View source for Esgaroth

{{Short description|Town in Middle-earth}}
{{Infobox fictional location
| name         = ''Esgaroth''

| source       = '''[[The Hobbit]]'''
| image        = Esgaroth.jpg
| image_size   = 240px
| caption      = Artist's conception

| alt_name     = Lake-town
| type         = Town built upon trade between Men, Elves and Dwarves in northern Middle-earth <br />Lake city

| blank_label  = Location
| blank_data   = [[Wilderland]]

| ruler        = Master of Lake-town
}}
'''Esgaroth''', or '''Lake-town''', is a fictional community of [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]] upon the Long Lake that appears in the 1937 novel ''[[The Hobbit]]'' by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]. Constructed entirely of wood and standing upon wooden pillars sunk into the lake-bed, the town is south of the [[Lonely Mountain]] and east of [[Mirkwood]]. The town's prosperity is apparently built upon trade between the Men who inhabit it, and the [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]] and the [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|Dwarves]] of northern [[Middle-earth]]. The chief mode of transport of the people of Esgaroth is stated to be their boats.

At the time in which ''The Hobbit'' is set, Esgaroth appears to be a [[city-state]], and a [[republic]] with no king (the only real republic shown in Middle-earth). The Master of Lake-town was said in-universe to be elected from among the "old and wise"; scholars have noted that all the same, he was trapped by his greed. Tolkien modelled the town closely on the real [[Neolithic]] [[Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps|pile dwellings]] that were discovered near the Alps in the 19th century.

== Fictional role ==

=== Geography ===

[[File:Elvenking, Erebor, Esgaroth.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Sketch map of Northeast [[Mirkwood]], showing the [[Lonely Mountain]] of Erebor, the River Running, and Esgaroth upon the Long Lake]]

Esgaroth was located in north-eastern [[Wilderland]], a large inland region of [[Middle-earth]]. It was situated on the western shores of the Long Lake, close to the inflow of the [[Forest River (Middle-earth)|Forest River]]. The Forest River provided an upstream route to [[Mirkwood]]. The [[Lonely Mountain]], which could be seen from the town and could be reached by travelling up the Long Lake and then up its northern inflow, the River Running (also called the Celduin).<ref group=T name="Appendix A">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955|loc=Appendix A.III "Durin's Folk"}}</ref> The River Running flowed out of the south of the lake, providing a travel route from Esgaroth all the way downstream to the land of [[Dorwinion]] on the [[Sea of Rhûn]].<ref group=T name="A Warm Welcome">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937|loc=Chapter 10 "A Warm Welcome"}}</ref> It had been preceded by a larger town, also built over the lake on piles that could still be seen during droughts, but Tolkien never wrote any further account of this.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |title=The Annotated Hobbit : The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again |date=2002 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]] |location=Boston |isbn=0618134700 |page=246 |edition=Revised and expanded / annotated by Douglas A. Anderson}}</ref>

=== Language ===

The inhabitants of Esgaroth knew the language spoken by most of Tolkien's Middle-earth, [[Westron]]. Amongst themselves they spoke an ancient form of it, which was loosely related to (but distinct from) the also-ancient language of the [[Rohan (Middle-earth)#People|Rohirrim]]. Tolkien "translated" Westron into English in his text, so to represent the ancient relative of it that the Rohirrim spoke, he substituted [[Old English language|Old English]].  Thus, Tolkien substituted [[Old Norse]] for the language of the Men of Esgaroth (in person and place names, etc.) because it is an ancient relative of Old English.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=131-133}}

=== Master of Lake-town ===

''Master of Lake-town'' is the [[title]] given to the elected [[leadership|leader]] of Esgaroth. The Master of the town when Bilbo and [[List of The Hobbit characters#Thorin's company|Thorin's Company]] arrived in ''[[The Hobbit]]'' was portrayed as a capable businessman, but more than a little greedy and cowardly.<ref group=T name="A Warm Welcome"/> He was stated as having run off with a large amount of gold and dying in the epilogue.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937|loc="Epilogue"}}</ref>

== Concept and artwork ==

[[File:Lake_Town_by_J._R._R._Tolkien.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Tolkien's pencil and ink drawing of "Lake Town" for ''The Hobbit'' shows either a generic scene or a moment before Bilbo has started to let the Dwarves out of the barrels in which they have arrived.<ref name="Hammond Scull 1998"/>]]

