Oxonmoot 2024

In English law, an outlaw was someone literally placed outside the law’s protection, who could be killed without any penalty. Outlawry usually happened due to the failure of an individual to appear in court, or ignoring a summons to so do.

In J.R.R.Tolkien’s Middle-earth, in Beleriand in the First Age, there were many references to individual outlaws and groups of outlaws, involving prominent people, in 'The Silmarillion' and other works. This raises the issue of what authority declared certain people outlaws. Morgoth regarded those who rejected his claim to be King of Arda as outlaws. However, while most those referred to as outlaws were those from Morgoth’s point of view, there were others outlawed by other authorities.

The talk explores Tolkien’s use of outlawry, particularly in Beleriand at this time, and the associated and important matter of legitimacy, in terms of who was seen by whom as having the right to declare people outlaws, and the potency of the term.