Bombadil

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Well, Tolkien did say Bombadil was an enigma intentionally (Letter #144) - even before publication. By ‘enigma’ - I think we can reasonably interpret Bombadil as being someone that is ‘mysterious’ or ‘puzzling’.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t figure out the mystery or solve the puzzle!

If you are having trouble believing all the stuff so far - the most mind-boggling revelation is yet to come!




… a continuation of the color-mixing theme from my previous posts


Red and Green make?

It is now an opportune moment to switch from garb and adornments to examining other symbolism involving color. Yes, it’s time to take another look at Tom himself. What exactly was the reader’s first impression of him? More pertinently, what perception did Tolkien want to leave at first sight? Perhaps that initial imagery (as I surmised of Goldberry – see the thread ‘Goldberry’ post of 21 December 2023) was intended to be highly significant.

If I am right – indeed first looks were intended to count. Apart from the worn blue and yellow, Tom was also described as having a:

“… face … red as a ripe apple, …”.

– The Fellowship of the Ring, The Old Forest   (my underlined emphasis)

And there we have it!

In a nutshell Tolkien’s masterpiece riddle both exposed and solved. For the red, blue and yellow are reducible to just ‘red’ and ‘green’. Which is, as Lisa Spangenberg and other scholars have noted, in line with otherworld residents having:

“… a pronounced fondness for green, second only to red, …”.

– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Tolkien’s ‘game with rules’ – pg. 2, L. Spangenberg, 2007

Yes, the two most beloved colors of fairies – were reflected in Tom. Dealt so deftly was a masterstroke by Tolkien. There in front of our very eyes were open clues telling us Tom was a ‘fay’ – a being of what we would term the fairy race. And I have little doubt that indeed this was Tolkien’s scheme because of the surreal way the ‘riddle’ was echoed by him in On Fairy-stories. Once again after stating:

“We should look at green again, and be startled anew …”. 
– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, On Fairy-stories – pg. 146, HarperCollins, 1983

Tolkien brings up Bombadil’s introductory chroma and tells us not to be:

“… blinded … by blue and yellow and red.”

– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, On Fairy-stories – pg. 146, HarperCollins, 1983

Which is an equation that, when solved, inevitably leads us back to the two foremost fairy colors: ‘green’ and ‘red’!

‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, Victorian Cautionary Tales, c. 1869 

(Note the predominantly green and red attire of the Giant)

 
Then what about Tom’s ‘brown beard’, ‘brown hair’ and ‘brown-skinned hand’? How did that other bodily hue come into play?


… to be continued

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya! I am trying to see Bombadil just as other characters, despite what Tolkien says in Letter 144. I am pretty certain he is one of the Ainur (Vala), as the Ring from Maia Sauron has no effects on him. I have a fair idea if Manwë held on the One Ring, he would neither be seduced or effected by it, because he is the stongest Vala. The Ring was not developed by Melkor. That is my own deduction from reading and rewriting the entire tale. A breakdown of certain facts throughout the storyline itself. But it is not based on thorough search through all other docs as you do. Bombadil's songs have significance as well, where often so little is thought off, sadly.

------

Anyhow, a new post, let's read. The red cheeks can refer to good health or feeling excited to meet with the Hobbits.

[Silky Gooseness]

I’m enjoying all this colour theory, Priya. But when you say Fay, or Fairy being - in the context of Middle-Earth, thinking about the books of lost tales, are fairies not diminished Elves? But far from being diminished, Tom is, if anything, *more solid*, the opposite of faded. Even the Ring itself cannot bear him into the spiritual realm.

[Priya]

 Hello Aiks

I am pretty certain he is one of the Ainur.

(Vala), as the Ring from Maia Sauron has no effects on him.

I’m eventually going to try and explain this. But it will be a few more posts before I get there. So if you can be patient - you’ll see a whole different side to Tom!



Hello Silky Gooseness

Tolkien employed the terms ‘fairy’ and ‘elf ‘ interchangeably back in the early days of his mythology (timeframe of TBoLT I & II) for the same type of being. These were the elder children of Eru, ‘born’ on our planet.

Subsequently, he put down a hierarchy of M-e beings in a document called The Creatures of the Earth where he distinguished between ‘fays’ and ‘elves’ (still called fairies). Fays were creatures who came to inhabit the planet but had a divine origin (i.e. one outside the physical universe).

After this we have evidence in his On Fairy-stories paper where he states that both elves and fays belong to the realm of Faërie*.

“Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.”
- On Fairy-stories Lecture/Essay, The Monsters and the Critics, 1984 (my underlined emphasis)

But when you say Fay, or Fairy being - in the context of Middle-Earth, thinking about the books of lost tales, are fairies not diminished Elves?

Basically, my understanding is that both elves and fays are creatures of Faërie. For these two races then:

Faërie beings = fairy beings = fairies.

I think Tolkien felt that it is ‘man’ who is responsible for the confusion, not being always able to distinguish** between elves and fays.

The elves remaining in M-e eventually all undergo the process of ‘fading’ after the Third Age. They diminish and fade into Faërie*.

Tom is, if anything, *more solid*, the opposite of faded.

Elven spiritual-to-physical makeup/relationship is different to that of divine fays. Bombadil is, per my contention, a fay being who abides in both our primary plane of existence in Middle-earth and a secondary plane, namely Faërie*. He is ‘solid’ in both planes.

Even the Ring itself cannot bear him into the spiritual realm.

As I just mentioned to Aiks, I think there’s a good reason for this that other researchers haven’t figured out - and again I will expose more soon.

Hope all of this isn’t too long-winded and generally makes sense. Some of it is my contention, but I know it’s frustrating as I haven’t yet revealed all my research on Tom.



* This Faërie, is what I have termed as ‘Middle-earth Faërie’.

** For example, Goldberry is thought of by Frodo to be like an “elf-queen” - which she isn’t. In a post to shortly come, I will more firmly categorize Goldberry, with evidence, as a fay.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hey Priya, I am glad you are considering that Bombadil is one of the Ainur. I don't know about the fading nature of the elves. I think that depends on the strength of the mind, being weary of the mortal world or not at all. I am curious to where your research will lead on this. *g*

[Priya]

 Hello Aiks

I am glad you are considering that Bombadil is one of the Ainur.

I know it was a very long time ago, and you’ve possibly forgotten - but I said this in my very first post in this thread.

Both Bombadil and Gandalf were ‘angelic’ beings (of the Ainur) for the mythology - that is my conclusion! - 23 Nov 2023.

… continued from my post of 18 May 2025.


So getting back to brown …

Well, ‘brown’ is traditionally the color of the soil – giving him an earthy side. Which attunes well with Tom Shippey’s perception of Bombadil being:

“… a kind of exhalation of the earth …”. 

– J.R.R. Tolkien Author of the Century, Chapter II – pg. 64, T.A. Shippey

Which makes me think Tolkien also devised him to be a sort of ‘earth-fay’ possessing Paracelsian elemental qualities reflected by an ability to seemingly travel ‘underground’. For quite pointedly, Frodo when trapped in the Barrow heard Tom’s voice: 

“… far away, as if it was coming down through the ground …”. 

– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

However, the real reason for selecting ‘brown’ was probably down to a desire to include a special form of the ‘fantastic’:

“… fantasy is … one of the functions of the Fairy tale, …”. 

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript A – pg. 192, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014

Indeed to create what he called ‘Chestertonian fantasy’:

“Fantasy is of two kinds: … Chestertonian Fantasy, and Creative.”

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript B MS. 4 F 73-120 – pg. 237, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014

For this type we are compelled to look at things in an out of the ordinary, almost mischievous, way to understand Tom’s fundamental root. Thus, in fulfilling a prerequisite for this genre of literature – the Professor’s chosen candidate became arguably the most innovative of all his inventions.

To Tolkien’s mind – sophistication had to be imbued. Long gone was the time when imagination was limited to subcreate in just:

“… a black and white world.”

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript A – pg. 193, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014

Yet for his fairy tale, secondary world-building required even more than the primary pigments of art:

“We need not despair of painting or drawing pictures because there is only red blue and yellow, …” …

“Gone are the days when red blue and yellow could be invented …”.
- Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript A – pgs. 192 & 193, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014

A second-stage color form was necessary that required mixing – from which, as explained earlier, green was obtained. Yet those days too had passed:

“Gone also are the secondary days when from blue and yellow green was made, …”. 

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript A – pg. 193, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014

To achieve true depth, a tertiary stage became the desired goal:

“… Chesterton’s third stage … at which red and green are mixed and a russet hue produced. Some will call it … brown …” …

“… a subtle thing combining the richness of red and the coolness of green, in a unity as unique and new as green.”

