Тема: Монстрология Средиземья

[vospominatel›]

(1)Варги. Это разновидность волков? Из "Хоббита" и "Хранителей" известно что они обитали в Мглистых горах, но как они там уживались с орками которые жили в пещерах? Да и откуда варги, где они ранее обитали?

(2)Обитали ли какие нибуть разновидности хищных тварей в Нуменоре?

[Ричард Нунан›]

(1) Вопрос, насколько вы знаете английский? В "Истории "Хоббита" есть специальный раздел, посвященный варгам. Просто приводить на форуме английский текст без перевода настоятельно не рекомендуется, а переводить такие большие куски пока не могу.

[Алмиэон›]

(1) Вопрос, насколько вы знаете английский? В "Истории "Хоббита" есть специальный раздел, посвященный варгам. Просто приводить на форуме английский текст без перевода настоятельно не рекомендуется, а переводить такие большие куски пока не могу.

Может все-таки приведешь? Какой-нибудь добрый человек да переведет. Хуже же не будет. Я вот тоже хочу почитать.

[Ричард Нунан›]

The Wolves

   Wolves do not, of course, eat people. But legend and folk-belief has maintained otherwise from time immemorial, from Aesop's fable of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf [sixth century BC] through fairy-stories like 'Little Red Riding-Hood' [seventeenth century French] and 'Peter & the Wolf" to the modern day (Saki's 'Esme' and 'The Intruders', Willa Cather's My Antonia, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and any number of Jack London stories). Perhaps the most famous literary account of a wolf-attack prior to Tolkien's occurs in Defoe's Robinson Crusoe [1719] - in the later chapters, after Crusoe's rescue from the island and return to civilization, he and Friday are set upon by a wolf-pack while travelling with a small group through the Pyrenees, repulsing the attack with great difficulty in a battle described with all Defoe's characteristic vigor and attention to detail. Tolkien himself cited S. R. Crockett's The Black Douglas [1899], a now justly forgotten novel, as his chief influence on the scene:
  the episode of the 'wargs' (I believe) is in part derived from a scene in S. R. Crockett's The Black Douglas, probably his best romance and anyway one that deeply impressed me in school-days, though I have never looked at it again. It includes Gil de Rez as a Satanist.
—JRRT to Michael Tolkien, c.1967; Letters p. 391.
   Closer examination of Crockett's book shows that while there is indeed a battle with wolves in it, the scene bears little resemblance to Tolkien's in The Hobbit (in fact, it is far closer to the battle outside Moria in The Lord of the Rings, which it probably did inspire). In Crockett's historical romance, Chapter XLIX: 'The Battle with the Were-wolves' is devoted to a detailed account of how three Scotsmen (two servants and a cousin of the late Lord of Douglas of the title) are set upon by evil wolves in the forest of Machecoul as they attempt to rescue their dead lord's sister and her maidservant from de Retz, who plans to sacrifice the two in a Satanic ceremony to regain his lost youth. The wolves are led by La Meffraye, a shape-changing witch in de Retz's service,⁴ who takes the form of a great she-wolf. But rather than climb trees, as one of the servants prudently advises, the Scots put their backs against a bare lightning-struck pine and wait, watching the wolves muster in a ring all around them before finally charging for an eerily silent attack. The three of them eventually beat off the attack by sheer force of arms. Rather than actual fire, as in Tolkien, the scene is lit by 'the blue leme of summer lightning', also described as 'the wild-fire running about the tree-tops' and '[t]he leaping blue flame of the wild-fire'. The she-wolf (who does not personally take part in the charge, but directs her troops from a safe distance) eventually calls off the attack. The howls fade in the distance, becoming more human-like as they recede (one of the Scots remarks 'these are no common wolves. There will be many dead warlocks to-morrow throughout the lands of France') finally ceasing suddenly at cock-crow.
   As this summary should make clear, Tolkien did not follow Crockett's scene either in outline or detail: Tolkien's wolves attack pell-mell and his heroes lack the Scots' idiotic bravado (having considerably more sense), while Crockett's villains do not receive timely aid (as per the wargs' goblin-soldier allies) that requires a deus ex machina for the heroes' escape. The only points in common are a wolf-attack in a forest clearing, the uncanny fire (magical but real in Tolkien's case, merely illumination from distant lightning in Crockett's), and the idea that the wolves are a lesser evil in service or allegiance to the real enemy.⁵
   Tolkien's wargs owe less to literary tradition than his own imagination, stimulated as always by philology. The word 'Warg' itself is derived from the Old English 'wearg', a word meaning both a literal wolf and also a figurative one, i.e. an outlaw. Clark Hall's Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary [1894; rev. 4th ed., 1962] defines it as '(wolf), accursed one, outlaw, felon, criminal' and glosses its adjectival forms as 'wicked, cursed, wretched'. Tolkien himself, in a footnote to an unmailed letter, stated that
