Sunday Scriberies by Elleth

Elves and Horses

Written for the question: Here is what may be a silly question, but it's important to a story I'm writing. Can Elves talk to animals? And in particular, horses?

To be straightforward – yes, Elves very likely could talk to animals, especially their horses. The books offer relatively little evidence of that directly, though enough to make the educated guess that they did not adopt animal speech for their own use (though were capable of learning it) but had animals capable of understanding verbal speech rather than mere commands they might have been trained to react to. In part this may derive from the close connection of Elves to nature (both animate and inanimate) around them. Consider, for example, the statement that they were capable of understanding the Music of the Ainur from the water, but also Legolas hearing the lament of the stones of Eregion and his understanding of the Huorn host that had come to Helm's Deep, or even the early Elves waking trees and teaching them (and potentially the Ents) their speech, as Treebeard reports. The Laiquendi (Green Elves) of Ossiriand are commonly perceived as coexisting peacefully with nature, neither hunting animals nor cutting down trees.

One clear case of an Elf in close connection with animals is Celegorm, the third son of Fëanor and a follower of the Vala Oromë in Aman. He is explicitly stated to have "great knowledge of birds and beasts, and all their tongues he knew." Celegorm also is described as both a great hunter and horseman. I am excluding Celegorm's dog Huan from the consideration here only because he could actually speak with words (though only was permitted to do so three times) and thus probably was not a real dog, but rather one of the less powerful Maiar who had assumed dog form, which would explain his unusual gifts, his power, and his longevity. No other speaking animals (apart from some fairytale-like plot points in the Hobbit) are described in the texts, but especially elven animals are shown to possess extraordinary closeness to their people (I hesitate to say "owners" given the mostly harmonious portrayals in the texts) as well as an understanding of speech, and indeed both concepts seem to be linked.

Elves in general were able horsemen who also employed cavalry in battle, and both the Houses of Fëanor and Fingolfin of the First Age owned horses brought from Valinor on the swanships. Rochallor, the horse of King Fingolfin either was one of them, or descended from them. He was a gift from the Fëanorians and carried Fingolfin to Angband. After Fingolfin's death in combat with Morgoth, Rochallor stayed by his side until he was forced to flee by the wolves of Angband. He returned to his homeland Hithlum, and there died of, reportedly, a broken heart. Nothing more is reported in this case but it is important to remember that the Silmarillion and the texts that contributed to it were intended to be historiographic rather than a novel and are necessarily less detailed. It is easier to glean some information from the Lord of the Rings.

It can be understood from the narrative that Elves in general rode without bit and bridle, and potentially even bare-back (or merely with a saddle blanket). Glorfindel's horse Asfaloth merely wears an ornamental plumed headstall; this was a conscious emendation by Tolkien after the incongruency between Glorfindel's and later elven horsemanship was pointed out to him by a reader. He also stresses "the natural ways of Elves with animals" in the same response. Asfaloth certainly also was able to understand Glorfindel, reacting not only to Glorfindel's speech, actions and ordinary commands, but also seems capable of discerning intent. As Glorfindel states when he readies his horse for Frodo to escape the Nazgûl, "But you need not fear: my horse will not let any rider fall that I command him to bear." (A theory on this below.)

Legolas surprises the host of the Rohirrim when he effortlessly tames Arod, the horse Éomer grants him. It appears that even animals not trained in an elvish way, as Asfaloth likely was, respond well to such treatment:

"A smaller and lighter horse, but restive and fiery, was brought to Legolas. Arod was his name. But Legolas asked them to take off saddle and rein. 'I need them not,' he said, and leaped lightly up, and to their wonder Arod was tame and willing beneath him, moving here and there with but a spoken word: such was the elvish way with all good beasts."

Legolas later also refers to Arod as "my friend" and calms him by covering his eyes and singing to him before they enter the Paths of the Dead, which he initally refuses. The horses of the Grey Company in the same scene (considering the association of the Dúnedain and Elves of Rivendell, also likely trained in an elvish fashion, perhaps even of an elven breed) enter the Paths willingly due to the great love they bear their riders and the steadiness of their hearts in face of danger, as inspired by Aragorn. While I am no rider myself and cannot assess from experience how much the emotions of a rider will influence a horse toward overcoming instinctive flight behaviour, the incident described here seems rather more extraordinary than common behaviour. Faramir is later described as possessing the same kind of skill over the hearts of humans and animals alike, and it may be worth noting that both he and Aragorn are descended, at least in part, from Elves (Aragorn from the line of Elros, and Faramir from the Princes of Dol Amroth, whose founding mother was the Silvan Elf Mithrellas from Lothlórien), and may have inherited some of their talents from this ancestry.

