“Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?
It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.
It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.
The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance.
In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.”
—Job 39: 19-24
As an oxford Undergraduate, Tolkien trained briefly with King Edward’s Horse, a regiment of British cavalry; since he was born in South Africa and was thus a “colonial” he had to start with the cavalry. For reasons of expense, however, when it came time for him to actually join the army he trained as an infantryman. And given the love for horses that shines out from the pages of most of the works in his Middle-earth legendarium, this was probably for the best. While cavalry charges were not completely rendered obsolete by modern military technology even on the Western Front (as late as General Ludendorff’s Spring Offensive in 1918, a Canadian cavalry regiment under a Colonel Flowerdew performed sterling service driving German infantry out of the Moreuil Woods) they had definitely become incredibly dangerous, with heavy losses frequently negating any gains. And even in the course of performing other less inherently dangerous duties such as transporting heavy guns, supplies, the wounded, and mounted infantry, the British Empire’s horses incurred staggering casualties. Out of a million horses that went to war from 1914-1918, almost 480,000 were killed in the line of duty from enemy action and disease. It was probably just as well that Tolkien, who already lost many of his best friends in battle (only one of his chums from college, Christopher Wiseman, would survive the war), didn’t have to deal directly with the loss of horses as well.
Even though he may not have initially been a horse person, clearly something stuck with Tolkien. Horses and ponies are the animals that appear most commonly in Middle-earth in prominent and heroic roles. Only eagles are more prominent and heroic, starting with their close association with Manwe, High King of the Valar. But for their case, it is fairly certain that the greatest of the Eagles who we meet, such as Thorondor in the Elder Days or Gwaihir in the trilogy proper, are actually Maia, lesser angels and peers of Sauron, the Wizards and the Balrogs, who have taken the form of eagles so as to be the eyes of Manwe and to better assist Elves, Men and other free folk. For the most part, horses in Middle-earth are just, well, horses. But this doesn’t in any way keep them from being inspirational and heroic in their own way. In this article, I’d like to take an opportunity to showcase some of my personal favorites.
Rochallor
Of all the animal stories of the Legendarium, the full story of Rochallor, horse of High King Fingolfin of the Noldor, is the one I find the most heart-wrenching. The full story can be found by piecing together what we get in The Silmarillion with the relevant portion of History of Middle-earth. After the disastrous defeat of the Elves and their human allies at the Battle of Sudden Flame, Fingolfin is brought to a white fury by the confused and incomplete reports that come to his court at Hithlum. Believing that the other Elvish realms (most of which are ruled by his sons and nephews) have been annihilated, when they have in fact been badly weakened but have survived and inflicted heavy losses on Morgoth’s legions, the High King makes the rash decision to end everything once and for all. Girding himself in his blue and silver mail, he mounts Rochallor and rides out to challenge Morgoth himself to single combat. So bright are his armor and the white coat of Rochallor, and so fierce his speed, that none stand in his way. The ensuing duel between the Hgh King of the Noldor and Middle-earth’s version of the Devil himself can only end one way, but Fingolfin doesn’t die alone. Rochallor stays close by until the very end. Not taking flight until after Thorondor the Eagle rescues Fingolfin’s body from Morgoth. He then runs all the way from Angband back to Hithlum, not dying until he reaches the very gates of Fingolfin’s palace. And the definite impression is that he died not from exhaustion or dehydration, but of a broken heart. An echo of Rochallor’s faithful vigil at his master’s last battle can even be found in The Fellowship of the Ring. When the white elven horse Asfaloth carries Frodo to safety across the River Bruinen and the Nine Nazgul are swept away by a magical flood, Frodo is at last overcome by the Morgul wound that he has been able to hold at bay for a week, and falls into a coma. Asfaloth, in the best traditions of an elven horse, stands guard over his fallen rider until Elves from Rivendell arrive and are able to bring Frodo to safety.