   The word Warg used in The Hobbit and the L. R. [i.e., The Lord of the Rings] for an evil breed of (demonic) wolves is not supposed to be A[nglo]-S[axon] specifically, and is given primitive] Germanic form as representing the noun common to the Northmen of these creatures. —JRRT to Mr. Rang, c. August 1967; Letters, p. 381.7
   He reiterates this point, after distinguishing between the 'internal' his­tory of names within the story and their 'external' history ('the sources from which I, as an author, derived them') in a letter to fellow fantasy author Gene Wolfe:
Warg ... is an old word for wolf, which also had the sense of an outlaw or hunted criminal. This is its usual sense in surviving texts. [O[ld] E[nglish] wearg; О[ld] High German warg; О[ld] Norse varg-r (also = 'wolf, especially] of legendary kind).] I adopted the word, which had a good sound for the meaning, as a name for this particular brand of demonic wolf in the story.
   Note that Tolkien stresses the demonic aspect of these creatures (and, in the Wolfe letter, that of their goblin allies: 'Orc I derived from Anglo-Saxon, a word meaning a demon, usually supposed to be derived from the Latin Orcus - Hell. But I doubt this . . .'), a feature which seems more in keeping with the wargs of The Lord of the Rings, whose bodies melt away with the daylight (cf. Note 5), than the wolves that tree Gandalf & Company. It could be argued that Tolkien's thinking in the 1960s may have been influenced by his late speculations that the ores, especially ore-leaders like the Great Goblin, Azog, and Bolg, might have been incar­nated evil spirits similar in kind, if less in power, to the balrogs (for more on these 'boldog', see pp. 149 & 139). However, it can also be seen as a return to Tolkien's portrayal of wolves in the early Silmarillion tradition, especially in the figures of Draugluin and Carcharoth.
   According to 'The Tale of Tinuviel', the race of wolves was bred by Melko from dogs (thus reversing the actual historical relationship between the two species), making the wargs Mr. Baggins encounters yet another of the Children of Morgoth, in accordance with the pattern throughout this book. In the earliest story, the Cerberus-like guardian of the gates of Angband (or Angamandi, as it was then called) was Karkaras ('Knife-fang') , the Father of Wolves (eventually changed, through many inter­mediary stages, to Carcharoth, 'the Red Maw'). Some characteristics of this monster persisted through all the permutations of the story: that he was greatest of all wolves who ever lived; his role in biting off Beren's hand, swallowing the Silmaril, and eventually giving Beren his mortal wound; his death in the woods of Doriath (originally called Artanor) at the hands of Beren, Huan, and Luthien's father, his vitals half-devoured by the Silmaril's 'holy magic' (BLT II.31, 33-4, 36-7, 38-9). The most important alteration, his loss of status as the first wolf or Father of Wolves, came through the introduction into the legendarium of a second great wolf, Draugluin, during the later development of the Beren & Luthien story for 'The Lay of Leithian'. This 'old grey lord/of wolves and beasts of blood abhorred' (lines 2712-2713, HME III.252), whose authority even Carcharoth recognizes and respects (lines 37546, HME III.290), is Sauron/Thu's trusted pet 'that fed on flesh of Man and Elf/beneath the chair of Thu himself (lines 2714-2715, HME III.252). Like Carcharoth, he can speak," perhaps anticipating 'the dreadful wolf-language of the wargs' in The Hobbit (p. 204).
   The most important of all the legendarium's wolves, however, is Sauron himself; Tolkien even considered having it be Thu the necromancer in wolf-form who devoured Beren's companions one by one in the dungeons beneath Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves (cf. the plot-outline for 'The Lay of Leithian' that Christopher Tolkien refers to as 'Synopsis IF, cited on HME III.233). Not only is Thu referred to as 'the Lord of Wolves' but after Draugluin's death at the hands (so to speak) of Huan, Thu takes the form of a demon wolf, hoping thus to fulfill the prophecy of Huron's being slain by 'the mightiest wolf of all'. Thu's identification with wolves in 'The Lay of Leithian', which Tolkien was working on simultaneously with the original drafting of The Hobbit, is so great that his title as 'Master of Wolves' almost tends to overwhelm his identification in that work as 'the necromancer'. We should also not forget that after his defeat by Huan and Luthien he retreats to the forest of Taur-na-Fuin, which Tolkien elsewhere explicitly identified as Mirkwood ('Taur-na-Fuin, which is Mirkwood' - 1937 Quenta Silmarillion, HME V.282; see also 'The Disaster of the Gladden Fields', Unfinished Tales, page 281), the borders of which Gandalf and Company are approaching when they encounter the wargs. Thus, although Tolkien makes no explicit link in The Hobbit between the appearance of the wargs and the proximity of the necromancer's tower, any reader of the older tales and lays coming to The Hobbit for the first time would not be surprised to find wolf-packs allied with goblins prowling about near any refuge of The Necromancer.

