Wonder, Curiosity and Magic
what are the (possible) origins of the Fox from The Lord of the Rings?
In The Lord of the Rings there is a rather obscure, but no less loved, character that wanders onto the scene while Frodo, Sam and Pippin are still in the Shire. Though he’s not there for long he does make a lasting impression. I’m talking, of course, about the random fox we meet in the third chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring and never hear from again.
Now, if you’ve only experienced the works of Tolkien through the Peter Jackson films or the new Rings of Power show, the topic of this post might be a new one for you. And, if you’re a long-time fan, it might be something you forgot about. So, pour yourself a comfort drink of choice, find your favorite cozy spot, and enjoy this free Tolkien deep-dive.
At this point in the story, Frodo has sold Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses and is making it appear—with the help of his friends—that he is permanently relocating to Buckland. Of course, this is all just a ruse to hopefully fool the enemy who he has just found out is actively searching for him. The real plan is to leave The Shire to make for Rivendell by crossing the borders of Buckland and entering into the Old Forest.
Frodo is, understandably, reluctant to leave the place that has been his home for the past twenty-nine years. So, instead of riding by pony cart with Merry Brandybuck and Fredegar Bolger who went ahead to set up his home in Buckland, he decides to take one last ‘farewell walk’ through the Shire instead. Sam and Pippin accompany him. They set out at night and walk for as long as they’re able, and eventually make camp in the shelter of a fir tree. This is when a curious scene unfolds.
“Then, each in an angle of the great tree's roots, they curled up in their cloaks and blankets, and were soon fast asleep. They set no watch; even Frodo feared no danger yet, for they were still in the heart of the Shire. A few creatures came and looked at them when the fire had died away. A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.
'Hobbits!' he thought. 'Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this!' He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it.” — The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter: Three is Company, J.R.R. Tolkien
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A random sentient Fox makes an amusing observation about the sleeping Hobbits and carries on with “business of his own” and is never mentioned again. This playful moment might be nothing more than just that: a bit of whimsy Tolkien tossed in because he wanted to.
But what if there was more to the Fox than that?
Hello and welcome to Many Meetings, the heart of Tolkien-dom on Substack!
I’m Breanne, a new-ish substacker, but a lifelong Tolkien fan. This space is one I’ve created to welcome others into these beautiful stories, sometimes on walks with my dog and sometimes in a quiet corner of your inbox.
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When I’m not doing read-throughs, I also post free essays and deep-dives inspired by the works of Tolkien like this one. Enjoy!
The works of Tolkien lend themselves beautifully to speculation (or the more casual term: headcanon). Some things are explicitly stated outright in his legendarium, other things are delightfully murky; leaving room for us to explore the mythology on trails of our own. I’d like to wander down one such path with you today.
And I want to be clear: I do not have any explicit confirmation about the Fox Theories I have, but I’ve tried—as best I can—to take the materials to support this idea from the scaffolding Tolkien already gave us.
Where did this Fox—who appears to have a rich inner thought life–come from? What is it about this creature that differentiates him from the other animals we meet in these stories?
Sentient, speaking animals are not foreign to Tolkien’s legendarium. The famous Eagles come to mind and Shadowfax, Fatty Lumpkin and even Bill the Pony seem to possess a different kind of knowledge than other common animals. But probably the most famous of all speaking animals in Tolkien’s works is Huan the Hound.
Huan is a giant dog from Valinor who Tolkien described as being “of immortal race”.1 He was capable of speech but could only do so three times throughout his life. You can read about Huan’s adventures in other places2. But today we’re going to look into some passages where Tolkien talked about what Huan could be that will give us some insight on our beloved Fox.
In the Histories of Middle Earth, Christopher Tolkien shares that Tolkien wrote this about the possible origins of Huan the Hound:
“What of talking beasts and birds with reasoning and speech? These have been rather lightly adopted from less 'serious' mythologies, but play a part which cannot now be excised. They are certainly 'exceptions' and not much used, but sufficiently to show they are a recognized feature of the world. All other creatures accept them as natural if not common.
But true 'rational' creatures,"speaking peoples', are all of human / humanoid' form. Only the Valar and Maiar are intelligences that can assume forms of Arda at will. Huan and Sorontar could be Maiar - emissaries of Manwë.' But unfortunately in The Lord of the Rings Gwaehir and Landroval are said to be descendants of Sorontar.”
Later on in that same section the book tells us another possible origin is that Huan is an “elevated” animal that was raised to a greater sentience by the Valar:
“The same sort of thing may be said of Húan and the Eagles: they were taught language by the Valar, and raised to a higher level - but they still had no fëar.”
