Stone Giants
In Norse mythology and that of the British isles, giants are associated with hills and mountaintops. Ancient, ruined structures and stone circles were sometimes attributed to giants' attempts at building. The giants are also fond of stone-throwing contests. Standing stones were sometimes said to be the remnants of these contests.
"The tradition in the neighbourhood respecting this stone is, that it was thrown there by a giant from the top of a hill called Gogerddan, more than a mile distant. This giant and another, his neighbour, who dwelt on top of a hill called Esgair, near Llymysten, fell out, and had recourse to hostilities in a way worthy of giants, by throwing huge masses of rocks to each other, from the tops of the hills upon which they dwelt."
- Morris Charles Jones, "The Feudal Barons of Powys" in Powys-land Club (eds, I guess?), Collections historical & archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire, Volume 2, London: The Club, 1869, p. 328.
I've recently been re-reading both Tolkien's novels and C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, and both have instances of stone-throwing giants in them. They show up when the protagonists travel through rocky, cold, sometimes mountainous land and make it a bit more hazardous.
"When he peeped out in the lightning-flashes, he saw that across the valley the stone giants were out, and were hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them, and tossing them down into the darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang."
- Tolkien, J.R.R., The Hobbit, 1937. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1975, p. 68
In The Hobbit the stone giants live in the Misty Mountains are appear accompanied by a thunder-storm. They toss around rocks, and are generally primal and awe-inspiring, but don't play much of a role in the narrative save as backdrop and a reason for the dwarves and Bilbo to hide in a cave.
The giants of The Silver Chair are of a quite different category. They live in, or perhaps on, Ettinsmoor, and it is a fine, if cold morning when Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum come by.
"There seemed no end to the line of giants, and they never ceased hurling stones, some of which fell very close."
- Lewis, C.S., The Silver Chair, 1953. Bungay: Penguin Books, 1965, p.75
They throw stones in a game of "cockshies" (pp.74-75) which quickly breaks down into an argument and fight. These giants are quite dim, and more alarming in their incompetence than in their power.
Personally I prefer Tolkien's giants, who are grand and terrifying in the mountains and thunder.
"The tradition in the neighbourhood respecting this stone is, that it was thrown there by a giant from the top of a hill called Gogerddan, more than a mile distant. This giant and another, his neighbour, who dwelt on top of a hill called Esgair, near Llymysten, fell out, and had recourse to hostilities in a way worthy of giants, by throwing huge masses of rocks to each other, from the tops of the hills upon which they dwelt."
- Morris Charles Jones, "The Feudal Barons of Powys" in Powys-land Club (eds, I guess?), Collections historical & archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire, Volume 2, London: The Club, 1869, p. 328.
I've recently been re-reading both Tolkien's novels and C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, and both have instances of stone-throwing giants in them. They show up when the protagonists travel through rocky, cold, sometimes mountainous land and make it a bit more hazardous.
"When he peeped out in the lightning-flashes, he saw that across the valley the stone giants were out, and were hurling rocks at one another for a game, and catching them, and tossing them down into the darkness where they smashed among the trees far below, or splintered into little bits with a bang."
- Tolkien, J.R.R., The Hobbit, 1937. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1975, p. 68
In The Hobbit the stone giants live in the Misty Mountains are appear accompanied by a thunder-storm. They toss around rocks, and are generally primal and awe-inspiring, but don't play much of a role in the narrative save as backdrop and a reason for the dwarves and Bilbo to hide in a cave.
The giants of The Silver Chair are of a quite different category. They live in, or perhaps on, Ettinsmoor, and it is a fine, if cold morning when Jill, Eustace and Puddleglum come by.
"There seemed no end to the line of giants, and they never ceased hurling stones, some of which fell very close."
- Lewis, C.S., The Silver Chair, 1953. Bungay: Penguin Books, 1965, p.75
They throw stones in a game of "cockshies" (pp.74-75) which quickly breaks down into an argument and fight. These giants are quite dim, and more alarming in their incompetence than in their power.
Personally I prefer Tolkien's giants, who are grand and terrifying in the mountains and thunder.