Q: Are There Matches in Middle-earth?
ANSWER: This question came from the audience at Dragon*Con and I had no answer at the time. Now that I have found some time to do some research I can say that, yes, J.R.R. Tolkien does mention matches. But before I get to the citations I thought it would be interesting to look at the etymology of the word match, for I have never really thought about it.
We think of very small wooden sticks covered with a sulphur-based compound that, when struck against a rough surface, are likely to burst into flame for a few seconds. But the English word match was not always used for that purpose.
The word match is ultimately derived from ancient Greek myxa, meaning “mucus” (such as may drip from your nose). This word was used for the wick of a candle, and from it came words in Latin, Old French, and English that were used for candle wicks (although English also had wick).
When gunpowder came into use in Europe in the 1500s the English adapted the word match to refer to a small cord or piece of wood soaked in sulphur; they used such matches to light lamps, candles, and cannons. Matchlock firearms were developed in the 1400s, and they used a match for lighting their gunpowder and triggering mechanisms resembling door locks. When the triggering (lock) mechanism was pulled it lowered a burning wick (match) onto a pan of gunpowder, thus igniting it.
The self-igniting matches we know today were developed in the 1800s, and for a time they were also called lucifers (and probably a few other names). But match became the word we associate with these commonplace firestarting devices.
And so as we consider the following two passages we should keep in mind the history of the word match, but also the way modern matches are used. I will begin with a passage from The Lord of the Rings, from the chapter “The Scouring of the Shire”:
‘Raise the Shire!’ said Merry. ‘Now! Wake all our people! They hate all this, you can see: all of them except perhaps one or two rascals, and a few fools that want to be important, but don’t at all understand what is really going on. But Shire-folk have been so comfortable so long they don’t know what to do. They just want a match, though, and they’ll go up in fire. The Chief’s Men must know that. They’ll try to stamp on us and put us out quick. We’ve only got a very short time.’
Merry’s use of the word match could be regarded as ambiguous. Tolkien often used words in vague ways, allowing their more ancient meanings to apply alongside their less ancient meanings. But in this case I think most people will agree that he had modern matches in mind. Let us look at the second passage, found in “Riddles in the Dark” in The Hobbit:
He could not think what to do; nor could he think what had happened; or why he had been left behind; or why, if he had been left behind, the goblins had not caught him; or even why his head was so sore. The truth was he had been lying quiet, out of sight and out of mind, in a very dark corner for a long while.
After some time he felt for his pipe. It was not broken, and that was something. Then he felt for his pouch, and there was some tobacco in it, and that was something more. Then he felt for matches and he could not find any at all, and that shattered his hopes completely. Just as well for him, as he agreed when he came to his senses. Goodness knows what the striking of matches and the smell of tobacco would have brought on him out of dark holes in that horrible place. Still at the moment he felt very crushed. But in slapping all his pockets and feeling all round himself for matches his hand came on the hilt of his little sword – the little dagger that he got from the trolls, and that he had quite forgotten; nor do the goblins seem to have noticed it, as he wore it inside his breeches.
Here Bilbo is fumbling about in the dark for matches (plural) he would have carried on him. I doubt that he would have wanted or needed several burning cords hanging off his clothing, so he most likely was feeling around for good, new-fashioned Victorian style self-igniting matches.
Hence, I think it’s safe to say that Merry’s match was of a similar nature for Tolkien did not role back the Victorian anachronisms he had invested in his description of Bilbo’s home for The Lord of the Rings, although he obviously paid less attention to such details.
For what it is worth, there is at least one ancient Chinese reference to the use of small wooden sticks covered with sulphur that were used for lighting candles and fires, but these were not the self-igniting matches of the 19th century. They were like the cords used several centuries later across the Old World. I don’t think Tolkien had those small fire sticks in mind, especially as Bilbo would not have been able to start a fire with one in a dark cave.
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Also in The Hobbit, the narrator says, “Gandalf, too, was lying down after doing his part in setting the fire going, since Oin and Gloin had lost their tinder-boxes. (Dwarves have never taken to matches even yet)” (p. 99). However, it may be difficult to parse this statement. On the one hand, the narrator may feel the need to explain why Thorin’s company didn’t have matches. He implies that the dwarves could have brought matches with them, but they preferred to use tinderboxes. Furthermore, “matches” are devices for starting fires, and are an alternative to tinder-boxes.
On the other hand, when the narrator says “even yet,” he could be referring to his own present time (the point in time in which the narrator is telling the story). In that time, matches are available, but the dwarves of that time have not taken to them.
Avec beat me to it, but yes I was thinking the same thing.
See also: Beregond, Anders Stenström: Striking Matches – An Exegesis of H V:4 (Arda 1984/5).