believe that Bilbo, unable to grasp
what he was seeing, and in his fright, imagined or embellished the existence of
Stone-giants. It would certainly not be the first time Bilbo would be known to embellish
his story, after all. Yet, when the company later comes to Beorn’s house, Gandalf speaks
to Beorn of what transpired in the mountains: Gandalf does not appear to be saying this
metaphorically or mockingly, but as if Beorn would have a complete understanding of the creatures he
is talking about. Gandalf is described as being “far from happy about the giants himself”. And
it is said that Beorn’s ancestors lived in the mountains before the giants came - these are
creatures that Beorn would certainly know of. Now, we have obviously been referring thus
far to Stone-Giants specifically, as they are called. While the Hobbit films depicted
these as Giants made of stone themselves, there’s no indication this is what Tolkien
meant by the term, but rather more likely is they were simply giants who threw stones
- this action giving them their name. Outside of these moments in The Hobbit, we
find that giants were certainly talked about in various places of Middle-earth - even
if only in legend. During the Riddles in the Dark between Gollum and Bilbo, we are
told during one riddle Bilbo attempts to recall all the names of all the giants and
ogres he had ever heard about in tales. But it is not only the stories of Gandalf
and Shire hobbits that feature giants. We find a specific example that actually
comes in The Lord of the Rings, among the mannish realm of Gondor. In this instance,
the pre-Numenorean people living in Gondor had a legend to explain some unique geography
of their land. Their legend tells that giants once lived in the lands north of the
Bay of Belfalas and that they created the White Mountains themselves in order to
keep men out of their lands. In this effort, a giant named Tarlang tripped, breaking his
neck. And rather than dispose of his body, the giants left him where he fell, and
thus Tarlang became part of the land. His neck - or rather the break
in it - becomes Tarlang’s Neck, his head is called Dol Tarlang - translated
as Tarlang’s Head, and the two stones he was carrying become Cûl Bîn and Cûl Veleg -
translated as ‘little load’ and ‘big load’, respectively. While this can quite easily be
written off as a tall tale of the pre-Numenorean men, it is interesting to note that Minas Tirith
itself is described as “so strong and old that it seemed to have been not builded but carven
by giants out of the bones of the earth.” Again, this is simply a grand description
of the city to convey the wondrous Guarded City of Minas Tirith. Yet, I think it is
notable that this description is given to the greatest city of Gondor - where the original
inhabitants had such a great tale as Tarlang. Diving deeper into things like The Book of
Lost Tales, The History of Middle-earth, and The History of The Hobbit, we find that
Giants were meant to be one of the races serving Morgoth (here called Melko). He even
gives us two variations of giants - Ulbandi or ‘wood-giants’ and Taulir or ‘mountainous-giants’.
He even at one point provided two named giant characters - Nan and Gilim. Both are mentioned in
the Lay of Leithian, where Luthien invokes their names to cast a spell to escape her captivity
by her father. She names the longest things in Middle-earth in order to grow out her
hair, using it as rope for her escape… Thus Luthien uses this woven rope to escape, making her way to aid her beloved Beren after
invoking among others - the names of two giants. But what were the giants of Middle-earth? Some
fans and scholars believe they were simply a variation of troll - Douglas Anderson puts forth
this theory in The Annotated Hobbit. With this comes the common perception that such beings
were lumbering and stupid beasts. However, we find in The Return of Shadow that, while writing
the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien envisioned giants possibly being a race of overly large men far
more clever and powerful than one might assume… giants were spoken of, a Big Folk only far bigger
and stronger than Men the [?ordinary] Big Folk, and no stupider, indeed often
full of cunning and wizardry. However, in yet another surprising quote, we find that Gandalf, when speaking
of the Front Porch into Goblin-town: “I must see if I can’t find a more or
less decent giant to block it up again, or soon there will be no getting
over the mountains at all.” In the end, we can’t be wholly certain what giants
were or if they existed. Gandalf’s comments about the Front Porch and to Beorn certainly seem as if
they do. As always, it’s fascinating to see the various versions of his tales Tolkien went through
- be they troll or giant men, or good or evil, or as Robert Foster says in his Complete
Guide to Middle-earth, a joking reference, giants make for another great topic to ponder and
speculate over in the wide world of Middle-earth. as always I want to say a huge thank you to all
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