The most spectacular horses of Middle-earth, however, are the Mearas, which may have surpassed even some elven horses. While we know that the Elves of Mirkwood owned horses, Legolas professes to never have seen one like Shadowfax. As the Old English name of the Mearas implies, they are a horse breed of Rohan, but interestingly also derive their ancestry, ultimately, from the horses of Oromë and thus share a Valinorean ancestry with the horses of the High Elves. Being a Sindarin Elf of the Woodland Realm, the horses of Legolas' people likely were descended from ones found on Middle-earth rather than ones brought from Valinor; this idea is guesswork, but would fit with the more "rustic" lifestyle of Thranduil's realm. The origin of the Mearas is initially described as a belief in the Appendices, but later confirmed as fact by Tolkien himself in a letter regarding the departure from the Grey Havens: "Shadowfax came of a special race [...] being as it were an elvish equivalent of ordinary horses: his 'blood' came from 'West over Sea'. It would not be unfitting for him to 'go West'."

The founder of the Mearas line, Felaróf (Anglo-Saxon for "very valiant, very strong") was not tamed but rather submitted to Eorl, himself the ancestor of the Rohirrim, out of his free will as payment for the life of Eorl's father, who died after the horse had thrown him. Felaróf was ridden in elven fashion (without saddle or bridle), understood the speech of Men, and was as long-lived as they were. The horses descended from him were ridden exclusively by the Kings of the House of Eorl until Gandalf tamed Shadowfax. Given the closer narrative focus here, some of the characteristics of earlier horses of Valinorean descent (as Shadowfax is described by Théoden as "one of the mighty steeds of old [...] returned") may be assumed as similar, even though Gandalf is no Elf.

There is a strong, and by all appearances equal relationship between Gandalf and Shadowfax, and a bond of great love between the horse and his rider. Shadowfax is not merely far stronger and swifter than ordinary horses (so, likewise, is Glorfindel's Asfaloth, easily outrunning the Black Riders who ride horses stolen from Rohan), he is wise and loyal, bears Gandalf into great danger, and seems to do so of his own volition. As an interesting aside, he not only understands Gandalf, but also appears to understand Pippin and reacts with enthusiasm to the announcement of battle; in my opinion a rather impressive display of sentience. Most remarkable, however, seems to be Shadowfax's ability of mind-to-mind communication. As Gandalf describes summoning him: "'I bent my thought upon him, bidding him to make haste; for yesterday he was far away in the south of this land.'"

Gandalf being a Maia is capable of this, but the so-called ósanwë-kenta, or mind-speech, is a talent that Elves also naturally possess, and while we have no direct evidence of this ever being used in elvish communication with animals, only among "Incarnates" (Ainur, Elves and Men), and the essay on the topic is primarily concerned with this group, it is nonetheless an idea that might deserve consideration. We certainly see no verbal order of Glorfindel's to Asfaloth to let him bear Frodo. The essay likewise describes that a bond of love or affinity will make such a thought-transmission stronger and more easily understood (and so will urgency), and it has been established by now that this love is the case between many horses and riders in Tolkien's works.

Ultimately, I think there is plenty of poetic licence that can be used to describe the interaction between Elves and their horses in either direction. There are cases even of elven horses being overmastered by fear, for example when riders of Doriath come upon the dragon Glaurung and the host scatters in a panic (notably, the horses of Fingon's mounted archers are not described as encountering the same problem when they are ridden to attack Glaurung, but at the time of that incident he was not yet fully grown, and we have, again, the difference between Wood Elves and High Elves), or of Celegorm's horse refusing him service when his evil intent to attack Lúthien becomes clear. Huan defends her, and the horse shies away, the text again hinting not only at natural fear, but also at a bond of understanding with the rider's heart.

As long as that is considered, it seems rather hard to me to go entirely wrong in terms of creating interaction between an elven horse and a rider, verbal communication itself becoming, probably, secondary.

Chapter End Notes

Sources:

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien:Letter 211 to Rhona Beare, Letter 268 to Miss A.P. Northey

The Silmarillion: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië (Ch. 5), Of Beleriand and its Realms (Ch. 14)

The Unfinished Tales: The Tradition of Isildur (Note 28)

LotR: The Two Towers: The Riders of Rohan (Ch. 2) The White Rider (Ch. 5), The King of the Golden Hall (Ch. 6), The Palantír (Ch. 11)

LotR: Return of the King: The Passing of the Grey Company (Ch. 2)

LotR: Apprendices: The House of Eorl

The History of Middle-earth Vol. 11: The War of the Jewels: The Grey Annals

Vinyar Tengwar Vol. 39: Ósanwë-kenta or Enquiry into the Communication of Thought