The horses of Numenor
In The Rings of Power, the expedition that Princess-regent Miriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and Elendil (Lloyd Owen) lead to Middle-earth is small but potent: 300-500 cataphract heavy cavalry in the Byzantine style. This is however a show invention, because the Numenoreans of the written lore took a page from the Roman Republic and early- to mid-Empire and had…very little in the way of cavalry. Most of their mounted units took the form of auxiliary mounted archers and scouts drawn from Numenor’s subjects in Middle-earth itself, which is also similar to Roman practice at least until the 2nd Century AD. But this does not mean that the Numenoreans didn’t love horses. On the contrary, their nearly familial relationship with their equine friends has no peer in all the legendarium, with the sole exception of the Rohirrim in the Third Age. Drawing from a variety of sources, the recent compendium The Fall of Numenor gives us a great deal of information. How all the people of Numenor, both men and women, started riding from a very young age and were masters of the art by adulthood. How Numenorean men favored equestrian sports which demonstrated their close bonds with their horses. How the horses almost had a psychic link with their mastersThis is something the show actually gets across very well, in particular by showing the deep friendship between Isildur (Maxim Baldry) and his horse, Berek.
Felarof
After a magnificent wild horse threw the northern chieftain Leod and killed him, despite having been captured by him as a foal, it was understandable for his son Eorl’s followers to think the horse was marked for death. But Eorl had something different in mind: mercy tempered with justice. “Come here, mansbane, and get a new name! Felarof I name you. You loved your freedom, and I do not blame you for that. But now you owe me a great wereguild, and you shall surrender your freedom to me until your life’s end.” Felarof seemed to take this fairly well all things considered. The two would become nearly inseparable, and Eorl needed neither saddle nor bridle when riding Felarof. Felarof in turn would understand the speech of men perfectly, even though he would only allow Eorl to ride him. The two would go to war together, most notably leading the host of the Eotheod to the rescue of Gondor at the Battle of the Field of Celebrant; during their desperate ride, as the army is shielded from Dol Goldur by a golden mist cast by Galadriel, Felarof presses on with renewed vigor and Eorl takes this uncritically as a good sign: “He scents no evil. His heart is high, and his weariness is healed.” The two would ultimately die together defending the new Kingdom of Rohan, and would be buried together in the first of the great barrows before Edoras.
Bill the Pony
In Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, as Gandalf tries to figure out how to open the Doors of Durin, Aragorn and Sam busy themselves stripping their baggage pony of excessive gear, since as Aragorn says “Mines are no place for a pony, even one so brave as Bill.” The task complete, they send Bill off with an affectionate goodbye, and Aragorn consoles Sam that Bill knows his way home. This is…a notably less traumatic goodbye than what happened in the book. Not only because the scene in the book also involves howling wolves and the sudden appearance of the monstrous Watcher in the Water, but also because it comes after a friendship that’s explored in much greater depth. After the Ringwraiths scare off almost every horse and pony in Bree into the wilds, including the four that the hobbits had ridden there, they need to find a beast who will carry their gear and help them keep up with Aragorn as he leads them off road to Rivendell. Only one such animal is available, a much-abused pony which the sneering and shifty Bill Ferny sells them for the outrageous sum of 12 silver pennies. It doesn’t take long for Sam to become attached to the pony, giving hm the ironic nickname of Bill, and with a new and caring master Bill’s swagger and disposition improve remarkably even as the group endures a difficult and dangerous trek through the wilds of Eriador. Following their two-month stay in Rivendell, Bill’s health and strength dramatically improve to match his morale, and when the new Fellowship of the Ring sets out no other pack animal will serve. The bond between Sam and Bill is so great that when at the gates of Moria, Bill is panicked and takes flight when the Watcher in the Water makes its first appearance, Sam almost abandons the quest to pursue him. But thankfully, this is not the end of Bill. Somehow he makes it back to Bree, where the kindly innkeeper Barliman Butterbur is able to rescue him and give him a good home. So when the four Hobbits and Gandalf are making their way through Bree on their way back to the Shire, Sam is reunited with his four-legged friend beyond all hope.
Shadowfax
Remember Felarof? He may have died in battle, but his legacy lived on in a magnificent race of horses called the Mearas: white or gray, long-lived as men, strong and proud, and exceptionally fast. Only the Kings of Rohan could ride them. With one exception. When Gandalf showed up at Edoras fresh from being rescued from Isengard, Theoden King rather exasperatedly told him “Take any horse, only be gone ere tomorrow is old!” Gandalf took this literally, and chose Shadowfax, one of these Mearas. It took him three days, but eventually Shadowfax was convinced that Gandalf was worthy, and thus began another magnificent friendship between horse and rider. So close were they bonded that when Gandalf eventually bid farewell to Shadowfax after weeks of traveling around Eriador, the horse refused to let anyone else mount him even when he returned to Rohan. Thankfully his friend returned, reborn as Gandalf the White, and they would never be separated. Shadowfax’s speed and endurance would come in handy time and again as Gandalf rode across Rohan, rallying the scattered defenders of the Fords of Isen to come to the relief of Helm’s Deep and recruiting an army of Huorns from Treebeard, and in bringing Gandalf and an errant Pippin to the relative safety of Minas Tirith. White horse and White Wizard would together form a staple of the defense of the city during its darkest hour, going from place to place, bringing hope to the defenders and being the only thing that could cause the fearsome Nazgul upon their Fell Beasts to turn aside. Even as the gate of the city breaks and the terrible Witch-King of Angmar rides into the city, Shadowfax is the only living creature not to abandon Gandalf as he confronts him. and even when at long last Gandalf’s mission is done and he returns home to Valinor, he is not alone. Shadowfax is not named, but who else can be the magnificant white horse that Tolkien speaks of being at Gandalf’s side as the Ringbearers take ship to the West?
Snowmane
Shadowfax was not the only magnificent white horse to make his appearance in the Trilogy. King Theoden had his own steed, Snowmane; not Shadowfax’s equal in speed or endurance, but still a magnificent horse in his own right. When he was born or how Theoden came to choose him is not recorded, nor how he passed the time when Theoden was under the spells of Grima Wormtongue. But as soon as Theoden is cured by Gandalf and leads his army into the field himself, Snowmane is there to carry him. In the final desperate charge of the king, his household guards, Aragorn and Legolas at Helm’s Deep, Snowmane is the one to carry Theoden. When the host of Rohan rides to the aid of Minas Tirith, Snowmane is the one who carries Theoden again. And at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, so fast is Snowmane that for a moment, he and Theoden were as though the mighty Vala Orome the Hunter had come back to earth, just as he had done in the Battle of the Powers before history was written. Unfortunately, Snowmane would be indirectly responsible for his master’s death. Soon after Theoden and his household escort shatter a counterattack by Haradrim cavalry, the Witch-king arrives, having turned aside from the gate with the blowing of the Northern horns. Snowmane is unfortunately not Shadowfax, and his terror at the Lord of the Nazgul overcame his proud spirit; and in that very moment, a stray arrow found him. Snowmane came crashing to earth, and Theoden, who let us remember was not a young man, was trapped beneath him and mortally wounded by the weight of his horse. But Snowmane would still be remembered not only for accidentally causing his master’s death, but for his bravery and loyal service. Theoden would be brought back to Rohan to sleep with his fathers, but Snowmane would be buried where he had fallen, directly across from where the corpse of the Fell Beast (who had been killed by Theoden’s niece Eowyn) is burned. That spot is brown and barren ever after; but on Snowmane’s Howe the grass is greener and richer than anywhere else on the Pelennor Fields.
These are just a few examples of noble equines from the written lore. There are some others who might not have stood out to me as well, but are worthy of remembrance: Nahar the horse of Orome the Hunter, the sturdy ponies loved by the Dwarves and the Hobbits, Arod the faithful who was gifted to Legolas and Gimli…As I’ve said, no one can read Tolkien’s works and make any other assumption other than that he was very much a horse person. Any adaptation of his works will give the horses their just due, and for the most part this holds true. Indeed, in some cases the adaptations go above and beyond, adding additional horses to the story. We have many examples of these film-specific horses; here are two of my favorites.
Brego
In the books, Aragorn has two horses that are named. At the beginning of The Two Towers he is given Hasufel, a horse of Rohan whose previous rider has been killed in a skirmish. He rides Hasufel until the beginning of The Return of the King, when a company of the Dunedain of the North, his own kinsmen, arrive and bring with them Aragorn’s original horse, Roheryn, perhaps a gift from Arwen. And that is unfortunately the last we hear of Hasufel.
