Astronomy in the Hobbit

7/30/2019 Astronomy in the Hobbit

1/3

Astronomy in The Hobbit

By Jay Ryan

J.R.R Tolkiens fantasy world of Middle Earth is populated by many unusual races, for whichthe author created elaborate panoply of languages, poetry, cultures, and back-stories. Since

Middle Earth is a medieval, pre-industrial society, Tolkien did not neglect to depict pre-

industrial techniques for measuring the passage of time. In our modern society, we rely onartificial clocks and calendars to keep track of time for us, but our friends from Middle Earth

had to rely on those natural timekeepers used throughout our own pre-industrial history . . .the Sun and Moon.

Most people in todays modern world are not familiar with natural astronomical timekeeping,

and the astronomy ofThe Hobbitusually goes unnoticed. The measuring of months isdetermined by seasonal variations of the Sun, and time of the month can be found by

following the cycles of the Moons phases. If we know what to look for, we can find quite anumber of references to astronomical timekeeping throughout The Hobbitand Tolkiens

other works.

We read that Bilbo and the dwarves began their adventure one fine morning just beforeMay.1 The party tramped along uneventfully for a whole month, as Bilbo remarks on the

next page that it will soon be June.2 Bilbo notes the time of the month by noticing that thedarkness of night was falling and a waning moon appeared above the hills between the

flying rags.2 The seasoned observer of the sky realizes that such a waning Moon can beseen rising shortly after sunset in the days immediately following the Full Moon, a bit more

than two weeks through the lunar cycle of the month.

Later on, as the party approaches the house of Elrond in the Elvish town of Rivendell, weretold that the light became very dim, for the moon had not risen.3 This helps us to see that

perhaps only a week or two have elapsed, since the waning Moon rises later and later aftersunset with each following night, and the Moon would not be visible at nightfall.

Bilbo arrived in Rivendell to the sound of Elvish singing in June under the stars.4 Were nottold exactly when in June, but we are told that the party stayed long in that good house,

fourteen days at least.5 We are also told that they were to go on again with the early sun

on midsummer morning.6 According to British custom, midsummer is a name for thesummer solstice, which falls on June 21. We therefore conclude that the party arrived in

Rivendell on June 7.

On midsummers eve, the night before Bilbo and the dwarves departed, we are informedthat the moon was shining in a broad silver crescent.7 This tells us that the Moon has

become a waxing crescent, maybe four or five days past the New Moon. This clue lets usknow that Bilbo arrived in Rivendell under a waning gibbous Moon, which would have risen a

little bit before midnight. Armed with all this information, we can conclude that Bilbo likely

spotted that waning Moon on about May 30.

This manner of reckoning time by Moon phases may seem strange to a modern reader, but

this is how days and weeks were actually tracked throughout all history, before thedevelopment of modern artificial methods of timekeeping. While such factoids might seem

irrelevant today, they point out Tolkiens attention to detail and his expertise of suchmatters as a Professor of Early Anglo-Saxon literature.


2/3

An interesting astronomical event occurs in Rivendell that has great importance for theentire adventure. On the night of their departure, the dwarves map was discovered to have

moon-letters:

What are moon-letters? asked the hobbit, full of excitement.

Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them, said Elrond, not whenyou look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon shines behind them, andwhat is more, with the more cunning sort it must be a moon of the same shape and

season as the day when they were written. . . . These must have been written on a

midsummers eve in a crescent moon, a long while ago.8

The moon-letters included instructions for discovering the entrance to the dwarf city ofErebor, underneath the Lonely Mountain, which was in the possession of the evil dragon

Smaug. These instructions taught that . . .

The setting sun with the last light of Durins Day will shine upon the key-hole.

Then what is Durins Day? asked Elrond.

The first day of the dwarves New Year, said Thorin, is as all should know the firstday of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durins Day

when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together.9

This is a clear reference to the time of the New Moon, which is traditionally reckoned to bethe first appearance of the crescent Moon in the evening sky after being invisibly lost in the

Suns glare at the end of the previous lunar month. During the time of the New Moon, theMoon is very close to the Sun and rises around the same time as the Sun. Thus, the Moon

crosses the sky with the Sun and is seen only in the evening after sunset, when the Moonitself is very near to setting.

The first day of the last moon of Autumn refers to the New Moon before the wintersolstice, December 21. Thus, Durins Day is a moveable feast, like Easter, and could fall

any time between late November and December 20, depending on the difference betweenthe cycles of the Sun and Moon in any given year. The calendar reckoning needed to

determine this exact date in advance requires a detailed understanding of astronomy.Thorin laments that he and his dwarves did not possess such knowledge:

But this will not help us much, I fear, for it passes our skill in these days to guesswhen such a time will come again.10

I wonder if Tolkien meant this as his own lament of modern culture, where such information

passes the skill of most people, in his time and still in ours.

After much adventuring, Bilbo and the dwarves finally arrived along the side of the LonelyMountain, in the proper season of Durins Day, as Thorin remarks that tomorrow begins the

last week of Autumn.10 As they found themselves at the entrance to Erebor, it was Bilbowho providentially discovered the circumstances of Durins Day, as well as the clues to open

the door:

As the sun turned west there was a gleam of yellow upon its far roof, as if the lightcaught the last pale leaves. Soon he saw the orange ball of the sun sinking towards the


3/3

level of his eyes. He went to the opening and there pale and faint was a thin newmoon above the rim of Earth.

The sun sank lower and lower, and their hopes fell. It sank into a belt of reddened

cloud and disappeared. The dwarves groaned, but still Bilbo stood almost without moving.The little moon was dipping to the horizon. Evening was coming on. Then suddenly

when their hope was lowest a red ray of the sun escaped like a finger through a rent in thecloud. A gleam of light came straight through the opening into the bay and fell on the

smooth rock-face. . . .

A hole appeared suddenly about three feet from the ground.11 [Just barely in the nickof time, Thorin was able to fit the key into the hole and open the door.]

The gleam went out, the sun sank, the moon was gone, and evening sprang into the

sky.12

The reader can see from these instances that the key events of the story ofThe Hobbitturnclosely upon astronomical appearances in the sky. A greater understanding of astronomy

can enhance our appreciation of Tolkiens wonderful story. There is also quite a bit of

astronomy in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but thats another story . . .

Jay Ryan is a homeschooling father of five in Cleveland, Ohio. For more information abouttelling time by the Sun and Moon, check out Jays Moonfinder, a storybook for children, and

Signs & Seasons, a homeschool astronomy curriculum. Both are available from manyhomeschool vendors, as well as Christianbook.com and www.ClassicalAstronomy.com.

Endnotes:

1. Ch. 2, Roast Mutton, p. 42 (all citations are from the Ballantine paperback edition,1973).

2. Ibid., p. 43.

3. Ch. 3 A Short Rest, p. 57.4. Ibid., p. 59.

5. Ibid., p. 60.6. Ibid., p. 61.

7. Ibid., p. 62.8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ch. 11, On the Doorstep, pp. 200201.11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

Copyright, 2012. Used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, the family education magazine, December 2012. Read themagazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the free apps at

www.TOSApps.com to read the magazine on your mobile devices.
http://www.tosmagazine.com/http://www.tosapps.com/http://www.tosmagazine.com/http://www.tosapps.com/

Documents

Astronomy in the Hobbit