Oliphaunt

Tolkien borrowed the term oliphaunt from Middle English, which in turn was a borrowing of Old French olifaunt. These terms meant an ordinary elephant.{{harvnb|Hammond|Scull|2005|at="Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings", p. 761}} Tolkien stated in his guide for translators that the word was "used as a 'rusticism', on the supposition that rumour of the Southern beast would have reached the Shire long ago in the form of legend."{{harvnb|Lobdell|1975|at="Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings" p. 170}}

{{further|Harad}}

File:Pyrrhus and his Elephants.gifrim's mûmakil to Pyrrhus of Epirus's war elephants in his invasion of Ancient Rome. 1896 illustration by Helene Guerber.]]

In The Lord of the Rings, oliphaunts are mentioned as Samwise Gamgee explains what one is to Gollum by reciting an old Shire poem,{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954|at=book 4, ch. 3 "The Black Gate is Closed"}} and then encountered twice. Sam and Frodo Baggins see one in Ithilien as they witness the ambush of a contingent from Harad by Faramir's men of Gondor. Tolkien implies that they are a larger (and now extinct) relative of the elephant.

{{blockquote|Fear and wonder, maybe, enlarged him in the hobbit’s eyes, but the Mûmak of Harad was indeed a beast of vast bulk, and the like of him does not walk now in Middle-earth; his kin that live still in latter days are but memories of his girth and majesty.{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954|at=book 4, ch. 4 "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit"}}}}

Many more are present at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, where the Haradrim are part of Sauron's assault on Minas Tirith, and the horses of the Rohirrim were too scared to approach them.{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955|at=book 6, ch. 6 "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"}}

{{further|Tolkien and the classical world}}

Elizabeth Solopova and Stuart D. Lee argue that the Haradrim's mûmakil war elephants put their country far to the East, since only India and lands to its east went on using war elephants after classical times. They mention that Tolkien could have used the Old English version by Ælfric of the Book of Maccabees, which carefully introduces elephants to its Anglo-Saxon audience, using much the same phrase as Sam Gamgee, "māre þonne sum hūs", "bigger than a house", before describing their use in battle; the hero stabs the elephant, which is carrying a "wīghūs", a "battle-house", from below.{{harvnb|Lee|Solopova|2005|pp=[https://archive.org/details/keysmiddleearthd00lees_471/page/n235 223–225, 228–231]}}, translating the Homily on the Maccabees. II, 499-519. Tolkien however mentioned Pyrrhus of Epirus's use of war elephants against Ancient Rome in 280–275 BC in his notes for the illustrator Pauline Baynes.{{harvnb|Kennedy|2016}}

{{further|Christianity in Middle-earth}}

Kathleen O'Neill, in Cistercian Studies Quarterly, writes that while Sam is "open to wonder" and excited about the possibility of seeing an oliphaunt, Gollum's fearful mind is "so utterly closed to the goodness of what is as to will away its very existence".{{sfn|O'Neill|2005}} In O'Neill's view, God "quickly" rewards Sam with the terrifying view of an out-of-control oliphaunt, giving him "lasting delight" and gratitude. She adds that this capacity for seeing the good even in dark moments comes to his aid in Mordor, when he sees a white star, knows its beauty, and realises that "the Shadow was only a small and passing thing".{{sfn|O'Neill|2005}}{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955|at=book 6, ch. 2 "The Land of Shadow"}}

{{see also|Tolkien's poetry}}

Before seeing the oliphaunt, Sam recites a poem of Shire-lore, to explain to Gollum what one is. It begins:{{efn|The poem "Oliphaunt" was republished in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil,{{harvnb|Tolkien|2014|at="Oliphaunt"}} and as a children's book, illustrated by Dan McGeehan.{{harvnb|Tolkien|2012}} }}

{{blockquote|Grey as a mouse,

Big as a house,

Nose like a snake,

I make the earth shake.}}

The folklorist and Tolkien scholar Dimitra Fimi writes that with this song and the later encounter with the oliphaunt, Tolkien "playfully complete[s]" his depiction of Sam as an "authentic active transmitter" of folklore-style tradition among his people, despite his lack of Frodo's formal education and his rustic style of speech.{{harvnb|Fimi|2009}}

{{see also|Bestiary}}

File:Harley3244 f.39 MenMountedOnAnElephant DetailElephant.jpg. Harley 3244, folio 39, after {{circa}} 1236]]