{{further|Tolkien's artwork}}

Tolkien made a series of drawings of Bilbo's escape from the Elves, as he floated with the Dwarves in barrels down to Esgaroth. The finished drawing shows a town on wooden piles above the lake, accessed by a walkway. He modelled the town closely on the [[neolithic]] [[Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps|pile dwellings]] that have been found on Swiss lakes, probably based on an artist's conception of such a town such as in [[Robert Munro (archaeologist)|Robert Munro]]'s 1908 ''Les stations lacustres d'Europe aux ages de la pierre et du bronze''.<ref name="Hammond Scull 1998">{{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |author-link1=Wayne G. Hammond |author-link2=Christina Scull |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator |title-link=J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator |date=1998 |orig-year=1995 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-261-10360-3 |pages=130–135}}</ref>{{sfn|Rateliff|2007|p=448}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Munro |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Munro (archaeologist) |last2=Rodet |first2=Paul |title=Les Stations lacustres d'Europe aux âges de la pierre et du bronze ("lake dwellings, Pfhalbauten, palafitti") |trans-title=The Lake-Dwellings of Europe in the Stone and Bronze Ages |date=1908 |publisher=Schleicher frères |location=Paris |oclc=458786610 |quote=81 figures, 35 planches [plates]}}</ref> The scholars [[Wayne G. Hammond]] and [[Christina Scull]] note that in an earlier drawing, two Dwarves can be seen crawling out of their barrels, with Bilbo still invisible as he was wearing [[One Ring|the Ring]], whereas the finished drawing shows the barrels without Dwarves, perhaps at the moment just before Bilbo started to let them out; an Elf, poling the raft, has been added. The text of ''The Hobbit'' states that night had fallen and the Men of the town had gone indoors to eat, while in the drawing, it is still day and swan-headed boats (based, they note, on those in Tolkien's painting ''The Halls of [[Manwë (Middle-earth)|Manwë]]'' for ''[[The Silmarillion]]'') are still being rowed about the lake.<ref name="Hammond Scull 1998"/>

== Fictional etymology ==

Compared to Dale, the other town in the valley of the River Running, Esgaroth is the more "mannish" and vernacular settlement. Its masters do not have any elvish-sounding names as the former kings of Dale, nor is Esgaroth a monarchy. This stems from the fact that in the past, Esgaroth was less influenced by the refined [[Númenor]]ean civilisation than Dale.<ref name="Birns">{{cite book |last=Birns |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Birns |title=Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays |editor-first=Jason |editor-last=Fisher |editor-link=Jason Fisher |chapter=The Stones and the Book: Tolkien, Mesopotamia and Biblical Mythopoeia |page=56 |year=2011 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]] |isbn=978-0-7864-8728-8}}</ref>

The meaning of the name ''Esgaroth'' is unclear. While it is not [[Sindarin]], one of Tolkien's elvish languages, it may be "'Sindarized' in shape" as the author himself explained.{{sfn|Rateliff|2007|p=418}} In early manuscripts, Tolkien provides a root ''esek'' meaning "[[sedge]]" or "[[Reed (plant)|reed]]" in the early Elvish language of Ilkorin, but reeds are not mentioned in the description of Lake-town that was published in ''The Hobbit''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Alexander |last2=Currie |first2=Elizabeth |title=The Uncharted Realms of Tolkien |year=2002 |publisher=Medea |isbn=978-0-95432-070-6 |page=86}}</ref> The name has been compared to the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] word ''gi'' meaning reed.<ref name="Birns"/>

== Analysis ==

{{quotebox
|title=From ''[[Dramatic Lyrics|The Pied Piper of Hamelin]]''<!--PD-->
|<poem>At last the people in a body
   To the Town Hall came flocking:
'Tis clear, cried they, our [[Mayor]]'s a noddy;
   And as for our [[Town council|Corporation]] — shocking
To think we buy gowns lined with ermine
For dolts that can't or won't determine
What's like to rid us of our vermin!</poem>
|author=[[Robert Browning]], 1842}}

[[Douglas A. Anderson]] notes in ''[[The Annotated Hobbit]]'' that Lake-town's Master and councillors possibly derive from [[Robert Browning]]'s "Mayor and Corporation" in his 1842 poem ''[[Dramatic Lyrics|The Pied Piper of Hamelin]]''. Anderson comments that Tolkien "loathed" the poem, and that in 1931 he wrote a satirical poem called "Progress in Bimble Town" dedicated to the "Mayor and Corporation".{{sfn|Tolkien|1988|p=213, note 3}}

Esgaroth has been interpreted as Tolkien's criticism of [[capitalism]] featuring a ruling elite class that exploits the lower-class citizens. The human Master of Lake-Town, like the [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|Dwarf]] Thorin Oakenshield who has become obsessed with the dragon's hoard, and the dragon [[Smaug]] himself, may all three be seen as illustrations of the "greedy, destructive side of capitalism". The Master, however, is rather trapped in his monotonic life of [[bureaucracy]] and [[cronyism]], since he is both the chief capitalist and chief politician of the town. On the other hand, Esgaroth does not abandon capitalism after the destruction of Smaug. While the town experiences a new prosperity, the "managerial class" of merchants is not replaced. Although he portrays the highly capitalistical town in a bad light, Tolkien does not advocate a [[Socialism|socialist]] system for the reconstructed Lake-town either. Instead the town's situation at the end of ''The Hobbit'' has been called an "orderly liberty".<ref name="Richards 2014">{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Jay W. |author1-link=Jay W. Richards |last2=Will |first2=Jonathan |title=The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom That Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot |chapter=The Lonely Mountain versus the Market |year=2014 |publisher=[[Ignatius Press]] |isbn=978-1-58617-328-9}}</ref><ref name="Bursten 2012">{{cite book |last=Bursten |first=Elisa |editor-last=Bright |editor-first=Amy |title='Curious, if True': The Fantastic in Literature |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars |isbn=978-1443839716 |pages=66–90 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dakwBwAAQBAJ&dq=esgaroth+capitalism&pg=PA66 |chapter='The Love of Beautiful Things': Norse Mythology and Greed in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Hobbit''}}</ref>

