new Impression: Man of the Greyflood, c. SA 850
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2022 2:17 pm
Now that the latest newletter is out and about—inspiring other folks to consider Second Age kits!—I figure I can finally start laying out what I’ve been thinking about since last January!
Looking back on the last 8-9 years I’ve been at this hobby, I realized that all of my impressions were pointed in a definite direction…with varying degrees of success.
As I’ve breadcrumbed here & there, the main impetus behind my personal vision of ‘Middle-earth reenactment/reconstruction’ is as an outlet for more sustainable, ‘primitive’/‘wild’, and/or animist attitudes....without having to portray a Native Amerindian or perhaps a pre-Roman Gaul or Germanic. Especially in today's political climate, as a Caucasian individual of the USA, I hesitate when it comes to Native living history, 'redface', and potential for accusations of cultural appropriation, and what little early ‘Nordic’ and ‘Germanic’ history survived the Romans has too often unfortunately been watered down or usurped by various flavors of Fash (yes, we reenactors should try to ‘take it back’, but honestly…I usually don’t have the mental energy). On the other hand, playing in the technically-fictional, mythic-but-grounded setting of Middle-earth allows opportunities for experimentation, exploration, and education through applicability while being less beholden to the imposed limits of real-world history and modern political correctness.
So. Way back in 2014, my first attempt to channel my worldview through a Middle-earth lens emerged as my what-would-eventually-become-a-Beorning persona, Aistan. Unfortunately, over the intervening years, further research has given me a better grasp on the history of Men and the culture of Wilderland, and has led me to believe that as a people, the Beornings are in fact fairly ‘civilized’ – Beorn’s unique animal-partnership lifestyle notwithstanding!
The next year, I developed a Stoorish Hobbit persona, as a way to play with ideas of egalitarian anarchy in a Shire context, while getting double-duty out of some existing 18th century reenacting kit. Again, further research into both dress and the cultural institutions of Tolkien’s times suggested by his texts have forced me to conclude that the Shire, while having many positive aspects, not only didn’t resemble the 18th century but was far from a utopian classless society.
However, my original desire still existed. Was there anywhere in Middle-earth where I might find a culture of ‘primitive’, stubbornly resistant Men through whom I might channel my wild 'Earth first' views? The answer, it turns out, is yes – but largely not in the Third Age! Funnily enough, my third proposed impression also briefly considered something along these lines back in 2014.
The seed of this impression was planted at the Yule exchange of two years ago when I was gifted a beautiful bronze axehead by Elleth (that’s right – this is all your fault!
I’d been fascinated with bronzeware for a while, but it didn’t feel right for either of the late Third Age personas which I had already developed. I know it’s not ‘Best Practices In Reenacting’ to build an impression around a specific piece of Hard Kit….but, I wondered, “Might such a tool might be appropriate for a Man of an earlier Age?” I had already been attracted to the rarely-explored pre-Númenórean perspective after reading the incomplete Tal-Elmar in The Peoples of Middle-earth years ago, and became more invested after reading Andreas Möhn’s Middle-earth Seen By the Barbarians during the lockdowns of early 2020.
I remembered Tal-Elmar containing several references to lithic industries, but I wasn’t sure how representative of the larger pre-Númenórean culture that story was, or if a bronze axe would be appropriate for any other groups. As it turned out, that question was just the tip of the iceberg.
TL;DR:
-Wanted to portray a wild, animist, ancient European Man --> Aístan… but turns out Beornings are probably fairly civilized.
-Wanted to portray a horticultural hobbit anarchist using 18th century clothes --> Tungo… but turns out the Shire is more late 19th century and isn’t really that classless and anarchist.
-Wanted to portray a wild, animist, ancient European Copper/Bronze Age forager who shies away from outsiders and shoots seven-foot-tall exploitative colonizers from behind trees --> Gwathuirim, BINGO!
(I hesitate to use the Gwathuirim (S. ‘Shadowy Men’) label for this impression too much, as this is a misnomer placed on them by the Dúnedain and they definitely wouldn’t have been speaking Sindarin; since we have no idea what they would’ve called themselves ‘Early Second Age Man of the Greyflood’ will have to do. In reality this is just a proto-Dunlending forager-herdsman-skirmisher.
In another post, I will lay out the relevant information I have managed to winnow in my research from the various primary sources, although I must share two important caveats at the outset:
1) While we have some information on several pre-Númenórean and/or related or descended groups, we do not have a compete view of any one of these cultures.
2) Our datapoints are extremely distant (chronologically) from each other, spread across more than 7,000 years of the First, Second, and Third Ages.
Despite this limitation, with a fair amount of reading between the lines (and a liberal application of ‘frog DNA’) I think I can extrapolate and create a kit with a decently text-accurate foundation. However, it must technically be limited (at present) to a mere Impression as opposed to a properly fleshed-out First-Person Persona, which would include authentic naming, dates, place-names, and such details… however, I think a Second- or Third-Person POV is possible.
