Q: Could Asfaloth Be One of the Mearas?
ANSWER: I think the question implies a relationship to the special herd of horses owned by the Kings of the Mark, not necessarily meaning “did Glorfindel get his horse from Rohan’s herd of mearas?”
I haven’t written much about the mearas because Tolkien didn’t write much about the mearas. They are descended from Felaróf, the wild white horse whom Eorl tamed. His father Léod had captured the horse as a foal and failed to tame it. In fact, Léod was killed by Felaróf. Eorl pursued the horse and daunted it into submission.
But if Felaróf was found in the wild, where were his parents — what kind of horses were his ancestors?
In The Silmarillion we are told that the Noldor brought a few horses to Middle-earth from Aman. They bred these horses in Middle-earth and built up large cavalry forces. But when Morgoth destroyed the Elven realms of Beleriand, what became of their horses? Tolkien doesn’t say.
Readers have asked if the Mearas could be descended from Elvish horses. Just because the horses came from Aman doesn’t mean they have to be immortal, but one certainly expects things of Aman to live a long time. And the Mearas are stated to live about as long as Men do. According to current wisdom, horses tend to live 20-30 years. Hence, an 80-100 year old horse would be absolutely remarkable. It would seem an Elvish thing to many, I am sure.
We could also infer or assume (with no support from the texts) that the horses had once lived longer in Aman but that in Middle-earth their lives were shortened. Another assumption we could make is that any horses that mingled with “normal” horses from Middle-earth might have produced shorter-lived bloodlines, so whereas Mearas could be a hybrid bloodline, there might be an Elvish herd of horses that lived hundreds of years.
Asfaloth is only named in The Lord of the Rings, in the primary narrative. There is an anecdote regarding Glorfindel in the appendices in which he confronts the Lord of the Nazgul on a white horse — but the horse is not named. Hence, we don’t know if Tolkien intended that horse to be Asfaloth. And yet, even if it was Asfaloth that doesn’t tell us if Asfaloth was immortal or simply very long-lived.
I think the question must be treated as unanswerable as far as Tolkien’s literature is concerned. But if you’re writing fan fiction or role-playing adventures I would favor the “Mearas are a hybrid” hypothesis. That is, Asfaloth could be related to the Mearas but not one of them. I seriously doubt Tolkien imagined the Elves of Rivendell procuring horses from Rohan, but Léod’s people lived in the northern Vales of Anduin at the time he found Felaróf and I just think there would have been all sorts of opportunities for Beleriandic horses to make their way to that region at some point in the 6500 years of the Sun since the Noldor had returned to Middle-earth.
It would require only 1 loose horse to start a hybrid line. So, in my opinion, Tolkien probably meant for Asfaloth to have a connection with the Mearas but it was a detail he most likely felt would be better left unexplained.
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Interesting I wondered on the origin of Mearas myself. What do you think about possibility that this breed of horses came from the Nahar himself, the steed of Vala Orome? Nahar must have been remarkable creature, apparently immortal unless there’s something we don’t know about and most likely of huge size (in physical form Orome must have been bigger than Children of Iluvatar). Orome (or Araw) is credited with bringing to Middle Earth white oxen, the Kine of Araw and Eotheod/Rohirrim, at least, believed he also brought Mearas to live among wild horses of the upper vale of Anduin. Could it be that they were descendants of his magnificent steed and as it often is they were weaker version of him.
Oh and what about the hideous creature the Mouth of Sauron rode, maybe it was a sort of a…corruption of horses or some other beast entirely, even at Cuivienen the Hunter was a form of a Dark Rider so maybe Morgoth somehow perverted some creature (or horses maybe even of the Mearas if they already existed) to serve as a steed for high ranking servants and Sauron followed the custom (though the Nazgul at first used normal horses just raised in Mordor first to not draw attention as it was stealth mission second because any living thing needed to be raised in Black Land to get used to malevolent presence of wraiths) well later they received flying beasts which gave more mobility giving significant advantage but Lieutenant of Barad-dur was gifted with one (interesting really is the fact that the beast has flame in eyesockets and nostrils, hellish horse indeed :).
Most of my horses have made it to their late 20s, a mustang mare who ran wild for 8 years,before I acquired her, lived to 29 (this included 8 years of substandard grazing in the high deserts of southeastern Oregon). Ponies are notoriously hardy and long lived, over 30 isn’t uncommon. I know of a horse owned by a vet, which was in his/her 40s, and another at a local farm (PA)who we think is 40 (a long-lived Arabian). 20 is rather short lived. Wiki has a record of one living to 62, and a pony living to 56 (now that is unusual).
I think too, it is better for an author to leave some things for the reader to infer, to apply to the tale from their own experience.
Faerie tale is full of “faerie horses”, so I think the Elves would have had some Elvish horses whose bloodlines would have influenced every other equine in Middle Earth. Descent from Nahar himself would fit the mythology of Middle Earth.
In our own Middle Earth, the Arabian horse is a distinct, and ancient breed whose influence is felt in nearly all modern breeds. When crossed on “cold blooded” types (or on my own mustang) “warmbloods” are created which often have the best qualities of both breeds.
PS: horse color trivia:
Most of the “white horses” you see are not in fact white, they are grey, a normal horse color that has greyed out with age (most achieve whiteness by ten or so). You can tell by the dark skin around eyes and muzzle.
Real white horses exist (see: every Silver in every adaptation of the Lone Ranger), there are a number of different genes which cause this, none of which are albino. Albino does not exist in horses.
PSS: on the question of the inspiration for the Mearas, white horses are archetypal; part of many ancient religions, as well as myths and faerie tales. They’re associated with Sun and Sky and the Gods therein, with Lightning, with Heroes (easy to see a guy on a white horse in a battle), with Purity, with Goddesses, with Light. In Nature, white animals are rare, they are pretty much a huge flashing neon sign that screams “eat at Joe’s!”, wild horses follow this rule of survival: be nice camo colors… so domestic horses, under the protection of humans, gradually took on rare greys and whites. Today they are more common (humans like to breed for color, for flashy and for matching teams), but the darker, basic colors (bays, chestnuts) are still more common.
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