The
Tolkien Monster Encyclopedia
This
page is devoted to all the monsters and races belonging to darkness.
Here you will find
Orcs, Goblins, Balrogs and many more fearsome creatures.
Use the index to the left to have a look at, and read about your favourite tolkien-monster.
This page was created in 1998 by Calle Mattsson as part of a school project.
The
Monster Vote
During the late 90's I held a monster vote on this site to determine once and for all which monster was the most feared in all the realms (or at least which one was the most popular). Thousands of people voted and in the end the winner was the Balrog with more than 1/5 votes.
1 |
Balrog |
2 |
Gollum |
3 |
Nazgûl |
4 |
Orc |
5 |
Smaug |
6 |
Morgoth |
7 |
Sauron |
8 |
Witch King |
9 |
Shelob |
10 |
Ungoliant |
So what can you say about the result? Well I can
see at least
one definite pattern… seven out of ten of the most popular
monsters are
humanoid. The balrog, gollum, the nazgûl, the orcs, Morgoth,
Sauron and the
goblins have two arms, two legs, one head etc. I dare say that we
humans are
more easily frightened by the prospect of facing truly evil humans than
we are
of dragons. This is probably because humans are real, dragons are not.
Not many
people would take you seriously if you told them about the dragon you
saw last
night. True evil can only be found in humans, not in animals or
beasts.
As for Smaug, Shelob and Ungoliant (# 5, 9, 10):
Arachnophobia, phobia of spiders, are among the most common phobias of
our
time. Shelob (and her mother Ungoliant) are giant spiders and from this
I take
it, comes their popularity. Smaug the dragon is one of the monsters in
Middle-earth that you get the most information on in ”The
Hobbit”, and why not
the popularity? Dragons are classic and belong in every fantasy story
and
faerie tale.
Statistics |
|||
1998 |
Gold - O |
Silver - O |
Bronze - O |
January |
Balrog |
Uruk-hai |
Shelob |
February |
Balrog |
Gollum |
Morgoth |
March |
Orc |
Balrog |
Nazgûl |
April |
Balrog |
Orc |
Smaug |
May |
Nazgûl |
Balrog |
Gollum |
June |
Gollum |
Smaug |
Nazgûl |
July |
Nazgûl |
Balrog |
Gollum |
August |
Smaug |
Balrog |
Orc |
September |
Nazgûl |
Gollum |
Morgoth |
October |
Balrog |
Nazgûl |
Gollum |
November |
Balrog |
Nazgûl |
Morgoth |
December |
Smaug |
Orc |
Balrog |
1999 |
Gold - O |
Silver - O |
Bronze - O |
January |
Balrog |
Morgoth |
Ungoliant |
February |
Balrog |
Orc |
Morgoth |
March |
Gollum |
Balrog |
Orc |
April |
Balrog |
Nazgûl |
Orc |
May |
Gollum |
Nazgûl |
Balrog |
Hydrophobia
of the Nazgûl
by Calle Mattsson
When Sauron
told the nine ringwraiths to look for the ring he knew
that they
would have
difficulties doing so. All, except the Witch-king, stand
little chance of
accomplishing
anything alone during the day; and all, except the
Witch-king,
are afraid of
water. They only cross water if a bridge is available.
Even then
only if the
choice is between crossing the bridge or disobeying
their master
Sauron, which
they simply can not do. Sauron knew that his most
powerful
servants would
have to cross several rivers in their search for
Bagger but his
desire for the
ring made him send the Nazgûl anyway and thereby
announcing
to the world
that war was at hand.
No doubt that
some of Sauron´s enemies knew about the weakness of
the
Nazgûl.
This hydrophobia of the Nazgûl proved to be very important
at several
occasions.
Elrond used the
river Bruinen itself to stop the Nazgûl when they
came too
close to
Imladris. When the wrath of the river came upon the black
riders they
were forced to
flee back to Mordor.
Khamûl
the Easterling, the second most powerful of the Nazgûl,
almost caught
the Hobbits
after their visit at Farmer Maggot´s house. Khamûl knew
that the
ring was on the
other side of the river but he could do nothing.
Gollum crossed
the river Anduin when he fled from Mordor and
therefore
he escaped the
Nazgûl. They could not follow Gollum and he was
instead
captured by
Aragorn.
When Sauron
first attacked Gondor his purpose was to get the Nazgûl
over the
bridge at
Osgiliath. When this had been accomplished the Nazgûl went
north.
Boromir and
Faramir managed to stop Sauron´s army but at that time
the dark
lord had no
intention of marching towards Minas Tirith.
Tolkien never
explained why the Nazgûl feared the water, but
superstition
has always held
that that a ghost cannot cross water. It is not
known why this
came to be
believed, but it was a widespread belief, especially in
England
and other
European countries.
When the
ringwraiths were ordinary humans, before Sauron gave them
their rings,
many of them lived by the water. Several came from the
island of
Numenór were people loved the sea.
The conclusion
is that somehow the black magic used on the Nazgûl
had problems
focusing when near water. Ulmo and Össe may have had
something to do
with the hydrophobia of the Nazgûl.
Ulmo is no
friend of evil and he can still influence the waters far
away from the sea of Belegaer since Manwë helps him.