Hermit Beards and Their Place in Our World

By Nathan Richards

Imagine… That you’re in a deep, dark cave; far from civilization. You hear footsteps, a quiet hobbling sound… And out from the darkness comes a man; a man who looks as if he hadn’t seen the outside world for years. Take a moment to envision what this man looks like. In all likelihood, he’s wearing ragged scraps for clothing, long scraggly hair, perhaps even a crooked staff… But, most importantly, there’s one feature that I’m willing to bet you gave him: a scraggly, glorious beard. 

Practically speaking, it makes sense that hermit characters would have beards….  Razors and mirrors aren’t exactly commonplace in the wild, after all… But could there be a more underlying motivation behind the choice to give these characters beards? Dive with me as we talk about the stories that these characters tell with just their beards alone.

In 2018’s Aquaman, we’re introduced to the villain of the film, King Orm, or, Ocean Master as he later becomes. Orm, like any good villain, is a detestable foil to our titular hero, Aquaman, in that he represents the absolute worst qualities of Atlantis; he’s a silver spooned brat who seeks power, and validation. Of course, Aquaman saves the day by defeating Orm, sending him to a prison for his schemes, and becomes the true king of Atlantis in his wake… But in true buddy cop sequel fashion, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finds the hero having to break Orm out of prison due to a greater threat. 

  Orm’s new appearance of a bone-thin physique, overgrown hair, and a glorious beard are a far cry from his previous look that we knew from 2018. While it provides for some quippy banter when he reunites with his old foe Aquaman, and it also makes practical sense for a prisoner isolated from human contact to be this disheveled, what exactly makes this look important? This look for Orm symbolizes a fall from grace. What once was the Ocean Master, is now some mangy hermit in a cave. Without the matted long hair, and especially the glorious beard, Orm’s far fall to the bottom of the barrel would not be visually conveyed nearly as well as it was. Speaking of fall from grace-

Our next “hermit beard” is the one, the only, Luke Skywalker. Particularly, his old man look in 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Now, I know what you’re thinking… Put your pitchforks and torches down and  let’s talk about something that does work from this movie; Luke’s new look, after having been found by Rey on a distant island, after a long time of Luke being MIA. Mark Hamill, the actor for Luke himself, had some interesting comments about how the beard came to be.

As Hamill points out, Luke isn’t nearly as old as his appearance would have you believe… So why exactly was it important for him to look the way he did? Well, For starters, the graying color and the length give us the initial impression of a grumpy, old shell of who he used to be. Which is certainly the impression Luke has of himself, and perhaps what the movie wants us to initially believe; that he is an aged man… But alongside this sense of age in the physical form, we additionally get an impression of his age from an experiential standpoint. You see, the ancient Greeks believed that beards were a sign of virility, manhood, but most importantly: wisdom. This Luke has had 30 years to grow after the events of Return of the Jedi, where he took down the Emperor and the Galactic Empire, and the beard absolutely gives us a sense of the powerful jedi that he has become over these years… The legend that is Luke Skywalker. A Luke that was able to outsmart Kylo Ren and the First Order…. not with his might, but with his ability in the Force… The true mark, of any wise, hermetic sage.

If we’ve learned anything from these two hermit characters, and the glorious beards they don; it’s that beards carry meanings. So, the next time you’re watching a movie and see what you may initially brush off as an ungroomed beard on a crazy old man, I challenge you to look deeper. Ask yourself why they chose the look they did, and what stories that ungroomed beard could possibly hold.