42 What was the origin of Trolls? (Tolkien)
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This article is from the Tolkien Newsgroups FAQ, by Steuard Jensen sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu with numerous contributions by others.
42 What was the origin of Trolls? (Tolkien)
[This updates question V.G.2 of the Tolkien LessFAQ.]
It is not at all clear. One piece of information comes from
Treebeard's statement (in the chapter "Treebeard") that Trolls were
made "in mockery of Ents, as Orcs were of Elves". However, this
probably only means that Ents gave Morgoth the idea for Trolls, not
that the two races are actually related: the two races have almost
nothing in common except great strength. Also, in Letter #153, Tolkien
discusses this very quote and says that "Treebeard is a _character_ in
my story, not me... and there is quite a lot he does not know or
understand."
One of Tolkien's more direct comments on the origin of Trolls comes
a few lines later in that letter. He says of the Trolls in _The
Hobbit_ that
I am not sure about Trolls. I think they are mere 'counterfeits',
and hence ... they return to mere stone images when not in the dark.
But there are other sorts of Trolls, beside these rather
ridiculous, if brutal, Stone-trolls, for which other origins are
suggested.
At least when he wrote this in 1954, then, it seems that Tolkien
believed that the Stone-trolls in particular were barely even
independent beings, relying on some sort of "spell" or external will
for their existence.
Another direct statement about Trolls can be found at the end of
Text IX of the "Myths Transformed" section of _Morgoth's Ring_
(probably written in the late 1950s):
The Elves would have classed the creatures called 'trolls' (in _The
Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_) as Orcs - in character and
origin - but they were larger and slower. It would seem evident
that they were corruptions of primitive human types.
Christopher comments that "he seems to have been thinking...
specifically of the _Olog-hai_, the great Trolls who appeared at the
end of the Third Age (as stated in Appendix F)", quite likely in part
on the basis of the comment in Appendix F that "Some held that [the
_Olog-hai_] were not Trolls but giant Orcs".
However, Tolkien's mention of _The Hobbit_ in this quote suggests
that its "Stone-trolls" were meant to be included as well, and Appendix
F goes on to say "but the Olog-hai were in fashion of body and mind
quite unlike even the largest of Orc-kind... Trolls they were..." which
suggests that all Trolls were fundamentally the same, and different
than Orcs.
It is not clear how to reconcile these statements, though the
evidence from LotR naturally carries the greatest weight. In any case,
Tolkien's indecision about the origin of Orcs in _Morgoth's Ring_ (as
discussed in question III.B.14) almost certainly applies even more
strongly to the passing comment regarding Trolls quoted above.
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