Tolkien Monster Manual

[Makar]

So, this is a bit ambitious, but all of the other attempts I have seen at this have left me disappointed. Would anyone be interested in trying to come up with a complete bestiary of Middle-Earth. What I have here is a beginning of a list that I came up with while trying to make a first age campaign. It only includes creatures that existed up to the fifth battle. There are no book and chapter references yet and the races and subraces of men, vala, and elves are not included.

Balrogs: Evil Maia whose powers are in greatest in the area of fire. Gothmog is the captain of the Balrogs, and he slew Feanor, wielding a black axe. They cast spells of shadow and flame. They vary in difficulty, since no two Maia were alike in power. They wield flaming swords and whips. They dwell in the Iron Mountains.

Demons/evil spirits: Evil Maia, of lesser strength than the Sauron or the Balrogs.

Dragons: Cold-Drakes with no legs
Cold-Drakes with legs
Fire-Drakes with legs
Dragons have sight farer than Elves, and their belly is their weak spot, being soft and slimy. It is dangerous to be near them, because of the stench and heat which they exude. Their eyes can overpower an enemy's will. Legless cold-drakes can coil/constrict/crush enemies. They are drawn to hordes of treasure, and attempt to melt gold, gems, etc. to their bellies with their natural heat, to serve as armor against their weak spots. The most powerful have a telepathic link with Morgoth. They reside in Iron Mountains. Glaurung is the greatest of the Dragons, and the first of the fire-drakes.

Dumbledors: Giant wasps.

Easterlings: They are Men who came latest over the mountains and are shorter and broader than the Edain, long and strong in the arm, with swart or sallow skin and hair as dark as their eyes.

Ents: The shepherds of the trees. They wander the woods of the wide earth. (Some forms of sentient flora exist, similar to old man willow and the huorns).

Falmarin: Foam-sprites. Servants of Ulmo.

Fell Beasts: Great primevil bird-like/reptilian creatures that dwell in high, dark mountains.

Gorcrows: Evil birds enhabiting the same swamps as Mewlips.

Great Eagles: Creatures of Manwe the Valar, who dwell in the Echoriath and the Crissaegrim, and roosted even upon the peaks of Thangorodrim, overlooking Morgoth's fortress of Angband in defiance of the Enemy. Thorondor was their king and his wingspan was at least thirty fathoms.

Honeybees: Giant bees.

Hummerhorns: Giant mosquitoes.

The Hunter: A shadowy creature of Elvish legend, who in the Elder Days hunted the Elves, and those whom he captured are said to have been made into the first Orcs.

Manir: Sylphs of the Air, servants of Manwe.

Mewlip: Evil spirits enhabiting foul, dank marshlands. They hoard treasure and their homes are guarded by gargoyles.

Nameless things: The secret and very ancient creatures that dwell in the dark depths of the world. They gnaw dark tunnels far beneath the earth.

Nandin: Fays of the valleys, sprites of the countryside. Dryads. They existed before the world was made and serve Yavanna.

Nermir: Fays of the meads, spirits of the fields. They haunt meadows and riverbanks. They have existed since the world was made and serve Yavanna.

Oarni: Children of the Sea, merchildren, mermaids. Servants of Ulmo.

Ogres: Evil creatures, in the service of Morgoth since the Elder Days.

Orcs: Were made in the Elder days, in mockery of Elves. The strongest Orcs are those which guard Angband. Orcs vary in difficulty by class and level. The Snaga are the grunts of the Orcs and serve as slaves when other races cannot be enslaved. Goblins are lesser than Orcs and live in the mountains. Orcs ride wolves, wargs. Morgoth has developed a special breed of orc for forest-warfare. The Orcs are often equipped with scimitars and broad-bladed spears. The also fight with axes, maces, and bows. Their armor is of lower quality than that of other Speaking Peoples.

Orossi: Fays of the mountains. They existed before the world was made and serve Yavanna.

The Rider: A shadowy creature of Elvish legend that pursued the Elves in the Elder Days, in the service of Morgoth.

Spiders: The children of Ungoliant live in Nun Dungortheb and vary in size and power from Shelob to the spiders of Mirkwood. They seek to consume light, and devour magic gems for power. Their webs are black and absorb light. Their filth pollutes the waters around their dwellings.

Stone Giants: Huge man-like beings who live in the mountains and guard passes and throw huge boulders. Some are evil, none are good.

Suruli: Sylphs of the Wind. They serve Manwe.

Tavari: Fays of the woods. Dale-sprites. They existed before the world was made and serve Yavanna.

Trolls: Huge man-like creaturs, with tusks, horns and fangs, made in mockery of Ents. They are weakened when moving by the light of day. They hoard treasure.
Hill: They live in hills and moors.
Stone: They turn to stone by the light of day. These at least are capable of speech.
Mountain: They live in caves in the side of mountains.
Cave: They live in caves, in the depths of mountains and are the least intelligent, but have the toughest skin, which acts like armor.
Snow: They are resistant to cold and adapted for snowy environments, dwelling high in the mountains.

Vampires: Evil spirits taking the form of giant, blood-sucking bats.

Wargs: A ferocious and intelligent race of wolves, more aggressive
and larger than normal wolves, and capable of speech.

Watchers: Mysterious and evil tentacled beasts who dwell in deep pools, near the dark places of the Earth.

Werewolves: Dreadful spirits who were imprisoned in the bodies of fell wolves by Sauron.

Wights: Evil spirits inhabiting the corpses of the fallen.

Wingildi: Foam-maidens. Nymphs of the waves. Servants of Ulmo.

