Larael Greenleaf
Dunadan
"Does the Walker choose the Path or does the Path choose the Walker?"
Posts: 101
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Post by Larael Greenleaf on May 31, 2005 20:37:08 GMT -5
Ahhhhhhhhhhh.........this question has plagued me since I read about Golberry for the first time. I looked it up in the Encyclopedia of Arda and it said: "Like Tom himself, Goldberry is a mysterious being whose place in Tolkien's mythology isn't easy to establish. She seems to be some kind of river-spirit, though some have conjectured that both Tom and Goldberry belong to the order of the Maiar. For more on these possibilities, consult the entry for Tom Bombadil.
In literary terms, Tolkien seems to have intended her character to perform a symbolic role. In his Letters, he writes 'We are ... in real river-lands in autumn. Goldberry represents the actual seasonal changes in such lands' (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No 210, dated 1958). We can see this symbolism in Frodo's greeting, quoted above, which goes on 'O spring-time and summer-time, and spring again after!'"
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Post by Arien Elensar on Jun 2, 2005 1:43:41 GMT -5
That's really good fact hunting Larael. Maybe they are not Maiar but jsut symbolic in a way that only Tolkien can know.
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Eowyn
Dunadan
You can always judge a man by the kind of woman who is with him.
Posts: 188
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Post by Eowyn on Jun 2, 2005 18:41:52 GMT -5
I thought Goldberry was an elf . . .
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Post by Arien Elensar on Jun 2, 2005 18:57:45 GMT -5
At first I did as well but there's descriptions that show she is something other than that.
But wait. Now I keep wondering, how can she not be a an elf?
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Post by Tinwen on Jun 2, 2005 20:39:52 GMT -5
Ahhhhhhhhhhh.........this question has plagued me since I read about Golberry for the first time. I looked it up in the Encyclopedia of Arda and it said: "Like Tom himself, Goldberry is a mysterious being whose place in Tolkien's mythology isn't easy to establish. She seems to be some kind of river-spirit, though some have conjectured that both Tom and Goldberry belong to the order of the Maiar. For more on these possibilities, consult the entry for Tom Bombadil. In literary terms, Tolkien seems to have intended her character to perform a symbolic role. In his Letters, he writes 'We are ... in real river-lands in autumn. Goldberry represents the actual seasonal changes in such lands' (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No 210, dated 1958). We can see this symbolism in Frodo's greeting, quoted above, which goes on 'O spring-time and summer-time, and spring again after!'" wow...im so confuddled now..mind you, im being swayed...aaaarrrghhhhh - i dunno... xTx
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Post by Arien Elensar on Jun 3, 2005 18:51:15 GMT -5
I think that's the one little detail we can't figure out...that one detail that would give us the anwer.
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