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript A – pg. 193, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014

Because brown was:

“… an almost perfect blend, … the russet stage, of many pigments: …”. 

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript B MS. 4 F 73-120 – pg. 249, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014

Which Tolkien equated to the near perfect tale: The Wind in the Willows. And which we can correspondingly apply to the Bombadil mini-story. Yet once we do – it’s hard to deny that it too had a perfected spattering of:

“… beast-fable, satire, comedy, contes des fées* … wild-wood and rivers of Oxfordshire …”. 

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript B MS. 4 F 73-120 – pg. 249, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014   (Tolkien’s underlined emphasis)

So to Tolkien, enough refinement had been endowed to Tom. Further color combining would be just a:

“… vain desire to be more ‘original’.”;

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, The History of On Fairy-stories – pg. 153, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014   (Tolkien’s emphasis)

a futile descent from:

“… subtlety to drabness, …”. 

– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, On Fairy-stories – pg. 146, HarperCollins, 1983

And there we have it; Tom’s colors neatly wrapped up. The equation for mixing was extended. ‘Brown’ was fundamentally part of two ‘fairy colors’, for once again we must:

“… hark back to red and green**, …” !

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Manuscript A – pg. 193, V. Flieger & D. Anderson, 2014   (Tolkien’s underlined emphasis)





* The french term for ‘fairy tales’. Apparently the first known usage of the combination is ascribed to Madame d’Aulnoy (1651-1705), a fairy tale writer from France.

** Tolkien’s awareness of red and green being chroma associated to creatures of Faërie is reflected in Letters from Father Christmas, 2004. Both elves and gnomes were often clothed in red and green.

Red gnome pictured below the North Pole, ‘Letters from Father Christmas’

 
We must also note that Tolkien declined to actively discuss any other primary color combination in his On Fairy-stories paper. His focus was entirely on ‘green’ being formed from ‘blue’ and ‘yellow’. Ignored was ‘orange’ resulting from a mixture of ‘red’ and ‘yellow’ or ‘purple’ from ‘red’ and ‘blue’. Such omissions emphasize Tolkien’s enamor with the significance of ‘green’.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya: I don't remember having read that. But thanks digging it up. Interesting diversion. I can't tell why Tolkien didn't make use of other secondary colours, but perhaps they would not have been possible to create? Who knows or Goldberry and Tom didn't like purple and orange? There are thousands of unlikely reasons. Or perhaps Tolkien's favourite colour was green?

[Drífa]

Hi Priya
It is a fascinating part, Colours Thrown into the Mix, of Bombadil's layers.
Regarding your last post on The Letters of Father Christmas, I always thought that the colours red and green were more traditional for Yuletide, and thus their frequent use in the letters by Tolkien. The colours red and green appear to have a deeper meaning in your submissions. Do you think they do in the Christmas letters, too?

I came across the different types of elves mentioned in his letters, including Snow Elves, Red Elves, and references to both red and green Elves. And of course, the Red Gnomes - who are the Red Elves?

Snow-elves let off all the rockets together, which surprised us both. I tried to draw you a picture of it, but really there were hundreds of rockets. You can't see the elves at all against the snow background. ( clothed in white?)
I have had to have a lot of Red Elves to help me.
The Red Gnomes finished them off, somewhere about Edward the Fourth's time.
So a lot of us, red and green elves, have gone to live permanently at Cliff House. The Letters of Father Christmas, 1976

I am not sure that Father Christmas was thought of as a Gnome. He is described as a man. A magical man, I would guess. And sounds like someone we know. (Gandalf?)

And Father Chritmas, I wish I could draw or had time to try - you have no Idea what that old man can doo! Litening and fireworks and thunder and guns! The Letters of Father Christmas, 1976

The photo you posted above, Red gnome pictured below the North Pole, ‘Letters from Father Christmas’ is Father Christmas in his new green trousers on a mission with Mr. Cave Bear to rescue North Polar Bear from the caves below the North Pole. The adventure can be read in the Letter from 1932.

I'm wearing a pair of new green trousers. They were a present from my green brother, but I only wear them at home. Goblins anyway dislike green, so I found them useful. Letters of Father Christmas, 1976

Green does appear to be a favourite colour of Tolkien's.

[Priya]

Hello Drifa

I always thought that the colours red and green were more traditional for Yuletide, and thus their frequent use in the letters by Tolkien.