Looking back on the last 8-9 years I’ve been at this hobby, I realized that all of my impressions were pointed in a definite direction…with varying degrees of success.
As I’ve breadcrumbed here & there, the main impetus behind my personal vision of ‘Middle-earth reenactment/reconstruction’ is as an outlet for more sustainable, ‘primitive’/‘wild’, and/or animist attitudes....without having to portray a Native Amerindian or perhaps a pre-Roman Gaul or Germanic. Especially in today's political climate, as a Caucasian individual of the USA, I hesitate when it comes to Native living history, 'redface', and potential for accusations of cultural appropriation, and what little early ‘Nordic’ and ‘Germanic’ history survived the Romans has too often unfortunately been watered down or usurped by various flavors of Fash (yes, we reenactors should try to ‘take it back’, but honestly…I usually don’t have the mental energy). On the other hand, playing in the technically-fictional, mythic-but-grounded setting of Middle-earth allows opportunities for experimentation, exploration, and education through applicability while being less beholden to the imposed limits of real-world history and modern political correctness.
So. Way back in 2014, my first attempt to channel my worldview through a Middle-earth lens emerged as my what-would-eventually-become-a-Beorning persona, Aistan. Unfortunately, over the intervening years, further research has given me a better grasp on the history of Men and the culture of Wilderland, and has led me to believe that as a people, the Beornings are in fact fairly ‘civilized’ – Beorn’s unique animal-partnership lifestyle notwithstanding!
The next year, I developed a Stoorish Hobbit persona, as a way to play with ideas of egalitarian anarchy in a Shire context, while getting double-duty out of some existing 18th century reenacting kit. Again, further research into both dress and the cultural institutions of Tolkien’s times suggested by his texts have forced me to conclude that the Shire, while having many positive aspects, not only didn’t resemble the 18th century but was far from a utopian classless society.
However, my original desire still existed. Was there anywhere in Middle-earth where I might find a culture of ‘primitive’, stubbornly resistant Men through whom I might channel my wild 'Earth first' views? The answer, it turns out, is yes – but largely not in the Third Age! Funnily enough, my third proposed impression also briefly considered something along these lines back in 2014.
The seed of this impression was planted at the Yule exchange of two years ago when I was gifted a beautiful bronze axehead by Elleth (that’s right – this is all your fault!
I’d been fascinated with bronzeware for a while, but it didn’t feel right for either of the late Third Age personas which I had already developed. I know it’s not ‘Best Practices In Reenacting’ to build an impression around a specific piece of Hard Kit….but, I wondered, “Might such a tool might be appropriate for a Man of an earlier Age?” I had already been attracted to the rarely-explored pre-Númenórean perspective after reading the incomplete Tal-Elmar in The Peoples of Middle-earth years ago, and became more invested after reading Andreas Möhn’s Middle-earth Seen By the Barbarians during the lockdowns of early 2020.
I remembered Tal-Elmar containing several references to lithic industries, but I wasn’t sure how representative of the larger pre-Númenórean culture that story was, or if a bronze axe would be appropriate for any other groups. As it turned out, that question was just the tip of the iceberg.
TL;DR:
-Wanted to portray a wild, animist, ancient European Man --> Aístan… but turns out Beornings are probably fairly civilized.
-Wanted to portray a horticultural hobbit anarchist using 18th century clothes --> Tungo… but turns out the Shire is more late 19th century and isn’t really that classless and anarchist.
-Wanted to portray a wild, animist, ancient European Copper/Bronze Age forager who shies away from outsiders and shoots seven-foot-tall exploitative colonizers from behind trees --> Gwathuirim, BINGO!
(I hesitate to use the Gwathuirim (S. ‘Shadowy Men’) label for this impression too much, as this is a misnomer placed on them by the Dúnedain and they definitely wouldn’t have been speaking Sindarin; since we have no idea what they would’ve called themselves ‘Early Second Age Man of the Greyflood’ will have to do. In reality this is just a proto-Dunlending forager-herdsman-skirmisher.
In another post, I will lay out the relevant information I have managed to winnow in my research from the various primary sources, although I must share two important caveats at the outset:
1) While we have some information on several pre-Númenórean and/or related or descended groups, we do not have a compete view of any one of these cultures.
2) Our datapoints are extremely distant (chronologically) from each other, spread across more than 7,000 years of the First, Second, and Third Ages.
Despite this limitation, with a fair amount of reading between the lines (and a liberal application of ‘frog DNA’) I think I can extrapolate and create a kit with a decently text-accurate foundation. However, it must technically be limited (at present) to a mere Impression as opposed to a properly fleshed-out First-Person Persona, which would include authentic naming, dates, place-names, and such details… however, I think a Second- or Third-Person POV is possible.