Beorn's Size

[Balrog]

I came across the following passage the other day while re-reading The Hobbit:

Standing near was a huge man with a thick black beard and hair, and great bare arms and legs with knotted muscles. He was clothed in a tunic of wool down to his knees, and was leaning on a large axe. The horses were standing by him with their noses at his shoulder.
"Ugh! here they are!" he said to the horses. "They don't look dangerous. You can be off!" He laughed a great rolling laugh, put down his axe and came forward.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked gruffly, standing in front of them and towering above Gandalf. As for Bilbo he could easily have trotted through his legs without ducking his head to miss the fringe of the man’s brown tunic.'

Now Bilbo is not regarded as a particularly short or tall hobbit IIRC, so I think it's safe to say he's around the average height, 3 1/2 feet or so. And Bilbo barely came up to Beorn's knees. How tall would that make the skin-changer?

[Surlethe]

Now Bilbo is not regarded as a particularly short or tall hobbit IIRC, so I think it's safe to say he's around the average height, 3 1/2 feet or so. And Bilbo barely came up to Beorn's knees. How tall would that make the skin-changer?

If Beorn is proportioned as a normal man, he should be maybe 12, 13 feet tall?

[CERC]

And if you'll recall the account of the battle of five armies:

"In that last hour Beorn himself had appeared -- no one knew how or from where. He came alone, and in bear's shape; and he seemed to have grown almost to giant-size in his wrath."

So this leads me to believe that his "real" size is fairly ambiguous. But yes, I would surmize that he is fairly large and tall even for a large "big people"

CERC

[Eframepilot]

Now Bilbo is not regarded as a particularly short or tall hobbit IIRC, so I think it's safe to say he's around the average height, 3 1/2 feet or so. And Bilbo barely came up to Beorn's knees. How tall would that make the skin-changer?

If Beorn is proportioned as a normal man, he should be maybe 12, 13 feet tall?

This is one of those lines in The Hobbit that is probably hyperbole. I would expect Beorn to be 7-8 feet tall, which is still huge without being inhumanly immense.

Or maybe Beorn just wears a disturbingly short tunic?

[Balrog]

Now Bilbo is not regarded as a particularly short or tall hobbit IIRC, so I think it's safe to say he's around the average height, 3 1/2 feet or so. And Bilbo barely came up to Beorn's knees. How tall would that make the skin-changer?

If Beorn is proportioned as a normal man, he should be maybe 12, 13 feet tall?

This is one of those lines in The Hobbit that is probably hyperbole. I would expect Beorn to be 7-8 feet tall, which is still huge without being inhumanly immense.

Perhaps, but do we know for sure if it is or isn't? This is the same guy that turns into a giant bear

Or maybe Beorn just wears a disturbingly short tunic?

Since it comes to his knees, that'd be a bit messed up...

[Darth Wong]

So did he also have super-sized horses, since their noses were at his shoulder?

[Edi]

So did he also have super-sized horses, since their noses were at his shoulder?

Actually, if you assume his horses to be normal but of some very large breed, their noses would come only to his shoulder if he were near seven feet tall or taller. Unless I'm remembering the size of horses wrong, of course. Some horses I've seen are fucking big, and their nose tends to come up to around the height of my forehead or so, and I'm 176 cm tall.

Edi

[Eframepilot]

So did he also have super-sized horses, since their noses were at his shoulder?

Actually, if you assume his horses to be normal but of some very large breed, their noses would come only to his shoulder if he were near seven feet tall or taller. Unless I'm remembering the size of horses wrong, of course. Some horses I've seen are fucking big, and their nose tends to come up to around the height of my forehead or so, and I'm 176 cm tall.

Edi

So seven feet, give or take a few inches, is the most reasonable height, and not the extreme 12-13 feet implied by the narration of Bilbo being able to walk under his tunic (knee-high) without ducking.

[Ted C]

Actually, if you assume his horses to be normal but of some very large breed, their noses would come only to his shoulder if he were near seven feet tall or taller. Unless I'm remembering the size of horses wrong, of course.

A large breed like a Shire or Percheron may be 20 hands high at the withers, which is about 6'8". Standing relaxed, the horse's nose would be about that height.

At the county fair last year I saw a Belgian that was 22 hands high: that horse was huge.