Q: Was Beorn in the Hobbit a Were-bear?
ANSWER: A were-bear, like a were-wolf, is a man who unwillingly transforms into the shape of an animal (a bear). In The Hobbit Gandalf says of Beorn that he is a “skin-changer”, meaning something other than a were-bear. In Letter No. 144, written in April 1954, Tolkien wrote to Naomi Mitcheson:
Beorn is dead; see vol. I p. 241. He appeared in The Hobbit. It was then the year Third Age 2940 (Shire-reckoning 1340). We are now in the years 3018-19 (1418-19). Though a skin-changer and no doubt a bit of a magician, Beorn was a Man.
In The Hobbit Gandalf provides as much background concerning Beorn as one is likely to find in any Tolkien book:
‘…He is a skin-changer. He changes his skin; sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes he is a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard. I cannot tell you much more, though that ought to be enough. Some say that he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came. Others say that he is a man descended from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world, and before the goblins came into the hills out of the North. I cannot say, though I fancy the last is the true tale. He is not the sort of person to ask questions of.
“At any rate he is under no enchantment but his own. He lives in an oak-wood and has a great wooden house; and as a man he keeps cattle and horses which are nearly is marvellous as himself. They work for him and talk to him. He does not eat them; neither does he hunt or eat wild animals. He keeps hives and hives of great fierce bees, and lives most on cream and honey. As a bear he ranges far and wide. I once saw him sitting all alone on the top of the Carrock at night watching the moon sinking towards the Misty Mountains, and I heard him growl in the tongue of bears; ‘The day will come when they will perish and I shall go back!’ That is why I believe he once came from the mountains himself.”
The special ability that Beorn possesses is not a curse; it may be a gift; or it could be that Tolkien imagined Beorn learning how to change his skin by some special external device. There is a reference to the “bat-hame of Thuringwethil” which Luthien Tinuviel used to disguise herself as one of Morgoth’s servants when she and Beren infiltrated Angband, Morgoth’s mountain fortress. Beren himself (perhaps by means of Luthien’s magic) wore the skin of Draugluin, father of Were-wolves, when he accompanied her. On the other hand, Tolkien does say (in The Hobbit) that many of Beorn’s descendants shared his ability to “change skins”:
…Beorn indeed became a great chief afterwards in those regions and ruled a wide land between the mountains and the wood; and it is said that for many generations the men of his line had the power of taking bear’s shape, and some were grim men and bad, but most were in heart like Beorn, if less in size and strength. In their day the last goblins were hunted from the Misty Mountains and a new peace came over the edge of the Wild.
It is possible to read this passage in more than one way. Perhaps Beorn passed his knowledge of magic on to his descendants. Perhaps his family was given a special ability. Perhaps there was an artifact that was passed from generation to generation.
Beorn is often regarded to be a kind of berserker by many observers. In Norse or Scandinavian tradition berserkers were especially powerful warriors who are believed to have worn bear-skin shirts. They gave themselves over to great rage when charging into battle. Some sources suggest that the berserkers may have practiced certain rituals — which, if true, may have had a hint of magic to them, although they may have been used to induce the rage-like fury of the fighters.
Northern European folklore does feature stories of gods and magicians who take on the forms of animals: seals, wolves, bears, birds, and other animals may turn out to be enchanted people, fairies, or deities. Although it is not clear what Tolkien may have had in mind while introducing the character Medwed (later named Beorn) into the story, he seems to have always intended there to be a hint of magic about the skin-changer.
See also:
- How Much Land did the Beornings Control?
- What Were the Beornings Like?
- Who Were Beorn’s Followers?
- Did Grimbeorn the Old Have any Sons?
- What Does Beorn Mean?
- What Were the Honey-cakes of the Beornings?
- Beorning Questions
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Thanks Michael – this is inspirational.
I’d love to investigate the question in more depth, but for now I will just mention that the ‘werebear‘ of the modern Dungeons & Dragons game seems to be modelled on Beorn (the werebear is good-aligned), and then I’ll add that the old Norse also had the Úlfhéðnar – warriors who wore wolf-pelts instead of the bear-pelts of the berserkers, and the story Bjarkamál (which is particularly dear to me because my oldest son is named after the eponymous hero).
The shield-biting mentioned in that article is interesting. Tolkien seems not to have integrated that behavior into his own stories. I wonder what it was supposed to signify.
There is a trope in mythology of the shapeshifter needing the skin to change. In the selkie legends, a fisherman falls in love with the seal woman, steals her skin so she cannot go back to sea, and must go home with him. Later, one of her children finds the skin, returns it to her, and she returns to the sea. In northwest coast legends there is a similar thing with orcas among some Native tribes: the whale takes off its fin to walk on land in human form (hence my website name). Among many Native American tribes, having a piece of the animal (a feather headdress, fan, or skin) brings the spirit or some of the power of that animal close to you.
I think Beorn harks back to these very old hunter/gatherer legends. I suspect he has a very special bearskin hanging around somewhere.