4) Crockett's La Meffraye (whose wolf-form is named Astarte) is reminiscent of the wolf-woman in MacDonald's 'Nycteris and Photogen' [1882] (a story also known as 'The Day Boy and the Night Girl'); MacDonald's tale probably inspired Crockett's characterization of the wolf-woman. MacDonald also wrote another story about a female werewolf, 'The Gray Wolf [1871]; probably his single best short story, it depicts not an evil witch but a wistful, forlorn young woman cut off from love and normal human contact by her lycanthropy.

5) By contrast, the wolf-attack in 'A Journey in the Dark' (LOTR.314-7) is much closer to Crockett's in conception and detail. Forced by terrain to fight on the ground, the Company of the Ring see the wolves massing in a great circle beyond their defensive ring, with 'a great dark wolf-shape . . . summoning his pack to the assault'; we get the same sudden grey wall of attackers, the desperate thrusts and stabs by the defenders (in this case, Aragorn, Boromir, Gimli, and Legolas), and the with¬drawal of the wolves before dawn. Also, it is made clear that these are no ordinary wolves, as their bodies melt away with the dawn (Crockett's 'were-wolves', while enchanted, left their bodies behind when killed, as did the wargs of The Hobbit).f The chief difference between the scene in The Lord of the Rings and that in The Black Douglas is in the presence of Gandalf and his use once again of magical fire to turn the tide in the heroes' favor.

[vospominatel›]

Кто нибуть может раздобыть исчерпывающюю информацию о воронах из Дунланда. Как они стали прислужниками Сарумана?

[Ричард Нунан›]

Кто нибуть может раздобыть исчерпывающюю информацию о воронах из Дунланда. Как они стали прислужниками Сарумана?

Такой информации вроде нет. Кстати, как и однозначных утверждений, что они прислуживали именно Саруману. Если я правильно понимаю, речь идет о воронах из главы "The Ring Goes South":

– Что это, а, Бродяга? Сдается мне, таких туч не бывает, – шепнул Сэм на ухо Арагорну.
Тот не ответил: он пристально вглядывался в небо. Но Сэм вскоре и сам понял, что это. По небу, делая широкие круги и зигзаги, с огромной скоростью летели птицы, что-то выискивая на земле. Стая неслась прямо к лагерю.
– Ложись и не двигайся! – шепнул Арагорн, толкая Сэма в тень остролиста.
От птичьей армии вдруг отделился целый полк и, резко снизившись, промчался над самым гребнем. Сэму показалось, что это вороны, только очень большие. Летели они так плотно, что по земле за ними черным пятном неслась тень, а голоса сливались в сплошное хриплое карканье.
Арагорн дождался, пока птицы разделились на две стаи и скрылись на севере и западе, а небо очистилось. Только тогда он вскочил на ноги и поспешил разбудить Гэндальфа.
– Меж горами и Хойрой летают стаи черных ворон, – сказал он ему встревоженно. – Мы видели их – здесь, над Остролистией. Но это не здешние птицы. Это кребаин. Они гнездятся где-то в Фангорне и Тусклоземье. Что им тут понадобилось – я не знаю. Может, конечно, на юге что-то случилось и они спешат покинуть место бедствия, но мне кажется – это соглядатаи. Вдобавок сегодня я видел еще и ястребов... Видимо, отдыхать нам нельзя. Воздух Остролистии перестал быть целебным. За этими краями следят.

(перевод КК).
В "The Lord of the Rings: a Reader's Companion" Хэммонда и Скалл говорится следующее:

crebain - A special kind of crow, singular *craban. In An Introduction to Elvish (1978, p. 75) Jim Allan suggests that Sindarin *craban is related to Old English crawan 'to crow' (usually of a cock), Old High German hraban, Old Norse hrafn, Old English hratfn 'raven'. (Compare Old English crawe 'a crow'.)

crebain - особая разновидность ворон, ед. ч. *craban. Во "Введении в эльфийский" (1978, p. 75) Jim Allan предполагает, что синдаринское *craban связано с древнеанглийским crawan 'кукарекать' (обычно для петуха), древним верхненемецким языком hraban, древнескандинавским hrafn, древнеанглийским hratfn 'ворон'. (Ср. с древнеанглийским crawe 'петух'.)

Там же они пишут, что эпизод с черными воронами присутствует уже в ранней версии ВК, еще до появления в сюжете Сарумана.
Вот фрагмент из VII тома НОМЕ:

Trotter says that the crows are ‘not natives to this place’, but does not add that ‘they are crebain out of Fangorn and Dunland’

Бродяга говорит, что "вороны не из этих мест", но не добавляет, что "это кребаин, гнездящиеся в Фангорне и Дунланде"

Значит, изначально они не могли быть его прислужниками. Что же до конечного варианта, то Х. и С. пишут, что Толкин мог сам не знать точно, кто ответственен за эту слежку, вводя еще один момент недосказанности, неопределенности, оставляя простор для воображения читателя.
Сама же традиция служения ворон (ну, и (с неохотой надо признать) воронов) в творчестве Толкина очень стара. Достаточно вспомнить ту же Лэ о Лейтиан.

Unconquerable spears of steel
were at his nod. No ruth did feel
the legions of his marshalled hate,
on whom did wolf and raven wait;
and black the ravens sat and cried
upon their banners black, and wide
was heard their hideous chanting dread
above the reek and trampled dead.

In his sleep
he felt a dreadful darkness creep
upon his heart, and thought the trees
were bare and bent in mournful breeze;
no leaves they had, but ravens dark
sat thick as leaves on bough and bark,
and croaked, and as they croaked each neb                                                 
let fall a gout of blood...

The raven and the carrion-crow
sat in the alders all a-row;
one croaked: 'Ha! Beren comes too late',
and answered all: 'Too late! Too late!

[vospominatel›]

Барлоги. Сколько их было?

[Мёнин›]

В черновиках они бегали сотнями, и были значительно слабее, конечно.

В последствии - "Никак не больше дюжины".

[Juliana›]

В черновиках они бегали сотнями, и были значительно слабее, конечно.

Тысячами даже. Один Тургон сотоварищи в Гондолине завалили сорок (!) балрогов...

В последствии - "Никак не больше дюжины".

И даже - "не больше трех или, в крайнем случае, семи".

[Мёнин›]

И даже - "не больше трех или, в крайнем случае, семи".

Точно не три. После гибели не менее двух из них в Гондолине в Войне Гнева балроги участвовали во множественном числе.
В войне гнева "балроги были уничтожены", а один-таки дожил до конца третьей эпохи. Так что минимум пять получается.

[vospominatel›]

Барлог из Мории что встретило Братство, был последним?

[Ричард Нунан›]

Барлог из Мории что встретило Братство, был последним?

Балрог. Судя по всему, был последним, хотя однозначного утверждения у Толкина я не помню.