Great Bear-dance

The Great Bear-dance was held during the autumn season within the region of the Forostar where a great concourse would be assembled at Tompollë. This dance was the most famous of the bear-dances, which the bears, mostly black bears, performed to the delight of their human friends. The spectacle gathered many people from all across the island due to it being shortly after the Eruhantalë. During these dances, as many as fifty or more bears might show up and participate. The slow and dignified motions that the bears made often appeared astonishingly comic to those not accustomed to them. Despite the sight, no Númenórean that was admitted to the event voiced open laughter, which angered and alarmed the bears since they could not understand it.

Though the annual Great Bear-dance ended with the Downfall of Númenor, the ordinary Bear-dances lived on into the Third Age. According to Gandalf, bears of various sizes east of the Misty Mountains occasionally gather outside of Beorn's Hall for a "regular bears' meeting" where they dance "from dark to nearly dawn". It is possible that this dance could be related in some way to the Great Bear-dance.

The Quenya name for the Great Bear-dance was first typed by Tolkien as ruxopandalë, but was then changed to ruxotompalë. The form ruxöalë was an editorial error.

Originally, the laughter of Men was "a sound that the bears resented" outright, rather than just being a sound that they simply could not understand.

In the index of The Nature of Middle-earth, the Great Bear-dance is spelled as the "Great Bear Dance", whether this was intentional or a mistake is unknown.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 26/05/2026.