From: <<>> (Steuard Jensen) Subject: Druedain and The Watchers Date: 1999/07/28 Message-ID: Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator) X-Nntp-Posting-Host: harper.uchicago.edu Organization: The University of Chicago Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Not long ago, I was rereading _Unfinished Tales_ and was amazed to find the following passage in the chapter on the Druedain (right before the story "The Faithful Stone"), after a discussion of that people's uncanny ability to remain absolutely motionless for days at a time: But they could also use this stillness when on guard; and then they would sit or stand, hidden in shadow, and though their eyes might seem closed or staring with a blank gaze nothing passed or came near that was not marked and remembered. So intense was their unseen vigilance that it could be felt as a hostile menace by intruders, who retreated in fear before any warning was given; but if any evil thing passed on, then they would utter as a signal a shrill whistle, painful to endure close at hand and heard far off. The service of the Druedain as guards was much esteemed by the Folk of Haleth in times of peril; and if such guards were not to be had they would have figures carved in their likeness to set near their houses, believing that (being made by the Druedain themselves for the purpose) they would hold some of the menace of the living men. This made me realize two things. First, that my habit of writing sentences that are excessively long and involved must have its root in Tolkien. :) More importantly, however, this passage invoked another reference in my mind: But just as he was about to pass under its great arch he felt a shock: as if he had run into some web like Shelob's, only invisible. He could see no obstacle, but something too strong for his will to overcome barred the way. He looked about, and then within the shadow of the gate he saw the Two Watchers. [Snip description, which seems very un-Dru^glike.] They seemed to be carved out of huge blocks of stone, immovable, and yet they were aware: some dreadful spirit of evil vigilance abode in them. They knew an enemy. Visible or invisible none could pass unheeded. They would forbid his entry, or his escape. [Snip Sam's use of the phial of Galadriel.] He sprang past them; but even as he did so, thrusting the phial back into his bosom, he was aware, as plainly as if a bar of steel had snapped to behind him, that their vigilance was renewed. And from those evil heads there came a high shrill cry that echoed in the towering walls before him. A long quote, but the two descriptions seem remarkably similar to me. (Why I didn't notice this until my third or fourth time through that chapter of UT I don't know.) Now, it seems clear that no Druadan would have made a "watchstone" in such an evil form, or one that hated good and gave warning when it passed. However, the connection is so strong to me that I propose that one of the following almost has to be true: 0) The Two Watchers were Maiar. Actually, I think this is ridiculous, but it seems to be the standard catch-all for things people don't understand about Middle-earth, so I thought I'd include it for kicks. 1) The Two Watchers were originally Dru^g-work, which were later perverted by Sauron or one of his servants to be evil. (It is even possible, though unlikely, that the Dunedain who built the tower employed some Druedain to build sleepless doorwards for the fortress.) Presumably, the statues of the Druedain could be recarved to have the observed evil appearance, but the corruption of the "Druedain spirits" that animated them strikes me as far more difficult. 2) The Two Watchers were created by evil things using a very Dru^g-like process, either learned or stolen or inherited from that people. This second option (ignoring the 0th one, for good reason) raises some interesting questions. Tolkien himself commented that the Druedain ability to transfer "part of their `powers' to their artefacts remind one in miniature of Sauron's transference of power to the foundations of Barad-dur and to the Ruling Ring", so we can't assume that _only_ they could ever create such watch-stones. However, the great similarity in form and function suggests a connection. We know that the Druedain were among the least prone of the Atani to evil (and with the most intense hatred of Orcs), so the thought that they taught their arts to the Enemy seems absurd. On the other hand, I find it unlikely in the extreme that a spy peering from behind a bush could observe enough of the `magic' involved in the guardian stones' creation to make the techniques available to the forces of darkness. This leaves only one possibility to my mind: that some Druedain were early on captured by Morgoth and bred into the race of Orcs, perhaps giving rise to an elite class which retained at least some of the Druedain lore and skills. A footnote in UT says the following: [In response to claims that the Orcs were bred from Druedain, the Elves answered:] "Doubtless Morgoth, since he can make no living thing, bred Orcs from various kinds of Men, but the Druedain must have escaped his Shadow; for their laughter and the laughter of Orcs are as different as is the light of Aman from the darkness of Angband." But some thought, nonetheless, that there had been a remote kinship, which accounted for their special enmity. Orcs and Dru^gs each regarded the other as renegades. I have come to the conclusion that this interpretation of (2) is the best explanation of the Two Watchers, and I find its implications for the history of the Orcish race quite interesting. (Who knows how mingled the Orcs' blood was, and if the Druedain ancestry was universal or rare...) At any rate, now that I've created one of my longest and most quote-heavy original posts ever, I thought I'd open this up for comments. Is there evidence against (2) that I'm not considering? Evidence in favor of (1)? (Or, for that matter, in favor of (0), Eru help us.) Has anyone else made this connection? Am I insane? (Then again, don't answer that last one.) Steuard Jensen