Kine of Araw was a species of oxen that lived in the fields of Rhûn near the Sea of Rhûn. These oxen were hardier and wilder than any other in Middle-earth.
The Kine were famous as the quarry of Vorondil the Hunter, ancestor of the Ruling Stewards of Gondor. It was he who cut a horn from one of these beasts and from it fashioned a hunting-horn; the Great Horn, which came to be carried by the eldest son of the Ruling Steward from Vorondil's time onward. The last heir to bear the Great Horn was Boromir, who saw it broken in two in his battle with Orcs beneath Amon Hen.[1][2]
Etymology
Legends claimed that these oxen descended from the cattle of Oromë, the Huntsman of the Valar, and so they were named the Kine of Araw[1][3], Araw being the Sindarin form of Oromë's name.
Inspiration
In an unpublished manuscript held at the Bodleian Library, the Wild Kine were likened by Tolkien to aurochs.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Minas Tirith"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "The Window on the West"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "The Realms in Exile", "The Southern Line: Heirs of Anarion"
- ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 265