Tolkien followed both paths in creating his own monsters.

Monsters in Medieval Europe were often humanoid, but could also resemble wild beasts, but of enormous size J. The word 'monster' has as its origin the Latin monstrum, 'a marvel, prodigy, portent', in turn from Latin monstrare, 'to show'. Scholars have noted that the monsters' evil nature reflects Tolkien's Roman Catholicism, a religion which has a clear conception of good and evil.įurther information: Beowulf and Middle-earth Some scholars add Tolkien's immensely powerful Dark Lords Morgoth and Sauron to the list, as monstrous enemies in spirit as well as in body. The European medieval tradition of monsters makes them either humanoid but distorted, or like wild beasts, but very large and malevolent Tolkien follows both traditions, with monsters like Orcs of the first kind and Wargs of the second. Tolkien was an expert on Old English, especially Beowulf, and several of his monsters share aspects of the Beowulf monsters his Trolls have been likened to Grendel, the Orcs' name harks back to the poem's orcneas, and the dragon Smaug has multiple attributes of the Beowulf dragon. Tolkien's monsters are the evil beings, such as Orcs, Trolls, and giant spiders, who oppose and sometimes fight the protagonists in J.