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Tolkien's Middle-earth doesn't look like Medieval Europe - Page 4

© Michael Martinez

Elrond's house has a great hall for feasting and a separate hall for other functions. This is much unlike the medieval manors where life centered about a single great hall. The city of Caras Galadon, on the other hand, is a uniquely Elvish arrangement. We have nothing like it in Euro-American experience and I doubt anything like it was ever attempted anywhere in the world. Add to that the "magical" devices which are as common as everyday lamps and lightbulbs for us, and it's a very enchanted place. Medieval European did not build houses on platforms in the trees. The lanterns, ropes, boats, and cloaks of the Elves are all examples of the "magical" things they took for granted -- these were items of everyday use and construction for the Elves, who put their thought into all they made. While medieval Europe feared and yet sometimes pursued "magic"; Middle-earth is loaded with "magic". Rohan is an oft-misunderstood country in Tolkien's world. Many people envision the Rohirrim leading a semi-nomadic way of life, but Tolkien went out of his way to emphasize their sedentary existence. When Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli first met Eomer he told them he had removed "all our herds and herd-folk" from the northern lands. He does not speak of all his people, only the "herds-folk". Eomer lived in the city of Aldburg in the eastern White Mountains. Theoden lived in the city of Edoras, built on a hill, behind which ran the valley of Harrowdale, in the midst of which were small villages with names like Underharrow and Upbourn. As Theoden's army passed through women watched from their houses. And when Saruman's army attacked the Hornburg it burned many farms in the valley below the fortress. Theoden's hall has often been compared to Heorot, Hrothgar's hall in "Beowulf". The chief resemblance is that both halls had gilded rooves and could be seen far across the land. Both halls are modelled on the long-house architecture which was utilized throughout northern Europe for thousands of years, with some stylistic differences added for artistic purposes. The Viking hall of the 9th - 11th centuries represents the pinnacle of the northern hall tradition in our imagination, but Heorot comes from an earlier age set at the very beginning of the medieval period. There are a few parallels between Beowulf's approach to Heorot and Gandalf's approach to Meduseld, but they are mostly superficial. The most striking parallel is when Gandalf and his companions are required to lay their weapons outside the door of Meduseld. This is very much like the poem, which in turn only reflected a prudent custom throughout the ancient world.

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