In the movies, meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) also has two horses. Hasufel is given to him in a similar fashion to the books, but they are separated in a far more traumatic fashion; in a skirmish with a detachment of warg-riders, Aragorn is first unhorsed and then dragged off a cliff and presumed dead. Luckily, he’s not yet dead, and later arrives at Helm’s Deep riding a horse…but a different horse than Hasufel, who again vanishes from the story with no explanation. Who is this new horse? For that we need to watch the Extended Edition. There’s an earlier scene where the Rohirrim are preparing to evacuate Edoras, and in the course of their preparations in the royal stables one horse in particular is wild and out of control. At least until Aragorn, who not only is Numenorean race but also was raised by Elrond Halfelven since he was a young child, gets involved, and with a soft voice speaking Elvish he gets the horse to calm down. We learn from Eowyn (Miranda Otto) that his name is Brego, and Aragorn tells the horse “Your name is kingly”; this is true, not only because the name means “chief” “leader” “king” or “lord” in Old English, but because it was the name of the second King of Rohan. We also learn that he had previously been the horse of Eowyn’s cousin Prince Theodred, which helps us understand the trauma the horse is experiencing; Theodred had been mortally wounded during an ambush at the Fords of Isen, and poor Brego had taken the loss very hard. Having calmed the horse down, Aragorn advises that he be set free to live his best life. But Brego doesn’t forget what Aragorn did for him, and after rescuing him serves as his faithful steed for the rest of the trilogy.
Galadriel’s horse
When Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) arrives in Numenor alongside Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), her first impression is…not favorable. And with good reason. Everyone on the island is hostile to her solely on the basis of being an elf; despite being rescued from the sea, nobody has offered her so much as a pair of shoes or dry clothes; when she presents herself courteously and respectfully as Noldorin royalty, she receives only mockery and ridicule; and nobody, not even Halbrand, is in any hurry to help her return to Middle-earth to confront the rising tide of evil. So when Elendil interrupts her attempts to commander a boat to make her own way back, initially her response is quite defensive and hostile in turn. But Elendil very purposely speaks to her in her own Elvish language, and Galadriel is softened by this act of respect and attempt to build bridges. Then something else happens. He mentions the existence of a Hall of Lore and that it is half a day’s ride from their present location, the capital city of Armenelos. Galadriel’s transformation is profound: her eyes soften, a smile crosses her face, and there is a tone of childlike hope as she asks “Did you say ride?” And in the scene that follows, we see this pupil of Yavanna absolutely glorying in her magnificent cremello steed; all her centuries of trauma, sorrow, hardship and loss are gone for at least while, replaced with pure joy in and love for creation as felt in the wind in her face and the power of the mighty horse of Numenor. While some people felt this scene, with its slow-motion and one instance of an extreme closeup of Galadriel’s joyful face, felt weird, many others such as myself love it, for the beauty of its execution and what it represents for Galadriel.
Galadriel’s horse also provides an example of how the show is able to not only call back to the Jackson films, but also the books themselves in ways that the films never were quite able to. In Episode 6, with the ravaging orc band led by Adar (Joseph Mawle) having been broken and scattered by the charge of the Numenorean cataphracts, Adar decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and takes flight on a stolen Numenorean horse. Galadriel on her white horse pursues him, but Adar has a head start, and there’s a real chance he might escape. Until Galadriel lays a hand on her horse’s neck and whispers “Noro lim! Noro lim!”, the Sindarin for “Run swift.” The horse responds instantly, lifting its head with pride and increasing its speed until Galadriel almost runs down Adar (he ends up being intercepted by Halbrand). Viewers of the trilogy will remember how Arwen cried out this phrase to Asfaloth as a word of command, like a normal human rider would do. But book readers will remember how Glorfindel wasn’t even on Asfaloth when he gave him the command, and the horse still responded, bearing Frodo far out of reach of the Black Riders. And they will also remember how well Felarof responded to the golden mist cast by Galadriel, and how this in turn raised Eorl’s spirits. Both of these are examples of the almost-mystical connection that Elves have with the created world, which was touched on briefly in the Jackson films but not really tangibly realized. This scene in Rings of Power does tangibly show it, if only briefly. The show thus illustrates that it knows how much Tolkien loved horses and tries to honor that, as any good adaptation of Tolkien’s work must do.
For Further Reference
Brego.net, “Shadowfax, Chieftain of the Mearas”
Belen Edwards, “‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ is a show for horse girls”
Lynn Forest-Hill, “The Lord of the Rings: Tolkien’s Equestrian Epic”
Nerd of the Rings, “Shadowfax and the Mearas”
Alison Stine, “Galadriel, the ‘Rings of Power’ horse girls and why they matter to Middle-earth”
Judith Tarr, “The Unexpected Horse Girls of Fantasy”
Timeline: World History Documentaries, “The Tragic True Story of War Horse”