(The term “fëar here is used in the same way we would understand the word, ‘soul’)
As with many things in Tolkien’s work, we get a few different versions of who and what the origins of a character like Huan could be. Maybe he is one of the Maiar who chose the form of a dog. Maybe he is a common dog that was “raised to a higher level” by the Valar. It’s all fascinating to consider. And keeping all of that in mind, I want to weave in another passage from The Silmarillion which adds another layer of intrigue to the mystery of our Fox:
“For all living things that are or have been in the Kingdom of Arda, save only the fell and evil creatures of Melkor, lived then in the land of Aman; and there also were many other creatures that have not been seen upon Middle-earth, and perhaps never now shall be, since the fashion of the world was changed.” –The Silmarillion, Chapter: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië
This part of the text tells us that there were “many other creatures that have not been seen upon Middle-earth” in the fictional world that Tolkien created. This begs the question, if the Valar (possibly) elevated a dog to become the great hound, Huan, could they have also not (possibly) elevated a fox to the same level of awareness and reasoning?
This theory does bring up two objections:
1: If the Fox was originally from Valinor, how did it get to Middle-earth?
2: How would a Fox live long enough to be alive in the Shire in the Third Age?
The answer to the first question, in my mind, is that the Fox was either smuggled over to Middle-earth or snuck onto a boat (or island3) that traversed the distance between Valinor and Middle-earth/Beleriand.
But if that’s the case, how would he have ended up in the Shire in the Third Age? There are two ways to answer this. Either he was immortal (as Huan the Hound is described to be) or he is a descendant from a line of “elevated” Foxes from Valinor that inherited the trait of speech from his ancestors.4 Much like Tolkien, I’ll give you both versions and let you decide for yourself which you prefer.
But it is my personal belief that the delightful Fox we meet in The Fellowship of the Ring is an Immortal Fox, originally from Valinor, who somehow survived through the First and Second Ages to pass by Frodo, Sam, and Pippin as they rested peacefully under the fir tree that night in the Shire.
At that point in the chapter, Tolkien pauses the narrative for a moment to show us a Fox observing the Hobbits sleeping in safety; an occurrence that will become increasingly rare as they continue on into the wild world for the first time. And as the night passes and the moon arches overhead, the creature stops by long enough to crack open the door to wonder, curiosity and magic before slipping silently into the dark.
The Fox may not be mentioned again in the story of The Lord of the Rings, but here we are talking about him today. Maybe he’s an immortal Fox from the Blessed Realm. Maybe he’s just a woodland creature and nothing more. Regardless, his whimsical legacy lives on.
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“Huan was the name of the chief of the hound of Celegorm. He was of immortal race from the hunting-lands of Oromê.” -Beren and Lúthien, Section: A Further Extract from The Quenta, J.R.R. Tolkien
“Therefore Ulmo uprooted an island which long had stood alone amid the sea, far from either shore, since the tumults of the fall of Illuin; and with the aid of his servants he moved it, as it were a mighty ship, and anchored it in the Bay of Balar, into which Sirion poured his water. Then the Vanyar and the Noldor embarked upon that isle, and were drawn over the sea, and came at last to the long shores beneath the Mountains of Aman; and they entered Valinor and were welcomed to its bliss.” -The Silmarillion, Chapter: Of Eldamar and the Princes of Eldalië
A note on the concept of the Vala teaching creatures speech and their descendants inheriting that capability. In the essay, ‘Myths Transformed’ found in the Histories of Middle-earth, volume: Morgoth’s Ring we can read about how Melkor taught the Orcs speech and they passed it on to their children. “Melkor taught them speech and as they bred they inherited this; and they had just as much independence as have, say, dogs or horses of their human masters.” I know an Orc is not equivalent to a fox, but this is where I base the idea that the Fox in LOTR (possibly) had an ancestor who was taught speech and some of its offspring inherited that trait.
I’ve always subscribed to the theory that the fox is just a bit of Tolkien whimsy woven into the light-hearted tone of the beginning of the Trilogy, but I think your post changed my mind. I also believe now that the fox is a descendant of Valinor, and the reason I now believe this is because it gives the scene a touch of melancholic irony: the fox questions the presence of the hobbits, never realizing that their presence (and unbeknownst to him, their quest) is the very thing that will keep the old Magic alive in the world, the same old Magic that allowed for his existence as a sentient woodland creature.
There’s also a fun theory that the fox is descended from Númenor, which again, lends beautiful irony to this scene in that the hobbits’ quest is the thing that will also restore the Númenorean line in Middle-earth.
All unbeknownst to the fox.
I love this! I remember reading that section and then actually laughing out loud because it was so random but cute. I like the idea that this fox is a descendant from Valinor. I mean there are trees with family roots (haha) from Valinor, why not foxes? I choose to err on the side of whimsy.