Tolkien had published a different poem on the oliphaunt theme, "Iumbo, or ye Kinde of ye Oliphaunt", in the Stapeldon Magazine in 1927. It begins:{{harvnb|Tolkien|1927|pp=125–127}}

{{blockquote|The Indic oliphaunt's a burly lump,

A moving mountain, a majestic mammal

(But those that fancy that he wears a hump

Confuse him incorrectly with the camel).}}

John D. Rateliff notes that Tolkien stated that when he read a medieval work, he wanted to write a modern one in the same tradition. In the case of "Iumbo" the oliphaunt and "Fastitocalon", an island-sized whale, that was the medieval bestiary tradition. Tolkien adopts the pseudonym 'Fisiologus', imitating the medieval name 'Physiologus', "the naturalist", author of just such a bestiary. Rateliff notes that "Iumbo" is written in medieval style in two sections, a {{lang|la|natura}} describing the oliphaunt's habits (addiction to mandrakes), and a {{lang|la|significacio}} drawing a "highly facetious, and egregiously inappropriate" moral from the story, "mocking the incessant allegorizing" of its Middle English model.{{harvnb|Rateliff|2014|pp=133–152}}

File:Gomphotherium productum skull.JPG, with curved tusks and elongated skull, which Peter Jackson's oliphaunts somewhat resemble{{sfn|Tolkien Gateway|2024}} ]]

The 1980 Rankin/Bass animated version of The Return of the King portrayed oliphaunts as resembling woolly mammoths.{{sfn|Pak|2024}}

In Peter Jackson's film The Two Towers, the Haradrim appear Middle Eastern, with turbans, flowing robes, and riding mûmakil.{{sfn|Ibata|2003}} The beasts, constructed in CGI animation, differ markedly from Tolkien's account; Kristine Larsen describes his treatment of the oliphaunt as taking "artistic liberties" on the "visual aspects".{{sfn|Larsen|2021}} They have two pairs of tusks, one being curved upwards, and a third small pair from the cheekbones; their skull shape resembles Gomphotherium.{{sfn|Tolkien Gateway|2024}}

File:Jackson_film_mumak.jpg's 2002 film The Two Towers{{sfn|Mythprint|2004|p=6}}]]

Jackson's depiction was criticised in Mythprint for being "too much just visual quotes from [the 1988 fantasy film] Willow."{{sfn|Mythprint|2004|p=6}} Janet Brennan Croft writes that Jackson's invention of a battle between the Elf Legolas and a mûmak unnecessarily distracts attention from Éowyn's far more important fight with the Witch-king.{{sfn|Croft|2005|p=74}}

Maureen Thum on the other hand argues that while, as Jackson admits, his films offer "only a relatively shallow rendering" of the book, details like Éowyn's invented attack on the mûmakil – galloping beneath them with two swords raised – usefully gives a picture of the lady of Rohan as "a strong able warrior", preparing the viewer for the final showdown with the Witch-king.{{sfn|Thum|2004|pp=231–256}}

An oliphaunt in the 2024 anime film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim succeeds, according to Polygon, in "mak[ing] oliphaunts terrifying again". The beast is "rabid ... foaming at the mouth, covered in open wounds, without a handler in sight." The tense effect is achieved, the article states, without any "wizards and rings and gods and big, flashy magic".{{cite web |last1=Polo |first1=Susana |title=Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim makes oliphaunts terrifying again |url=https://www.polygon.com/lord-of-the-rings/496681/war-rohirrim-movie-elephants-oliphaunts-mumakil |publisher=Polygon |access-date=10 January 2025 |date=14 December 2024}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|group=T|27em}}

