Beornings?

[Oldtoby]

Any LM's doing house rules that allow a Beorning pc to transform into an actual bear? (not spirit bear)
Tolkien's canon seems ambiguous on this subject but i have always thought that the beornings were skin changers. Grimbeorn, at least would seem to have this ability being that he was Beorn's son, but is it too much to assume that all his people could?
Would love to incorporate this somehow.

[Otaku-sempai]

Most of the Beornings were Men of the Anduin Dales who became followers of Beorn after the Battle of Five Armies. Northmen by descent, they might bear (no pun intended) some relation to Beorn's original folk, but no more than other Men of the region. Only Beorn and his close blood-relations seem to have the shape-changer ability by the end of the Third Age.

Anyway by mid-winter Gandalf and Bilbo had come all the way back, along both edges of the Forest, to the doors of Beorn's house; and there for a while they both stayed. Yule-tide was warm and merry there; and men came from far and wide to feast at Beorn's bidding... Beorn indeed became a great chief afterwards in those regions and ruled a wide land between the mountains and the wood; and it is said that for many generations the men of his line had the power of taking a bear's shape, and some were grim men and bad, but most were in heart like Beorn, if less in size and strength.

There is no mention of any women of Beorn's line inheriting his ability, but maybe we can attribute that to prejudices in gender roles and something that was just not talked about.

[Earendil]

Anyway by mid-winter Gandalf and Bilbo had come all the way back, along both edges of the Forest, to the doors of Beorn's house; and there for a while they both stayed. Yule-tide was warm and merry there; and men came from far and wide to feast at Beorn's bidding... Beorn indeed became a great chief afterwards in those regions and ruled a wide land between the mountains and the wood; and it is said that for many generations the men of his line had the power of taking a bear's shape, and some were grim men and bad, but most were in heart like Beorn, if less in size and strength.

There is no mention of any women of Beorn's line inheriting his ability, but maybe we can attribute that to prejudices in gender roles and something that was just not talked about.

Or it's just Tolkien's usual old-fashioned use of "men" to mean human people in general...

[Otaku-sempai]

Or it's just Tolkien's usual old-fashioned use of "men" to mean human people in general...

I would agree with this if men in the excerpt was capitalized. More likely, in my opinion, is that Tolkien only saw the males in Beorn's line as being skin-changers.

[Stormcrow]

Say rather that he only spoke of the men in Beorn's line as being skin-changers. The women might be too, but he didn't mention them.

The Hobbit doesn't capitalize race names the way The Lord of the Rings does, so you can't count on that to distinguish whether he means male or human. Besides, it would make little sense to say "the humans of his line." As opposed to what? Bears? Does his wife have human and bear children? I doubt it.

"Men" in this quote might persons in an old-fashioned, sexist way, but I think it just means male persons, and the female persons are being ignored, not excluded.

[Glorelendil]

Say rather that he only spoke of the men in Beorn's line as being skin-changers. The women might be too, but he didn't mention them.

Exactly. It was "said" the men had this ability. That is, folk talked about it.

Perhaps they kept the superpowers of their women a closely guarded secret.

[Otaku-sempai]

The Hobbit doesn't capitalize race names the way The Lord of the Rings does, so you can't count on that to distinguish whether he means male or human. Besides, it would make little sense to say "the humans of his line." As opposed to what? Bears? Does his wife have human and bear children? I doubt it.

"Men" in this quote might persons in an old-fashioned, sexist way, but I think it just means male persons, and the female persons are being ignored, not excluded.

You have a point, but don't twist my words; I never suggested the phrase "the humans of his line." I would more likely suggest something like. "the folk of his line," or, "the persons of his line," or even just, "his direct descendants." However, my original impression of what Tolkien meant is reinforced by his further usage: "and some were grim men and bad..." Perhaps it can be interpreted more broadly, but I think that the simplest interpretation is the most likely. In any case, I think that we are mostly in agreement.

[Elmoth]

Considering the time period of tolkien's life, it is likely that he simply ignored women altogether and centered in the men alone. Women are not specially prominent in his works in any case. A sign of his times, really. Feel free to add women galore to your games, since it is not explicitly against canon either most of the time. And even if it is, screw canon if you have more fun that way.

Cheers,
Xavi

[Stormcrow]

You have a point, but don't twist my words; I never suggested the phrase "the humans of his line."

??? I didn't say you suggested that.

However, my original impression of what Tolkien meant is reinforced by his further usage: "and some were grim men and bad..." Perhaps it can be interpreted more broadly

Some of the folk/humans/persons can be "grim men and bad" and still not be mentioning the women.

I think that the simplest interpretation is the most likely.

What, that skin-changing only works for male descendants? Very selective ability. I'd say the simpler explanation is that both male and female descendants can be skin-changers, but because of cultural and literary reasons Tolkien is only interested in mentioning the ones who figure into the whole running a kingdom business, which for Tolkien would mostly be the male descendants.

Or maybe skin-changing is a learned ability, a secret passed down through Beorn's line, and the culture of the Beornings tells them only to teach the men this secret, to leave the women at home. This might not be the case for player-heroes, who tend to be exceptional.

In any case this is all moot—The One Ring grants more Beornings than just Beorn's descendants some degree of the power of skin-changing, and this is not limited to just male persons.

[Stormcrow]

Women are not specially prominent in his works in any case.

Well, perhaps it would be better to say that women were not especially numerous in his works. Those he did write about were always prominent.