[Makar]

Keeping in mind that this was made for a D&D campaign.

In terms additions for update to fourth age, I see:

Winged fire drakes
Olog-hai
Uruk-hai
Half orcs
Neekerbreekers
oliphants
races and subraces of men, dwarves, elves, hobbits
vala and maia
wereworms

whatever, this list is wrong on many points, but it was meant to get things started

[Estelyn Telcontar]

An interesting and ambitious list, Makar! I do have one objection - LotR counts the Ents as one of the Free Peoples, so I would not include them in a bestiary.

[Bêthberry]

Well, what exactly would you like us to do, Makar? Add references to the books? Add other creatures?


Estelyn, Makar has also included the Easterlings, certainly the race of men. I wonder if this would lead into a discussion of what constitutes a beast or sentient life in Middle-earth. But I am not sure what is meant by this phrase:

There are no book and chapter references yet and the races and subraces of men, vala, and elves are really included.

They aren't listed, so are you trying to include all forms of animate life, Makar? Given that orcs--or some of them--are twisted elves, it becomes difficult to define them as beasts without including unfallen elves also, doesn't it?

[Makar]

I guess it could include whatever you want it to. Eventually it might include all of the races and subraces. I was merely noting the lack of text citations, in case somebody asked, "Hey, where'd that monster come from." Please keep in mind that this list very rough and was made for a D&D campaign. Therefore it does not include that races that were available to PCs. However, though some Easterlings, kinsmen of Bor, were available as PC races, others -folk of Ulfang and Brodda- were NPC races. I am working on this list. I don't really want anybody to do anything for me, except maybe point out where I'm wrong. I just put up this old list to kind of get some discussion going. Thanks.

[Elrian]

There is already a book out on this, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...649421-5101404
also overstock.com has it a few dollars cheaper.

[Makar]

I've seen that book and it includes a lot of stuff, but it doesn't include everything. If you feel that I have let any kind of creatures slip through the cracks, please tell me. I suppose the major purpose was to come up with a complete list of creatures (including speaking peoples) of anything mentioned by Tolkien in any works relating to ME.

[Elrian]

Considering it was in print before the HoME series, there must be quite a few it did miss.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Since you are planning to include the sentient races, I guess my problem boils down to the terminology - I would not call a list that includes Men, Elves, etc. a "Bestiary", since that word suggests "beasts" and is used for animals.

[Bêthberry]

Yes, Estelyn, I am aware that 'bestiary' is reserved mainly for medieval lists of real or imaginary animals, and includes fables and allegories of such creatures. I was simply wondering if Makar was using a more philosophic or scientific definition which includes, for example, homo sapiens as animals. Since at least hobbits, dwarves and elves are fabled species, I wondered if he was extending the list of sentient beings.

This is not just a quibble over definition, though, I would think, but goes to the nature of sentient beings in Middle earth and is related to how Tolkien discusses language.

For instance, if orcs are corrupted elves, they apparently have lost the ability to generate their own vocabulary and perhaps grammar, whereas other species, like Ents, clearly have language. Black Speech is apparently a foul form of speech, its vocabulary stolen from other languages. Yet it is, clearly, called speech.

'It is said that [the Orcs] had no language of their own, but took what they could of other tongues and perverted it to their own liking...'
The Lord of the Rings
Appendix F I The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age

But in that Appendix Tolkien refers to orcs as "foul people."

'Orc is the form of the name that other races had for this foul people as it was in the language of Rohan. In Sindarin it was orch. Related, no doubt, was the word uruk in the Black Speech...'
The Lord of the Rings
Appendix F I The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age

Did the elves create the word 'orc' which was perverted into uruk, or was it vice versa? Perhaps Black Speech was not orcish, but Sauron's own language, which the orcs then aped.

With walking trees, talking dragons (even dragon spells), eagles imbued with the spirit of Eru (Thorondir could talk and was mighty as the elf-lords), and the fabulous element of faerie, I'm not sure that sentience (or language) can be used to draw a hard and fast line between the beasts and the ... two legged creatures.

Edit: Then there are those two "river spirits", Goldberry and her mother, the River-woman. And as for Tom's race, well ...

[Makar]

Let's not call it a bestiary, let's call it a list. A list of all the living things that exist in ME that don't exist in our world, or exist in some manner that is different from our world.

[Bêthberry]

Oh but 'list' is so prosaic. I like "bestiary." It recalls fables and legends. It comes out of the Middle ages. It suits the fairie realm.

EDIT: My point about the beastial conundrum was to suggest that the old line drawn between humans and beasts or animals is not tenable in Middle earth. Nor, in fact, has it always been observed in our primary world. But that is a different argument.

[Celebaglar]

Originally Posted by Makar

Keeping in mind that this was made for a D&D campaign.

In terms additions for update to fourth age, I see:

Winged fire drakes
Olog-hai
Uruk-hai
Half orcs
Neekerbreekers
oliphants
races and subraces of men, dwarves, elves, hobbits
vala and maia
wereworms

whatever, this list is wrong on many points, but it was meant to get things started

yes, i was wondering myself, what of the olog-hai. Aren't they merely large orcs, or particularly cunning and sun resistant trolls, enhanced by malice?

[obloquy]

Balrogs don't belong in a "bestiary," nor do any other Umaiar. And I'm not quite sure what you mean by "[Balrogs] vary in difficulty."

Other than that, have your fun.

[Makar]

Olobquy, please refer the replies to the original post, in which I explain that bestiary is the wrong word and that now it's just a list and for the difficulty phrase please read where I explain that the list came from a D & D campaign. Thanks for your consent in my having fun.