Yes, I agree. I believe traditionally green and red have been associated with holly (green leaves and red berries, thus possibly representing the crown of thorns and the blood of Jesus).

The colours red and green appear to have a deeper meaning in your submissions. Do you think they do in the Christmas letters, too?

Before The Father Christmas Letters Tolkien wrote in 1925 in Sir Gawain & the Green Knight that:

“… green is a fairy color.”

And ‘fairies’ and ‘elves’ were used interchangeably for the same type of being in his early Silmarillion mythology.

What Tolkien didn’t say was that green is the only fairy color. Presumably then, there were others. And much later in a 1954 essay on SGGK he brings up red (which I will soon discuss). I’m assuming he was aware of this back in 1925.

So yes, as with everything Tolkien touched - there was considered thought with what he wrote or drew. And thus a duality and the presence of a deeper meaning is quite possible.

I came across the different types of elves mentioned in his letters, including Snow Elves, Red Elves, and references to both red and green Elves. And of course, the Red Gnomes - who are the Red Elves?

Tolkien didn’t explicitly say. Some folk think that, in some way, Red Elves were representative of the Noldor. I’m not sure how much of the Silmarillion mythology intruded into The Father Christmas Letters. However, it could be just as simple as Tolkien decided the upper livery of those so-titled were predominantly the colors red, green or white.


Tolkien once wrote the ‘Origin of Gandalf’ was a picture postcard Der Berggeist. It was one collected well before The Hobbit or The Father Christmas Letters were initiated.

Der Berggeist - Josef Madelener

The image is not that Father Christmas like. However after Tolkien first started inking The Hobbit the firework association and the curious gift giving by Gandalf was at some early point established in the storyline. So there are some common factors and thus there appears, as you quite rightly point out, a tentative connection with those Father Christmas Letters you cited.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Who knows or Goldberry and Tom didn't like purple and orange?

There are thousands of unlikely reasons. Or perhaps Tolkien's favourite colour was green?

Or perhaps there is one likely reason? Perhaps Tolkien’s favorite color and his focus, was indeed green!




… continued from my post of 26 May 2025


Wrapping up the Embedment of that Beanstalk Fairy tale

Am I done with colors? Is that it? The answers are decisively no. Because now we understand that there is a strong likelihood of concealed color symbolism – we must endeavor to root out the rest. In particular, with respect to the Bombadils. And so when it comes to ‘green’ and ‘red’, Tolkien once again cunningly gave away that indeed the hobbits were in the presence of folk from Faërie.

Exactly how? Simply by restricting the chroma in Tom’s vegetable patch to purely ‘red’ and ‘green’. Singled out were ‘green’ for the leaves of the runner beans*, and ‘red’ for their flowers:

“… the red flowers on the beans began to glow against the wet green leaves.”

– The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil

Runner Beans with Red Flowers

 
Yes – here was a plant which had the quality of Faërie intrinsic** to its very essence.

So finally, after already having recognized an English ‘fairytale connection’ (post of 7 April 2024), we can finally put the proverbial two and two and close out and solve this piece of the Bombadil puzzle. Why of all the possible vegetables found in an English vegetable garden did Tolkien include only one? And that of a kind whose stalks shoot up vertically. The:

“… view was screened by a tall line of beans on poles; …”.

– The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil

Why did the Professor neglect to mention any flower types/colors in the flower garden at the front of the house, yet happily related the rear garden’s ‘green-leafed’ bean vines had ‘red’ blossoms?

Surely it was because he wanted chromatic symbolism involved: symbolism of Faërie!



… to be continued




* The beans were originally and explicitly described as ‘green’ themselves – see The Return of the Shadow, VI Tom Bombadil – pg. 119.

** Runner beans wind around their host anti-clockwise – termed ‘widdershins’. The significance of ‘widdershins’ in its association to ‘Faërie’ has already been made clear in my post of 1 June 2024.

[Priya]

Part IV: Fayvorite Colors – Much Later Days

 
The Expert to Consult

By no means am I done discussing hidden matters within The Lord of the Rings. Nor unveiling its innermost deceptions.And that is whether it is do with embedded fairy tale motifs, color symbolism, religious matters, real-world parodies or cheeky ‘Mooreffocism’.

Perhaps it’s beginning to dawn that not everything’s been discovered within Tolkien’s masterpiece. Yes, the book still holds many intimate and inviting secrets. Secretive matters so subtly placed and adeptly interwoven, they appear to give the story an air of three-dimensional depth – yet in reality their truer function was directed towards providing a layer of deeper meaning. Mixed in, with beguiling dexterity, Tolkien often added spice by embedding material of a highly scholastic nature. 

