For the last couple of years, I have been rereading all almost all the books listed in Gary Gygax's Appendix N.
In case you don't have your DMG handy, here is the list.
Anderson, Poul. Three Hearts and Three Lions; The High Crusade; The Broken Sword
Bellairs, John. The Face in the Frost
Brackett, Leigh.
Brown, Fredric.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice, Pellucidar series; Mars series; Venus series
Carter, Lin. "World's End" series
de Camp, L. Sprague. Lest Darkness Fall; Fallible Fiend; et al.
de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" series; Carnelian Cube
Derleth, August.
Dunsany, Lord.
Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" series; et al.
Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al.
Howard, R. E. "Conan" series
Lanier, Sterling. Hiero’s Journey
Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al.
Lovecraft, H. P.
Merritt, A. Creep, Shadow, Creep; Moon Pool; Dwellers in the Mirage; et al.
Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)
Norton, Andre.
Offutt, Andrew J., editor. Swords Against Darkness III.
Pratt, Fletcher. Blue Star; et al.
St. Clair, Margaret. The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit; "Ring Trilogy"
Vance, Jack. The Eyes of the Overworld; The Dying Earth; et al.
Weinbaum, Stanley.
Wellman, Manly Wade.
Williamson, Jack.
Zelazny, Roger. Jack of Shadows; "Amber" series; et al.
This is not the first time I have talked about this list, but this series is likely going to be the most in-depth.
I talked about "Reading Appendix N" and what books I have added to it. My own "Appendix O" of occult and other supernatural-type books that have influenced my own games. I have that page linked under the banner for this blog. And last year, I mentioned I was getting started on this project.
With this new feature I want to go back to these books and talk about the witches who have appeared in them. I am not going to talk about every book. I am not going to talk about every witch, even. Just the ones that spoke to me.
There are many ways to do this, but I'll just jump in and go with the ones I remember the best and work around that.
Let's start with the heaviest hitter on the list. I should not have to explain the level of influence Tolkien had on D&D to anyone reading here. So let go past that and on to the topic at hand.
Where are Tolkien's witches?
Well, they are there, if you don't mind squinting a little.
The Necromancer. This guy shows up in The Hobbit and is the reason the Dwarves have to go through Mirkwood instead of around it. Now we know that this guy was later retconned to be Sauron in The Lord of the Rings Lore. But for a moment, for me, before reading The Lord of the Rings, I had *ideas* about who or what The Necromancer was. So much so that "the Necromancer" has become a consistent villain in many of my games, D&D and others.
But he is not really a witch is he? Reading The Silmarillion, Sauron certainly has aspects of a witch or a necromancer, including the ability to turn into a large vampire bat.
Witch-king of Angmar. Now this guy has "witch" in his name. He is introduced in the Lord of the Rings and he is the captain of the Nazgûl. We is set up to be the counterparts to Gandalf in many respects (but not "overmatched") and Aragorn, but he is not a Wizard. Are there differences between Wizards (immortal) and Witches (mortal)? Maybe. He could be called "witch" because of the parallels with his fate and what Shakespeare writes in Hamlet; "No Man may slay me." "Not of Woman born."
He is interesting, for certain. But is he a witch? Reading some of Tolkien's letters it would also seem that the Witch King was associated with necromancy.
Galadriel. Sometimes referred to as a "witch" of the Elven woods, Galadriel is not exactly a witch, but she isn't not not exactly one either. What do we know about her that is witch-like? She has magic. She has her pool where she can see things beyond time and space. She acts as a guide to Frodo, a role similar to that of Circe or Calypso. She is one of the wise. Or even one of Wise. If you can catch my meaning of the difference there. She gave out magical gifts as well. The Phial of Galadriel, the dirt she gave to Sam, the "cloaks of elvenkind," and even her hair had magic. Just ask Fëanor.
In Peter Jackson's movies, ok not a perfect source, but bear with me, her witch-like qualities are even more pronounced.
Is she a witch? Not really...her powers are due to being a really old, really powerful elf. Though we don't see anyone else doing this.
Melian and Lúthien. On the topic of elves, I have to mention Lúthien (elf) and her mother Melian (Maia). Melian was a Maia, so the same as Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast. Pretty much every power she has screams "witch." She could cast enchantments, magic "circles" of protection ("Girdle of Melian"), and while she was of the Light, she loved the Shadows.
Lúthien Tinúviel was by every account a complete bas ass. I mean she was not out there defeating armies or slaying ancient evils. But she was powerful. When Morgoth had stolen the Silmaril her lover Beren (a human man) went to go get them to prove his love. He got captured. Not taking this lying down, Lúthien rides Huan, the Hound of Valinor. Confronts Sauron while he is in the form a great vampire bat, breaks into Morgoth's stronghold, sings everyone to sleep, saves Beren and gets a Silmaril from his iron cown. She later dies, comes back to life, and then goes off to the West.
She might not explicitly be a witch, but I think she should get honorable mention.
Hobbits. Wait, what? Ok, hear me out on this one. How does Tolkien describe hobbits?
Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt. They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skilful with tools. Even in ancient days they were, as a rule, shy of ‘the Big Folk’, as they call us, and now they avoid us with dismay and are becoming hard to find.
- Concerning Hobbits, The Hobbit
Sounds rather Pagan to me, and their magic sounds very much like Hedge Witchcraft. Hobbits are supposed to be the "everyman," the sensible Englishman/Englishwoman, the everyday folk. The same people were talked about by Gerald Gardner when he was creating Wicca. I am NOT trying to draw a connection between Tolkien and Gardner. Tolkien was one of the greatest authors ever to draw from his Christian upbringing, and you can find evidence of it in all his works. But their heroes are the same people. In my games, halflings are completely pagan in their lifestyle and practices. I even say in my The Witch that every halfling village has a witch, and she is seen as a source of wisdom.
I am currently reading "The Fall of Gondolin," which was one of the reasons I picked Tolkien for today. It is interesting on how much closer to Old English faerie lore Tolkien's work started out as. The Noldor were originally gnomes, and their name comes from gnomes and gnōsis. Though he later abandoned this idea. This also happened with his idea of "Fairy." Though there is still a reference to that in The Hobbit with one of Bilbo's ancestors described as a fairy, and the rather frivolous elves in Rivendell.
Letters and Other Details
We know from Tolkien's letters that he envisioned two types of magic in Middle-earth, using the Greek words μαγεία (mageia "ordinary magic") and γοητεία (goeteia, "witchcraft"). While there are some good-evil connotations, Tolkien points out that Elves use "witchcraft." Hmm. Maybe Galadriel is a witch.
I think one thing is overly clear and that is magic has a price. Abusing it leads to evil and corruption. It would have been interesting to see this difference in magic played out a little more in his works, I think.
There are more examples, but these are good enough for me for now.
While I could dive more into his letters, other books and even other RPGs about Middle Earth, I think a rule I should establish for myself is to limit these posts just to the books mentioned. With the occasional step outside. For example I can't imagine talking about Fritz Leiber and not mentioning "The Conjure Wife."
Maybe Leiber will be my next post.
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