Q: What Was Tolkien’s Inspiration for the Mearas?
ANSWER: Most people generally associate J.R.R. Tolkien’s liteary fascination with white horses in The Lord of the Rings (specifically, the Mearas — the noblest horses in Rohan, of which Shadowfax was the chief) with white chalk horses carved into hillsides around England. The white horse figures are deemed to be very ancient, perhaps dating to Celtic times before the Roman invasion.
And while Celtic influences have had a rich and profound effect upon Tolkien’s fiction, Germanic scholars and medievalists often point to Anglo-Saxon (Old English) traditions that could have served as equally suitable sources for much of Tolkien’s imagery. In fact, Tolkien was quite fond of using “northern” archetypes that were common to both Celts and Germans (and to other Indo-European peoples including the Homeric Greeks).
There is, however, a special tradition recorded by the Roman writer Tacitus that may be relatively unique to ancient Germans. Tolkien would have been aware of this tradition, which is found in Tacitus’ Germania:
Auguries and Method of Divination. Augury and divination by lot no people practise more diligently. The use of the lots is simple. A little bough is lopped off a fruit-bearing tree, and cut into small pieces; these are distinguished by certain marks, and thrown carelessly and at random over a white garment. In public questions the priest of the particular state, in private the father of the family, invokes the gods, and, with his eyes toward heaven, takes up each piece three times, and finds in them a meaning according to the mark previously impressed on them. If they prove unfavourable, there is no further consultation that day about the matter; if they sanction it, the confirmation of augury is still required. For they are also familiar with the practice of consulting the notes and flight of birds. It is peculiar to this people to seek omens and monitions from horses. Kept at the public expense, in these same woods and groves, are white horses, pure from the taint of earthly labour; these are yoked to a sacred car, and accompanied by the priest and the king, or chief of the tribe, who note their neighings and snortings. No species of augury is more trusted, not only by the people and by the nobility, but also by the priests, who regard themselves as the ministers of the gods, and the horses as acquainted with their will. They have also another method of observing auspices, by which they seek to learn the result of an important war. Having taken, by whatever means, a prisoner from the tribe with whom they are at war, they pit him against a picked man of their own tribe, each combatant using the weapons of their country. The victory of the one or the other is accepted as an indication of the issue.
Emphasis is mine.
Ancient German tribes are not usually closely associated with horses. Coming from the thickly wooded hills and mountains of central Europe the Germans had a reputation for fighting on foot and having little to do with horses. However, one ancient tribe — the Tencteri — were known to be remarkable horsemen and they fought against Julius Caesar in Gaul (he ultimately defeated them and drove them back across the Rhine). Of course, I and other writers have mentioned Tolkien’s use of Gothic influences in constructing some of the traditions of the Rohirrim, but there are a few items in Tacitus’ and Caesar’s writings that stand out. The Tencteri, for example, fought in close formations that could wheel about quickly just like the Rohirrim. But unlike the Rohirrim, who loved horses above all other creatures, the Tencteri warriors might leap off their own horses and stab enemy horses in the belly during battle.
Tolkien probably based the Mearas on a mix of sources, including the Bible, where white horses are shown in the best possible light as pure spirits with divine influence.
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