[[File:Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen-08.jpg|thumb|Reconstructed [[neolithic]] [[Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps|pile houses]] on the [[Lake Constance|Bodensee]]]]

The [[archaeologist]] Deborah Sabo, in ''[[Mythlore]]'', calls the description of Lake-town as Bilbo arrives there "perhaps Tolkien's most vivid attempt to model a place in Middle-earth on real-world [[archaeology]]".<ref name="Sabo 2007">{{cite journal |last=Sabo |first=Deborah |title=Archaeology and the Sense of History in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth |journal=[[Mythlore]] |date=15 October 2007 |volume=26 |issue=1 |at=article 7 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol26/iss1/7}}</ref> She notes that pile dwellings were discovered at [[Lake Zurich]] in 1853–1854 when the water level was unusually low; [[Ferdinand Keller (archaeologist)|Ferdinand Keller]] proposed that the village had been constructed on a platform on piles over the lake, creating "a sensation". By 1900, some hundreds of lake villages had been identified from Britain and Europe, and in a "lake-dwelling craze", children's books and newspaper and magazine articles provided pictures and descriptions of lake villages. In addition, Sabo writes that Tolkien characteristically viewed the past as [[Decline and fall in Middle-earth|far better than the present]], and that after Smaug has fallen, dying, on the town, destroying it, people avoid the place: "few dared to cross the cursed spot, and none dared to dive into the shivering water or recover the precious stones that fell from his rotting carcase."<ref name="Sabo 2007"/><ref group="T">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937|loc=Chapter 14 "Fire and Water"}}</ref> She states that in this passage, Tolkien is projecting the tale into the future, when the new town too will be an archaeological site, complete with folklore beliefs about a haunted place containing bones, jewels, and the remains of the piles of the town.<ref name="Sabo 2007"/>

It has been observed that there is an internal division in the minds of the people of Esgaroth. What they remember of the town's glorious past is preserved in songs and tales, but this lore is not considered actual history by the people but rather fiction. A few songs looked into the future foretelling the return of the dwarven kings and a new age of prosperity. The unexpected arrival of Thorin therefore causes great excitement among the Esgarothians who immerse "themselves in a fantasy that is only tangentially connected to the old prophecies ... and is almost completely detached from the world around them." The practical Master is capable of adapting to this new situation by assisting in the composition of new songs from which he profits. Eventually it is Bard though whose voice in the battle against the dragon is the voice of legend when he is revealed as the direct heir of Girion, Lord of Dale.<ref>{{cite book |last=Olsen |first=Corey |author-link=Corey Olsen |title=Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" |chapter=The Return of the King |year=2012 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |isbn=978-0-547-73946-5}}</ref>

[[File:Master of Lake-town, The Hobbit.jpg|thumbnail|right|Master of Lake-town, played by [[Stephen Fry]] in Peter Jackson's ''[[The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug|The Desolation of Smaug]]'']]
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==In other media==

In [[Peter Jackson]]'s 2012–2014 [[The Hobbit (film series)|''The Hobbit'' film series]], [[Stephen Fry]] plays the role of the Master of Lake-town in ''[[The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug]]'' and ''[[The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bulbeck |first=Pip |title=Stephen Fry Joins 'The Hobbit' |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-fry-joins-hobbit-190364 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |access-date=20 May 2011 |date=19 May 2011}}</ref> 

In the 2006 [[strategy game]] ''[[The Battle for Middle-Earth II]]'', the settlement of Esgaroth is featured in the campaign and available for skirmish.<ref name="gameguide">{{cite web |last=Radcliffe |first=Doug |url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-battle-for-middle-earth-ii-walkthrough/1100-6146219/=gameguide;title;1| title=The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II Walkthrough |work=[[GameSpot]] |date=20 March 2006|access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref>

==References==

===Primary===

{{reflist|group=T|28em}}

===Secondary===

{{reflist|28em}}

=== Sources ===

* {{ME-ref|HoTH}}
* {{ME-ref|ROAD}}
* {{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |editor-last=Anderson |editor-first=Douglas A. |editor-link=Douglas A. Anderson |title=The Annotated Hobbit |year=1988 |orig-year=1937 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]] |isbn=978-0-3954-7690-1 |title-link=The Annotated Hobbit }} 
* {{ME-ref|TH}}
* {{ME-ref|ROTK}}

{{Hobbit}}

[[Category:Middle-earth populated places]]
[[Category:Fictional city-states]]