As an active teaching professor, Tolkien knew all about the inquisitiveness of students. As an accomplished philologist his mind was naturally attuned into inquiring on sources and rooting out connections through the use of logic. With the tables turned, here was an opportunity for the scholastically-minded to apply their talents in a slippery exercise of his own devising:

“I fear you may be right that the search for the sources of The Lord of the Rings is going to occupy academics for a generation or two.”

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #337 – 25 May 1972, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981

And we know such a train of thought was present from the outset, because in 1938 he passed the following remark about academic inquiries pertinent to The Hobbit:

“But would not that be rather unfair to the research students? To save them trouble is to rob them of any excuse for existing.”

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #25 – January/February 1938, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981

Then for sure The Lord of the Rings would not be spared. It too would be devised so as to become:

“… the subject of future enquiry …”.

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #25 – January/February 1938, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981

With near certainty – what the Professor took from our world’s ‘Cauldron of Story’ and transmuted into his own literature could be tracked down and extracted. He purposely made it so. Although he didn’t fully approve, he knew researchers would endeavor to ‘break the ball to seek its bounce’. After all hadn’t he followed such a path throughout his philological career? How then could he justifiably complain?

Yet complain he did. His grievance, in a nutshell, being – it wasn’t ‘posthumous’ research. It simply wasn’t necessary while he was alive and willing to furnish answers:

“I regret it, but there is no substitute for me, while I am alive.”

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #297 – August 1967, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981

But what about in the eventuality of no longer being around to consult? One would think Tolkien would be hard pressed to dismiss a levelheaded proviso. One where the researcher employed judicious logic and attained sensible answers within the confines of mythologies (higher and lower), religion, botany and the early language and history of his most beloved lands. Surely the Professor would agree that only then could sense be made of many baffling details within the story!

Of course although this all sounds very sensible, there was a strict limitation. The reader would have to buy into the pretense of The Lord of the Rings being part of history. As such, given the connected prequel – he could not let a massive mistake - the comic parody of the ‘Troll scene’ in The Hobbit (see my thread ‘Bill, Bert and Tom - Yeah Really!) become known to the researcher. It would utterly destroy the sub-reality of his fantasy world:

“The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside.”

– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, On Fairy-stories – pg. 132, HarperCollins, 1983


… to be continued

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hey Priya! Ah those beans have a good taste, cutbeans or runnerbeans. And a new chapter about Tolkien's visions. Yes, he is the only one who asks what happens after death with your stuff, or what those born after will think and you are no longer around. But lucky we got the element of recording, so a voice can be left behind. These thoughts never age, from whoever they are from or in which time they lived.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Sadly in California I rarely get to taste fresh runner beans. It’s mostly baked beans and black beans here.




… continued from my previous post


Tom and his Girdle

After Beowulf, the literature of ancient England which perhaps left the greatest impression upon Tolkien was that associated to Arthurian legends. As we shall see, the combination of such legends with the motif of color was put to good use. For stunningly it is incidentals well after The Lord of the Rings that we must especially heed. We must remind ourselves of the fairy-color ‘green’. Then in tandem we must focus on more poetry. In particular, poetry about Tom. Because in November 1962, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil poem was republished along with a new one about Tom within a booklet of rhymes in fulfilling a request from Jane Neave (Tolkien’s aunt).



 

‘The Adventures of Tom Bombadil’ – 1962 Edition, Illustrated by Pauline Baynes

 
The stated purpose for the new poem, and no doubt minor changes made to the original, was:

“… it performs the service of further ‘integrating’ Tom with the world of the L.R. into which he was inserted.”

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #237 – 12 April 1962, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981   (Tolkien’s emphasis)

Make no mistake – Tolkien thought very carefully about the suitability of all the selected poetry – going to considerable lengths in ascribing Middle-earth authorship (where deemed appropriate) throughout the booklet. When it came to Bombadil, though stated he was known to Buckland folk, there was relayed a tempered warning that:

“… they had … little understanding of his powers …”.

– The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Preface, 1962 release

Despite many of the poems being:

“… on the surface, lighthearted or frivolous, …”,

– The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Preface, 1962 release

Tolkien gave away that if one was to listen carefully:

“… one may uneasily suspect that more is meant than meets the ear.”

