Bandobras Took: Difference between revisions
m (Bot: Adding fields to infobox) |
(Use of "bullroarer" and how Tolkien might have learned it, with (too many) references.) |
||
| Line 52: | Line 52: | ||
[[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] noted that the alliteration between Bandobras and Bullroarer was significant and that translators should attempt to keep it. | [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] noted that the alliteration between Bandobras and Bullroarer was significant and that translators should attempt to keep it. | ||
Tolkien was aware while writing ''[[The Hobbit]]'' that "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullroarer bullroarer]" was the anthropological name for an instrument of primitive peoples that made a roaring sound, although he did not find it in any dictionaries.<ref name="Nomen">{{HM|N}}, p. 764</ref> It has been used by cultures all over the world, including in Britain and Ireland. The name itself is recorded to have come from its use in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barningham,_Suffolk Barningham, Suffolk] as a children's toy in the mid-nineteenth century;<ref>{{webcite|author=|articleurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullroarer|articlename=Bullroarer|dated=2013-11-13|website=Wikipedia|accessed=2014-01-14}}. The article quotes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Cort_Haddon A.C. Haddon]'s ''The Study of Man'' (New York: Putnam, 1898), p. 219: | |||
:"Prof. E. B. Tylor informs me that the name of 'bull-roarer' was first introduced into anthropological literature by the Rev. Lorimer Fison, who compares the Australian ''tundun'' to 'the wooden toy which I remember to have made as a boy, called a 'bull-roarer',' and this term has since been universally adopted as the technical name for the implement." [Fison and Howitt, ''Kamilaroi and Kurnai'', 1880. p. 267.] ''[Aboriginal Studies Press; Facsimile edition 1991. ISBN 978-0855752224]'' | |||
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorimer_Fison Fison] was born in 1832 in Barningham, [http://www.worldcities.us/Barningham/ 139 miles from Birmingham as the crow flies].</ref> Tolkien could well have known of it as a child in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham,_UK Birmingham] in the 1890's. | |||
==Other versions of the legendarium== | ==Other versions of the legendarium== | ||
Revision as of 10:24, 4 January 2014
| Bandobras Took | |
|---|---|
| Hobbit | |
 | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Other names | Bullroarer |
| Location | The Shire |
| Birth | T.A. 2704 |
| Death | T.A. 2806 (aged 102) |
| Family | |
| Family | Took |
| Parentage | Isumbras III |
| Siblings | Ferumbras II |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 4'5'' (135cm)[1] |
| Gallery | Images of Bandobras Took |
Bandobras "the Bullroarer" Took was the son of Thain Isumbras III of the Took line.[2] He was distinguished by his great height (for a Hobbit), being four foot five and thus able to ride a horse.[1]
History
Bandobras was famous for averting a goblin invasion of the Shire at the Battle of Greenfields of T.A. 2747,[3] and personally slaying the goblins' leader, Golfimbul. He took the Golfimbul's head off with a club. The goblin's head flew through the air for 100 yards and went down a rabbit hole; it is said that this is how the game of golf was invented.[4]
Nothing is known about Bandobras' family, other than he had "many descendants", some of whom were the North Tooks of Long Cleeve.[2]
Genealogy
| Isengrim II | |||||||||||||||
| Isumbras III | |||||||||||||||
| Ferumbras II | BANDOBRAS | ||||||||||||||
| Fortinbras I | Many descendants, Including the North-tooks of Long Cleeve | ||||||||||||||
Etymology
Bandobras is a Germanic name meaning "arm-band".[source?]
Tolkien noted that the alliteration between Bandobras and Bullroarer was significant and that translators should attempt to keep it.
Tolkien was aware while writing The Hobbit that "bullroarer" was the anthropological name for an instrument of primitive peoples that made a roaring sound, although he did not find it in any dictionaries.[5] It has been used by cultures all over the world, including in Britain and Ireland. The name itself is recorded to have come from its use in Barningham, Suffolk as a children's toy in the mid-nineteenth century;[6] Tolkien could well have known of it as a child in Birmingham in the 1890's.
Other versions of the legendarium
In editions prior to the 50th Anniversary Edition of The Lord of the Rings, the Prologue gave Bandobras' father as Isengrim II. This was based on an earlier version of the Took family tree,[7] but was never corrected.[8]
Inspirations
It is possible J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired by one George von Hohenzollern, who, like the Bullroarer to Bilbo, held the image of the bold ancestor to Tolkien:
He [the Bullroarer] charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club.
—"An Unexpected Party"[4]
She [Tolkien's aunt Grace] alleged that the family name ["Tolkien"] had originally been "von Hohenzollern", for they had emanated from the Hohenzollern district of the Holy Roman Empire. A certain George von Hohenzollern had, she said, fought on the side of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. He had shown great daring in leading an unofficial raid against the Turks and capturing the Sultan’s standard. This (said Aunt Grace) was why he was given the nickname Tollkühn, "foolhardy"; and the name stuck.
—Humphrey Carpenter[9]
Portrayals in adaptations
| Bandobras Took in adaptations | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Films
2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:
- In trying to convince Bilbo of his Tookishness, Gandalf talks about the story of Bandobras Took and his victory at the Battle of Greenfields. He also says that Bandobras invented the game of golf in his killing of Golfimbul but qualifies this by suggesting that it is an embellishment.
Games
2003: The Hobbit (2003 video game):
- The first Hobbit outside Bag End recounts the story of Bandobras, followed by the accusations that young hobbits do not know enough about their history.
2007: The Lord of the Rings Online:
- The public test server is named Bullroarer after Bandobras Took.
- In Brockenborings there is a wooden statue depicting Bandobras just after he defeated Golfimbul. Every Spring the Shire celebrates Bullroarer Took Day when the Hobbits drink tankards of Bullroarer's Brew and also place tankards of the drink under his statue in his honor. Bullroarer's Brew was Bandobras' favorite drink and it was named after him. It is a beer brewed out of clovers.
- Besides inventing golf, Bandobras also invented fence walking. Every morning Bullroarer would drink his favorite beer and then walk across a fence. It is said that he did this to improve his balance. Hobbits would play fence walking as part of the Bullroarer Took Day celebration.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "Prologue", "Concerning Hobbits"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix C, "Took of Great Smials"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "An Unexpected Party"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 764
- ↑ "Bullroarer" dated 13 November 2013, Wikipedia (accessed 14 January 2014). The article quotes A.C. Haddon's The Study of Man (New York: Putnam, 1898), p. 219:
- "Prof. E. B. Tylor informs me that the name of 'bull-roarer' was first introduced into anthropological literature by the Rev. Lorimer Fison, who compares the Australian tundun to 'the wooden toy which I remember to have made as a boy, called a 'bull-roarer',' and this term has since been universally adopted as the technical name for the implement." [Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, 1880. p. 267.] [Aboriginal Studies Press; Facsimile edition 1991. ISBN 978-0855752224]
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Return of the Shadow, "The Third Phase (1): XIX The Journey to Bree, Genealogy of the Tooks"
- ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 6
- ↑ Humphrey Carpenter, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography
