Connecting the Horses

The image of the White Horse is obviously present in Tolkien’s work: it enhances the Rohirrim’s sense of shared identity over time, and is present in the magical race of the Mearas. Both uses of this image repeat the Uffington Horse’s function of keeping watch and its mythical status. As a result, lines can be drawn from the Uffington White Horse to Tolkien’s white horses, through which it becomes clear Tolkien was inspired by more than just the Uffington Horse’s image alone. These connecting lines are also influenced by Beowulf and the Mabinogion, so Saxon and Celtic sources, in equal measure. These sources show the value and symbolism of horses, the status of the white horse as the first of all horses, and the magic associated with a white coat.

The Uffington White Horse is able to reshape the past for the present and contribute to a sense of shared identity for England’s people, and Tolkien’s horses have certainly inherited this ability. However, as in an echo of the scouring process, Tolkien was also influenced by the preservation and reshaping of the white horse’s attributes in Old English and Celtic literature. In the end, it is clear that Tolkien’s horses have many ancestors, but there is no doubt that the one horse to initiate this line of descent is the White Horse of Uffington.