Fell beast

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For for the felbeasts or felhounds from the Warcraft Universe, see Burning Legion.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, "fell beast" is the author's description of the flying carrion-eating pterosaur-like creatures on which the Ringwraiths rode after being unhorsed at the Ford of Bruinen. The creatures are especially prominent during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, where the Witch-king of Angmar, the Lord of the Nazgûl, rides his in battle against King Théoden of Rohan.

"Fell beast" is actually a description of the creatures and not a proper name, fell being applied as an adjective in its archaic sense of "evil" or "grim." Tolkien uses the word "fell" many times throughout the novel to describe a variety of things other than the Nazgûls' winged steeds. However, Tolkien never named the creatures in the text, and the term "fell beast" has come into popular (and inaccurate) usage as a compound noun and proper name for the flying creatures. Although he also called them Nazgûl-birds in a private letter while comparing them to aircraft,^[1] "fell beast" is better known since the term actually appears in the novel's text.

1 Description and origin
2 Appearances in the book
3 In adaptations
4 References

[edit] Description and origin

As described, the fell beast's wing structure resembles a bat's (top) more than a pterodactyl's (bottom)

In book V, chapter 6 of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien describes the Witch-king's mount thus:

"...it was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds, and it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank. A creature of an older world maybe it was...."^[2]

A few paragraphs later it is said to attack with "beak and claw".^[2] It and the others that served the Nazgûl as steeds were taken by Sauron who raised them in such a way that they grew to an unnatural size.

This most closely resembles a very large hairless pterosaur-like animal, although its wing structure resembles that of a bat. Tolkien once wrote that he "did not intend the steed of the Witch-king to be what is now called a 'pterodactyl'", while acknowledging that it was "obviously ... pterodactylic and owes much" to the "new ... mythology of the 'Prehistoric'", and might even be "a last survivor of older geological eras."^[3] The differences in the beast's anatomy from pterodactyls or any other species of pterosaur makes it doubtful he intended the fell beast to belong to any group of real creatures.

Despite each of these theories, any claims as to the nature, anatomy, and physiology of fell beasts is based on speculation. It is possible to approximate what these beasts might have looked like, but real-world analogies are ultimately insufficient to describe them.

[edit] Appearances in the book

In The Fellowship of the Ring, at the River Anduin, Legolas shoots one down in the night as it approaches them.^[4]

In The Two Towers Gollum sees the Witch-king and his mount while guiding Frodo and Sam, and refers to the Ringwraiths as "Wraiths on wings".

In The Return of the King the Witch-king shot a black dart at Snowmane, the steed of king Théoden, while riding upon a fell beast. The horse crushed Théoden as it fell. Dernhelm (who soon revealed herself as Éowyn) defended the dying Théoden by standing between the Witch-king and the King of Rohan. She killed the fell beast, then challenged and defeated the Witch-king with the help of Meriadoc Brandybuck.^[2]

All of the remaining Nazgûl were mounted on fell beasts at the Battle of the Morannon, and were suddenly dispatched to Orodruin by Sauron in response to the imminent destruction of the One Ring. The beasts are presumably destroyed along with their riders in the resulting eruption of Mount Doom.

[edit] In adaptations

[edit] 1978 cartoon

In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings, one of the Nazgûl (possibly the Witch-king, for he carries a mace), is shown riding a fell beast. However, Bakshi's film only covers events up to the Battle of the Hornburg, so that is the last one sees of the fell beasts and their riders.

[edit] 1980 TV special

In the Rankin-Bass 1980 animated version of The Return of the King, the Nazgûl ride winged horses, although the Nazgûl Lord does ride a bird-like creature when he confronts Éowyn.

[edit] Live-action movies

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The Witch-king's fell beast from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

In Peter Jackson's film trilogy based on The Lord of the Rings, the fell beasts are depicted as being pterosaur-like creatures, and all nine Nazgûl are visible onscreen riding them.

Their features in the movies are in most cases similar to that of actual species of pterosaur with four major differences: The bone structure of their wings, which are much more bat-like than pterosaur-like; their size, as no known pterosaur was as large as the fell beasts in the movies;^{[citation needed]}, their facial anatomy, as they lack the elongated jaw of pterosaurs, and the fact that their neck is more elongated than any pterasaur. These differences are likely attributable simply to the fact that it had to serve as a believable mount for the Nazgûl and the production team wanted the fell beasts to appear physically capable of flying if they actually existed.^{[citation needed]} This necessitated having the wingspan of a Jumbo Jet, or approximately 65 meters. The decision to use a bat-like wing structure was based on the fact that the pterosaurs wing support (an extremely long fourth finger) would be far too weak to support the weight of a wing that large, as the largest known pterosaurs believed to be capable of flight have been found with wingspans of up to only 18 meters. In any case, the ability of such a large creature to fly stretches the limits of credulity. This reservation also applies to Tolkien's eagles.^{[citation needed]} The long neck probably is due to the production team's desire to make the beast look scary, and a short neck would most likely not be as effective. Also, the long neck causes this creature to resemble a dragon, which was possibly a decision made also to make the beast more popular and scary.

Jackson's fell beasts differ from Tolkien's description in that they do not have beaks.

As confirmed in the films' audio commentary, the design of the fell beasts was based largely on illustrations by the popular Middle-earth artist John Howe. The fell beast is also similar to (and possibly loosely based on) the wyvern, a creature appearing in medieval legends and several fantasy games.

Although the mistake is never made in the films, the actors on the commentary tracks sometimes refer to the fell beast as a Nazgûl; this is incorrect (although the Witch-King does say "Do not come between the Nazgûl and its prey", he is in fact refering to himself and not his mount). The fell beast is the creature that the nine Nazgûl ride, and the mistake probably arose because fell beasts are always seen with a Nazgûl atop them, and because ambiguous references are made to them that could apply either to the Ringwraith or the fell beast. Billy Boyd does refer to them correctly.