{{reflist|27em}}

• {{cite book |last=Croft |first=Janet Brennan |author-link=Janet Brennan Croft |chapter=Mithril Coats and Tin Ears: 'Anticipation' and 'Flattening' in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Films |title=Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings |title-link=Tolkien on Film |editor-last=Croft |editor-first=Janet Brennan |editor-link=Janet Brennan Croft |publisher=Mythopoeic Press |date=2005 |isbn=1-887726-09-8}}
• {{cite web |last=Fimi |first=Dimitra |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |title=Hobbit Songs and Rhymes: Tolkien and the Folklore of Middle-earth |url=http://dimitrafimi.com/articlesandessays/hobbit-songs-and-rhymes-tolkien-and-the-folklore-of-middle-earth/ |publisher=Dimitra Fimi |access-date=12 October 2024 |date=March 2009}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |author-link=Wayne G. Hammond |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |author2-link=Christina Scull |chapter=Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings |title=The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion |title-link=The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion |year=2005 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=978-0-00-720907-1}}
• {{ME-ref|RG}}
• {{cite news |last=Ibata |first=David |title='Lord' of racism? Critics view trilogy as discriminatory |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/chi-030112epringsrace-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |date=12 January 2003}}
• {{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Maev |author-link=Maev Kennedy |title=Tolkien annotated map of Middle-earth acquired by Bodleian library |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/03/jrr-tolkien-annotated-map-middle-earth-bodleian-lord-rings-hobbit |work=The Guardian |date=3 May 2016}}
• {{cite journal |last=Larsen |first=Kristine |title=[Review:] The Science of Middle-earth |journal=Journal of Tolkien Research |volume=12 |issue=2 |date=March 2021 |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA670672995&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=2471934X&p=AONE&sw=w}}
• {{ME-ref|TT}}
• {{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Stuart D. |author1-link=Stuart D. Lee |last2=Solopova |first2=Elizabeth |author2-link=Elizabeth Solopova |title=The Keys of Middle-earth: Discovering Medieval Literature Through the Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien |url=https://archive.org/details/keysmiddleearthd00lees_471 |url-access=limited |date=2005 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=978-1403946713}}
• {{cite book |last=Lobdell |first=Jared |author-link=Jared Lobdell |chapter=Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings |title=A Tolkien Compass |publisher=Open Court Publishing |publication-place=Chicago, Illinois |date=1975 |isbn=0-87548-303-8 |pages=153–201}}
• {{cite journal |author=Mythprint |ref={{harvid|Mythprint|2004}} |title=Discussion Group Viewings and Reports: Khazad-dum |journal=Mythprint |volume=41 |issue=1 |date=January 2004 |page=6 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=mythprint}}
• {{cite journal |last=O'Neill |first=Kathleen |year=2005 |title=Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: A Cistercian Perspective |journal=Cistercian Studies Quarterly |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=293–325 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/212849943 |id={{ProQuest|212849943}} |via=Proquest}}
• {{cite web |last=Pak |first=Jaron |title=Rings Of Power Season 2 Scoop: Tolkien's Oliphaunts Will Arrive - But What Are They? |url=https://www.looper.com/1509838/rings-of-power-season-2-scoop-tolkien-oliphaunts-arrive-what-are-they-lord-of-the-rings/ |website=Looper |access-date=13 October 2024 |date=5 February 2024}}
• {{cite book |last=Rateliff |first=John D. |author-link=John D. Rateliff |chapter=Inside Literature: Tolkien's Explorations of Medieval Genres |editor-last1=Houghton |editor-first1=John Wm. |editor-last2=Croft |editor-first2=Janet Brennan |editor2-link=Janet Brennan Croft |editor-last3=Martsch |editor-first3=Nancy |title=Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_U7AAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA138 |year=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7438-7 |pages=133–152}}
• {{cite book |last=Thum |first=Maureen |chapter=Sub-subcreation of Galadriel, Arwen, and Éowyn: Women of Power in Tolkien's and Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' |editor-last=Croft |editor-first=Janet Brennan |editor-link=Janet Brennan Croft |title=Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings |title-link=Tolkien on Film |publisher=Mythopoeic Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-1887726092}}
• {{cite journal |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |title=Iumbo, or ye Kinde of ye Oliphaunt |journal=Stapeldon Magazine |volume=7 |issue=40 |date=June 1927 |pages=125–127}}
• {{ME-ref|TT}}
• {{ME-ref|ROTK}}
• {{cite book |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |others=Illustrated by Dan McGeehan |title=Oliphaunt |date=2012 |publisher=Peterson Publishing |location=Mankato, MN |isbn=978-1-60973-155-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/oliphaunt0000tolk}}
• {{ME-ref|TB}}
• {{cite web |author=Tolkien Gateway |title=Oliphaunts |date=2024 |url=https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Oliphaunts |website=Tolkien Gateway |access-date=13 October 2024}}

{{The Lord of the Rings}}

Category:Middle-earth animals

Category:Fictional elephants