Warg

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For other uses, see Warg (disambiguation) and Varg (disambiguation).

A warg rider on an image stone from the former Hunnestad Monument

In Norse mythology, a vargr (often anglicised as warg or varg) is a wolf and in particular refers to the wolf Fenrir and his sons Sköll and Hati. Based on this, J. R. R. Tolkien in his fiction used the Old English form warg (other O.E. forms being wearg and wearh) to refer to a wolf-like creature of a particularly evil kind.

Etymology

In Old Norse, vargr is a term for "wolf" (ulfr). The Proto-Germanic *wargaz is related to proto-Iranian *verk "wolf", Avestan vehrka, Mazandarani varg, Zazaki verg, Old Persian varka-, Persian gorg etc. In line 1514 of Beowulf, Grendel's mother is described as a grund-wyrgen or "warg of the depths."^[1]

Norse mythology

In Norse mythology, wargs are in particular the mythological wolves Fenrir, Sköll and Hati. In the Hervarar saga, King Heidrek is asked by Gestumblindi (Odin),

What is that lamp

which lights up men,

but flame engulfs it,

and wargs grasp after it always.

Heidrek knows the answer is the Sun, explaining,

She lights up every land and shines over all men, and Skoll and Hatti are called wargs. Those are wolves, one going before the sun, the other after the moon.

Wolves also served as mounts for more or less dangerous humanoid creatures. For instance, Gunnr's horse was a kenning for "wolf" on the Rök Runestone, in the Lay of Hyndla, the völva (witch) Hyndla rides a wolf and to Baldr's funeral, the giantess Hyrrokkin arrived on a wolf.

In popular culture

J. R. R. Tolkien's wargs

Taken from the Old English warg, the wargs or wild wolves are a race of fictional wolf creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's books about Middle-earth. They are usually in league with the goblins or Orcs whom they permitted to ride on their backs into battle. It is probable that they are descended from Draugluin's werewolves, or of the wolf-hounds of the line of Carcharoth of the First Age. They are portrayed as somewhat intelligent, with a language of sorts, and are consciously in league with the Orcs, rather than wild animals the Orcs have tamed.

The concept of wolf-riding Orcs first appears in The Tale of Tinúviel, an early version of the story of Beren and Lúthien written in the 1920s, posthumously published as part of The History of Middle-earth.

In The Hobbit, the Wargs appear twice: working with goblins in hunting Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, and the dwarves just east of the Misty Mountains; and finally at the Battle of Five Armies.

In The Lord of the Rings, they are most prominently mentioned in the middle of The Fellowship of the Ring, where a band of Wargs, unaccompanied by Orcs, attacks the Fellowship in Eregion. During the War of the Ring in T.A. 3018–19, wolves prowled outside the walls of Bree. They are here distinguished from ordinary wolves "looking for food."

Adaptations

In the Rankin-Bass adaptation of The Hobbit, they are portrayed as larger than average wolves with ominously glowing eyes. Although Tolkien never provided a fully complete description of the Wargs (he simply noted that they were demonic wolves), they do seem to have a regular wolf-appearance in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and they are regularly called "wolves."

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy depicts wargs as hyena-like rather than wolf-like, due to it looking more powerful.^[2] Wargs also appear in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit Trilogy but are referred as Gundabad Wargs and appear more wolf-like than the Wargs used by the Orcs of Isengard.

Other works

Subsequent appearances of wargs in popular culture often owe much to Tolkien. Similar to Tolkien's works, they are often depicted as evil, intelligent wolves that speak their own language, and are often allied with goblin tribes:

In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, they appear as minor enemies (spelled "worg").
In the Gameloft game Six Guns, wargs are one of the animals to be killed in one of the "hunter" missions.
In David Clement-Davies's books The Sight and Fell, the wolves are known as the Varg, their self-chosen name, and their god is Fenris.
In the MMORPG Ragnarok Online Renewal, Rangers can summon a warg as a mount.
In the 2010 comic book Thor and the Warriors Four by Alex Zalben and Girihiru, the Power Pack team encounter a group of wargs in Central Park that they use to ride to Asgard.
In the popular game Wizard101 there is a warg mount which the player can ride on.
In contrast, in the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novel series by George R. R. Martin, wargs are people who can form a telepathic-empathic bond with wolves and other creatures and inhabit their bodies.
In World Of Warcraft, worgs are a common mob (killable creature) found in forested areas which appear as shaggy wolves with large teeth, and there is a werewolf-like playable race known as Worgen.

Notes

↑ Osborn, Marijane; Overing, Gillian R. (2001). "Bone-Crones Have No Hearth: Some Women in the Medieval Wilderness". In Adams, Paul C.; Hoelscher, Steven D., et al. Textures of Place: Exploring Humanist Geographies. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 354 note 38. ISBN 0-8166-3756-3. Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)
↑ The "Two Towers" Creatures Guide Collins (November 6, 2002) ISBN 0-00-714409-1

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