But by far one of the most spectacular creatures that Sam encounters along his travels with Frodo and Gollum is an Oliphaunt. He almost cannot believe his eyes at the sheer size and majesty of the creature, and declares that “no one back home’ll ever believe me”. So what is it about this remarkable creature that Sam is so drawn to, and where does it come from?

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The answer lies not necessarily with the creature itself, but with the people who command it. The oliphaunt is sadly not a creature that they see naturally roaming in the wild, but a weapon that the men of the south, the Haradrim, or Southrons as they are otherwise known have captured and trained. They call the beasts Mumakils, and have tortured them into violent behavior and following war commands, in which the creatures are made to carry the men into battle, often with great structures on their backs, where archers and cruel soldiers are housed therein.

Originally, the oliphaunts were peaceful creatures, who dwelled in the jungles in Far Harad, south of Gondor. They were seldom seen and generally left to their own devices before Sauron began trying to seize power, and was defeated by the Battle of the Last Alliance when Isildur cut the ring from his finger. At this time, Sauron’s evil began spreading to all lands, including Harad, and the men began capturing and taming the Oliphaunts to use as weapons. Due to their vast size, and their thick hide which was very difficult to pierce by arrow or by sword, they became one of the most lethal and effective weapons in any battle. They are only able to be taken down at the Battle of Pelennor fields because of the Army of the Dead, who are equally hard to kill.

When Sam and Frodo first see one, they have just been captured by Faramir and his Rangers in the fields of Ithillen. The rangers are there guarding the lands from enemies of Gondor, and have just taken out a group of Haradrim soldiers who were trying to enter. The Mumakil comes running past, whether in violence or in fear isn’t known, but Sam notes “his great legs like trees, enormous sail-like ears spread out, long snout upraised like a huge serpent about to strike, his small red eyes raging.” As it runs, the Oliphaunt kills several men, trampling them beneath his large feet, and goes careening through the trees and out of sight.

It isn’t known what becomes of the majestic creature, “whether he escaped to roam the wild for a time until he perished far from home or was trapped in a deep pit, or whether he raged on until he plunged into the Great River and was swallowed up.” But Sam later thinks of one of the Haradrim soldiers who has been killed by the rangers, and whether he was evil at heart, or whether he was just caught up in the wrong war and would really have rather stayed at home, and the same can be said for the Mumakil.

There are many creatures throughout the trilogy that have been corrupted and twisted to Sauron’s will, without much choice or fault of their own. There are the cave trolls who fight in the Mines of Moria, As well as the black horses who bear the Nagul to The Shire to try to capture Frodo and the Ring. It is difficult to say which of the creatures in the films actually started out evil, and which were forced into their actions by some cruelty or tainting on the dark lord’s behalf. After the incident with the Oliphaunt, Faramir takes Sam and Frodo back to his hideout and then releases them onward to their quest once he has discovered that they mean to destroy the ring and that he wants nothing to do with the evil object.

Once it is destroyed in Mount Doom, Middle Earth enters the Fourth Age, one of peace and prosperity in the hands of Aragorn, who has claimed the throne of Gondor. The remaining Mumakil who survive the wars are sent back to their lands in the south, hopefully, to return to the jungle and live away from the cruel treatment of men, but they begin to fade over time, until ‘his kin that lives still in latter days but memories of his girth and majesty.’

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