Fell beast
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, fell beast is the author's description of the gigantic flying carrion-eating pterosaur-like creatures on which the Nazgûl rode on 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.
Tolkien used "fell beast" as a descriptor and not an actual name. ("Fell" in this sense is an archaic English word meaning "cruel", "evil" or "lethal".) However, since this creature lacks any real name, "Fell Beast" is often used to refer to it.
Description and origin
In book V, chapter 6 of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien describes it 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...."
This most closely resembles a very large hairless pterosaur-like animal, although their wing structure is more like 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 acknolwedging 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." (Letters, 211) 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.
The fact that this description resembles that of the fantasy dragon has led some to identify the fell beasts as such.[[Citing sources citation needed]] This is incorrect as dragons are already well established in Tolkien's writings (see Smaug, Glaurung and Ancalagon), and if they had been dragons, it is likely he would have simply called them such.
In the books
In The Fellowship of the Ring, at the River Anduin, Legolas shoots one down in the night as it approaches them.
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 executed an airborne attack from a fell beast upon Théoden, killing his mount Snowmane. The horse fell on Théoden, crushing him. Dernhelm (who revealed herself as Éowyn) defended the dying Théoden, and challenged and killed the beast.
All the remaining Nazgûl were mounted on fell beasts at the Battle of the Morannon, and were suddenly recalled to Mordor 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.
In adaptations
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 we see of the fell beasts and their riders.
1980 TV special
In the Rankin-Bass 1980 animated version of The Return of the King, the Nazgûl ride winged horses, although the Nazgul Lord does ride a bird like creature when he confronts Éowyn.
Live-action movies
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 three major differences: The bone structure of their wings, which are much more bat-like than pterosaur-like,their size, as no known pterosaur is as large as the fell beasts in the movies and the fact they have no beaks or crests. 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 be physically capable of flying if they actually existed. 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.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
The film version of the beasts differ from Tolkien's description in that they are toothed rather than beaked.
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. 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. Billy Boyd does refer to them correctly.
Similar creatures in other works
Some of the random encounters found in various early Final Fantasy games bear a striking resemblance to the fell beasts. This is likely due to the fact that Yoshitaka Amano, the character designer of the first six games, is a fan of Tolkien.
The Wyvern Rider and Wyvern Lord classes in the Fire Emblem series of games resemble the fell beast as well.
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