Animated Nature in Middle-Earth

[Sharkû]

In the old superstitous belief systems, man always imagined nature as being animated.
The oldest idea was that the (dead) souls went into or already inhabitated plants, animals, and the countryside. Later, nature, and its enigmas, was seen as something divine. Only as a third step, actual deities, aligned to forces of nature, were worshipped.

I think we have exactly the same scheme in Middle-Earth as well! Although here it is not a chronological development, but one of style, and the point of view.
In The Hobbit, we have numerous examples of animated or personified nature: Wargs, which are very close to werewolves, or 'possessed' wolves; Beorn, whose skin-changing ability was one which was often connected in ancient belief to someone who actually was a soul, a spirit, and could thus change form at will; the Giants throwing around stones in the Misty Mountains, who are never again mentioned in the later books -- obviously, because the idea of them has become atavistic, since they were in our world only an explanation for avalanches; the turning of the trolls to stone by keeping them up until daylight (although a trait of the Norwegian dwarves as well, also one method to get rid of evil nightmares and wraiths); the appearance of intelligent ravens, crows and eagles (not yet explained as it is elsewhere by the Prof.)... are there any more examples I missed now?

In LOTR, nature is still animated, but possesses its own superhuman spirit, it is idolized. The Old Forest (maybe even TB himself?), the walking Tree Hal saw, the obviously evil nature (flies, bushes) of Mordor, athelas, the White Tree, the stone-work of the dwarves and how they cultivate stone, and of course the mighty eagles and ents are examples for the 'divine' nature in LOTR; a step forward from the view presented in The Hobbit.
Opposed to this would be the rationalism of, for example, Saruman; it was his big fault that he never cared enough about the trees.

The highest form of animated nature can be found in the earliest tales of the West such as in the Silmarillion, where certain aspects of nature were indeed divine and sometimes part of, at least always part of the creation of the divine beings and of Ilúvatar.
The great dog Húan is a maia; we learn that the great eagles, are, too; the creation of the ents by Yavanna as guardians of the trees is explained; and the strongest embodiment of the divine nature are the Two Trees. Imbedded in the First Age is however also a different view which belongs to the first category, the mysterious powers of the Drúedain with stone, where the stone gets a human soul.

Obviously, animated nature is something that is apparent in all of Middle-Earth in all its ages; and this undoubtedly is one of its fascinating sides for the modern, rationalistic and dis-illusioned reader, a world where old superstition is real.

I came up with only a handful of examples for each, though. Any ideas?

[Kin-strife]

Some interesting points Sharkù. The thought of animated nature could be seen as the influence behind myth in general. A lot of mythology stems from ideas inspired by the natural world. Before the days of hard scientific fact explanations of everyday and not so everyday natural events were a whole lot more imaginative. For example, as you mention, avalanches being perceived as giants throwing about stones in Mirkwood (did this exist in many other mytholgies, forgive my ignorance). It can be seen as a product of the superstitious (and perhaps paranoid) mind before the safe certainty of scientific belief. Before the general understanding of the natural world anything was possible.
There isn't much I can add to your post but there is something I've always noted about Tolkiens Myth which I think I could mention here. I've always though the myth bears the mark of being written in a scientific age. It can't be said that anything can happen in Tolkiens myth in the same way as it can be said for other, more ancient, myths. The boundaries of science are eliminated but brand new ones are set in its place. You are very rarely left wondering where something came from, the answer is given to you. The origins of most everything, with the exception of Eru, are given in the books. Or at least the means of deducing the origins are given. I imagine that this attention to detail comes from the scientific time the books were written in. Perhaps it was Tolkiens realisation of this fact that caused him to include Tom Bombadil, the enigma. To salvage what he could of that feeling of bounderlessness from the myths that inspired him. I think it is this "substituted science" that is the attraction to a lot of readers. I for one like the utterly fantastic, yet somehow strangely believable world Tolkien provided. A science like depth of explanation without the banality. It doesn't stretch science by creating some extraterrestrial world which could exist but I could never visit. It's our world through a sideways perspective. You can go to a nearby forest on a windy day and imagine nature being animated around you, the trees clawing at you in defence in case you should try to chop them down. I think animated nature is essential to the enjoyment of fantasy; a way to escape from scientific law. If this is all be a bit off topic I aplogise.

[Gwaihir the Windlord]

Tolkien loved what he did. He had to explain every detail, and I think I can imagine the incredibly annoying niggle that he would have had if he didn't. He created Arda, and so he knew everything about it and had to tell us. It's as if God wrote a history of the Universe. Every loose end would be tied up, and we wouldn't have much use for the scientists anymore.
Try to imagine you have created a world with a species in it for which you can't trace it's origins. Impossible. That's a rather loose analogy, but I think you can get the picture. You would know how the creature got there because you made it. Tolkien wrote down all his thoughts. It really was like a History of the Universe, by God.

Sharku mentioned, I think, that Tolkien's world was not wholly Medieaval; that's what makes it so attractive. It's really believable, and can be traced back to this world just about seamlessly. The spirits, Maiar, are still there, but have subsided a little, not showing themselves so much as they did.

(Sorry if all that was a little bewildering...)

[Orald]

Umm, the mountain Caradhras seemed to be very alive, at least from Gimli's point of view

[Gwaihir the Windlord]

Perhaps because it was being possesed by a Maia.

[amyrlis]

Just another animated nature example I wanted to add: I just re-read the part in FotR when they are at Hollin. Gandalf says that it is a safe place because it takes the earth a long time to forget the presence of the elves. But Legolas says that the grasses and trees have long forgotten the elves and only the rocks "lament" their absence. It's as though Legolas can actually hear the rocks lamenting.

[Sharkû]

Now, elves are a very good point, they seem to be linked to nature in a much closer and direct way than most mortals. Often it appears that only they remember that nature is alive and animated (where that is the case).

[Orald]

Ents and Hourns!