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?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.'
Beorn's Size
Moderator: Steve
Beorn's Size
I came across the following passage the other day while re-reading The Hobbit:
'Ai! ai!' wailed Legolas. 'A Balrog! A Balrog is come!'
Gimli stared with wide eyes. 'Durin's Bane!' he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.
'A Balrog,' muttered Gandalf. 'Now I understand.' He faltered and leaned heavily on his staff. 'What an evil fortune! And I am already weary.'
- J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Gimli stared with wide eyes. 'Durin's Bane!' he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.
'A Balrog,' muttered Gandalf. 'Now I understand.' He faltered and leaned heavily on his staff. 'What an evil fortune! And I am already weary.'
- J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Re: Beorn's Size
If Beorn is proportioned as a normal man, he should be maybe 12, 13 feet tall?Balrog wrote: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?
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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
"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
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And thus, the Padawan and the Master are dispatched, and it falls to the champion of the Force, Yoda to save them; whom in his near infinate power, displays little intelligence, by stopping the piller with the force instead of jerking his underlings out of the way so that his fight with Dooku can continue.....
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Re: Beorn's Size
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.Surlethe wrote:If Beorn is proportioned as a normal man, he should be maybe 12, 13 feet tall?Balrog wrote: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?
Or maybe Beorn just wears a disturbingly short tunic?
Re: Beorn's Size
Perhaps, but do we know for sure if it is or isn't? This is the same guy that turns into a giant bearEframepilot wrote: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.Surlethe wrote:If Beorn is proportioned as a normal man, he should be maybe 12, 13 feet tall?Balrog wrote: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?
Since it comes to his knees, that'd be a bit messed up...Or maybe Beorn just wears a disturbingly short tunic?
'Ai! ai!' wailed Legolas. 'A Balrog! A Balrog is come!'
Gimli stared with wide eyes. 'Durin's Bane!' he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.
'A Balrog,' muttered Gandalf. 'Now I understand.' He faltered and leaned heavily on his staff. 'What an evil fortune! And I am already weary.'
- J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Gimli stared with wide eyes. 'Durin's Bane!' he cried, and letting his axe fall he covered his face.
'A Balrog,' muttered Gandalf. 'Now I understand.' He faltered and leaned heavily on his staff. 'What an evil fortune! And I am already weary.'
- J.R.R Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
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So did he also have super-sized horses, since their noses were at his shoulder?
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"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
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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.Darth Wong wrote:So did he also have super-sized horses, since their noses were at his shoulder?
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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.Edi wrote: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.Darth Wong wrote:So did he also have super-sized horses, since their noses were at his shoulder?
Edi
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.Edi wrote: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.
At the county fair last year I saw a Belgian that was 22 hands high: that horse was huge.
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-- The King of Swamp Castle, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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"This is not bad; this is a conspiracy to remove happiness from existence. It seeks to wrap its hedgehog hand around the still beating heart of the personification of good and squeeze until it is stilled."
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