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To: DonnerT;The Drowning Witch
I've been trying to find out more about Goldberry River-Daughter. There's not much (I'm starting to get fed up with mysterious beings! :) ) Only that she's older than she looks and no one knows what she is. Great.

Also, I'm going to have to find a new reference. The Encyclopedia of Arda doesn't have entries for The Green Dragon or The Ivy Bush but they do for the Golden Perch!

101 posted on 03/16/2002 4:57:23 PM PST by Overtaxed
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To: Overtaxed
Goldberry as a Nature Spirit

"Before moving on to consider the details involved in identifying Bombadil as a nature spirit, it is helpful to get a better understanding of nature spirits in general. As it turns out, it is more straightforward to collect evidence that Goldberry is such a being, which would be a natural corollary if Tom had that identity, so we will begin with her. One of the strongest statements supporting this identity for Goldberry comes from Letter #210, in which Tolkien speaks of her and says "We are not in 'fairy-land', but in real river-lands in autumn. Goldberry represents the actual seasonal changes in such lands." This letter, written after the completion of LotR, indicates that at least in some sense Tolkien saw Goldberry as a nature spirit, specifically a spirit associated with river-lands and seasons."

More HERE.....scroll about 1/3 down for Goldberry discussion.

103 posted on 03/16/2002 5:07:14 PM PST by MozartLover
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