Brief Description

The giants are the most mysterious race in Tolkien's writings, because there are very few references to them and almoust no explanations of their origins. Therefore we can neither adopt the "traditional" stereotype of what giants are nor form a clear picture of them from Tolkien's notes. It might have been some branch of Men, or maybe the whole race was imaginary even in Middle-earth, a legend rather than a true thing.

References to Giants in Tolkien's Writings

Most references are found in The Hobbit, though they are not very imformative. Giants are mentioned several times in the episode of the storm in the MistyMountains:

Here giants appear as physical beings, just like trolls or orcs, however, they are closely associated with the phenomena of the nature. Hurling rocks at one another might be just a poetical or mythical explanation of actual things happening during the storm in the mountains. One can find counter-arguments to such opinion:

In the first quote Gandalf refers to the new goblins' entrance through which they brought the party inside the tunnels. Again, he might be using this metaphorically or ironically given that he speaks to the dwarves and the hobbit, who are used to hearing tales about giants and dragons, but the statement also sounds rather serious since it comes from Gandalf himself - the great wizard, who knows many creatures and many races. The second quote speaks about Beorn, and here giants are imagined like a race that drove out the bears from the mountains, which implies that it is a strong race, and probably currently dominating in the mountains (apart the goblins, whici, presumably, spend most of the time underneath).

The view that giants are mythical beings can also be supported.

In all the quotes above giants appear as characters one can find in tales, strong and dangerous, and, apparently, of huge size, as shown in the quote about the Carrock. The mythical origins are also reflected in the concept that Ents are often referred to as giants in The Lord of the Rings.

Thus from the very beginning 'ent' must have been associated with the word 'giant' or the concept of 'might person of long ago'.

Can we say that giants were associated with walking trees in the simple minds of the hobbits? Such claim would be slightly contradictory with regard to another reference:

Here giants appear simply as huge ceatures and we are not told how Sam imagines them.

Another interesting thing is that giants are often mentioned in association with stone work.

Tom Shippey tels us how Tolkien might have come up with his personal interpretation of orþanc enta geweorc, which is usually told to be the cunning work of giants.

Whatever the true story, it is almost obvious that to the hobbits of the Third Age the great works by the great people of the past looked splendid. 'Giant' then could refer, as in some mythologies, not only to size, but also to the enormous strength and spiritual splendour. This is perhaps what we can guess from other quotation:

Of course the direct reference is to the colossal size of the pillars, yet we may read between the lines and see the connection between the splendour of the Kings (in the past, so probably a legend already) and the physical size of the sculptures representing them. Connections with size only are, of course, also used:

If giants in LotR and the {Third Age}? are but a legend to the ordinary people, in Farmer Giles of Ham we get a different picture of this race. The giants here are rude and uncultured folk, and troublesome at times. They are explicitly human-like (for example, use pots for cooking), but very large. Their size is explained much like it would be in any fairytale:

Giants in Various Myths

Usually creatures referred to as giants are imagined as humanoids of spectacular size and strength. Often they are depicted as stupid or violent, though others imagine them friendly and wise.

There are references to giants in ancient literature: Homer's Odyssey includes Cyclopes, the Bible has Goliath and even an entire race called Nephilim.

The greatest likelihood is that Tolkien's giants had to do with Germanic vision of them. In Germanic myths, giants, or Jotuns, are an opposition to the gods. It is said that frost giants will defend the Aesir in Ragnarok and bring about the end of the world. The Aesir themselves are akin to the giants, and various stories mention their inter-marriages. The offspring of giants and gods often are imagined as monsters.

Folklore of Wales and Ireland has tales of combat with giants, and ogres or trolls, giant-like creatures, occur in many countries' folklore.

Further Readings

• Jacob Grimm's elaborations on giants in his Deutsche Mythologie [1]
• A general overview of 'Gigantomachia' the wars of giants and gods in Greek mythology [2]
• Titanes, Gigantes and Cyclopes in Greek mythology [3]
• An entry in the Encyclopedia of Arda [4]
• Robert Graves' Greek Mythology, esp. chapter 4 & 35-37
• Geoffrey Ashe Mythology of the British Isles, esp. chapter 6-12

Comments

Not only are giants, according to legend, said to have been the first inhabitants of Britain, British Folklore - especially that of southern Britain - is rather rich in tales of giants. Tolkien, with his passage in The Hobbit, may have been alluding to the legend of the giant on Windover Hill who was bitter enemies with the giant on Firle Beacon, several miles away. In the midst of an argument one day, they flung boulders at one another, until one rock killed the Windover giant, stretching him out on the slope where his outline is preserved.

Old English often has "eald enta geweorc" for large stone buildings or monuments and there the parallels to Tolkien's Ents can be observed. Also Tolkien's first approach to giants - or Monsters in general - the Úvanimor, who are quite stereotypically described as monsters, giants, and ogres, reminds of the Biblical Nephilim as well as the Titanes and Gigantes of Greek myths or the the offspring of Tiamat in the Mesopotamian tales... -- ChW