– The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Preface, 1962 release

Earlier in June 1962 the same message had been transmitted to the illustrator Pauline Baynes, but the tone suggested something decidedly recondite:

“… these things have a serious undercurrent, and are not meant at any point to be merely comic.”

– The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide 2006 Edition, Chronology, 25 June 1962, C. Scull & W. Hammond

To insert this “serious undercurrent” and hint at what lay behind some of “his powers”, Tolkien made some purposeful and ever so subtle alterations to the original Adventures poem. One of these, inexplicably, has not caught the eye of Bombadil scholars acquainted with Arthurian lore.

Two extra lines were formulated for the very first verse. To the second new line, one difference to Tom’s look was an assignment of an alternate feather to his hat. Not so remarkably Tolkien chose a white plume which, as explained in the preface, was a result of rivalry between the Swan and Kingfisher. Still as already discussed, white is a ‘fairy color’. So no big deal – the hue was good and suitable.


1934 The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, first verse

Old Tom Bombadil was a merry fellow;
bright blue his jacket was and his boots were yellow.
He lived down under Hill; and a peacock’s feather
Nodded in his old hat, tossing in the weather.

1962 The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, first verse

Old Tom Bombadil was a merry fellow;
bright blue his jacket was and his boots were yellow,
green were his girdle and his breeches all of leather;
he wore in his tall hat a swan-wing feather.
He lived up under Hill, where the Withywindle
ran from a grassy well down into the dingle.


Of much more significance was the first new line to the updated poem. To Tom’s limited but distinctive apparel was an acquisition of leather breeches. In itself this is not so odd as the garment was suitable attire. Yet for some reason Tolkien declined to designate it any coloring. In stark contrast it’s what held them up which is far more important. The first four words to the first new line Tolkien inserted are utterly astounding. So astonishing, that I’ve already had to voice comments about it (see my post of 22 May 2024) earlier in this thread.

Shockingly, Tom was now the proud owner of a belt. Not any old belt – but one described as a girdle. Not any old girdle – but a green girdle!:

“green were his girdle and his breeches all of leather;”.

– The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, 1962 release

If anyone in the world should have known the ramifications of a ‘green girdle’ and its connection to beings of Faërie – it would have been Tolkien! It is virtually unimaginable that his update was accidental. And thus it’s to the legendary green girdle of the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tale that I will have to turn.
 

The ‘Green Girdle’ symbolically wrapped around Gawain’s Pentangle from ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’

But before I hammer home that Tolkien knew exactly what he had done, I need to provide a synopsis of the medieval tale and then sensitize the reader to his indisputable intention of entwining Tom to our own world’s myth and history.


… to be continued

[Priya]

… continued from my previous post


The Green Girdles of Lady Bertilak and Goldberry

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval poem of unknown authorship dating from around 1,400 A.D. It is over 2,500 lines long, preserved on vellum parchment, and is also known as MS Cotton Nero A.x in honor of a former owner: Sir Robert Cotton. It tells the tale of King Arthur’s fabled knight Gawain, and his encounters with a daunting male figure of over-sized proportions, and rendered as all the more fearsome by being bodily of green hue and attired with the same colored clothing too. After defiantly riding into King Arthur’s court an open challenge was issued, to all present, to deal a blow in return for an unopposed one in a year’s time. Gawain takes up the call and beheads the Green Knight only to find that he is not a man but a fay creature who picks up the head and rides away.

Gawain constrained by his oath to seek out the Green Knight, nearly a year later commences a quest to find the tryst location – the Green Chapel. After facing much adversity during his journeying, Gawain finally comes upon a castle whose lord and lady welcome him warmly, and inform him that the Green Chapel is close by. However, he is enticed by the lady while her husband is away hunting. Gawain resists her advances multiple times – but in the end he takes an offering of her ‘green girdle’; a magical object that will save him from any deadly or injurious blow from the Green Knight. He accepts the silk girdle and on this one occasion breaks a promise to the lord of exchanging ‘winnings’ at the end of each day.


 

Illustration from ‘MS Cotton Nero A.x’

 



At the Green Chapel the Green Knight reveals himself to be none other than the lord himself who is fully aware of his wife’s actions. Indeed, this is just a plot by Arthur’s half-sister, Morgan le Fay, to dishonor the King’s court. The axe blows dealt by the Green Knight ended up as mere feints and Gawain leaves basically unharmed except the final swing nicks his neck. This can be inferred by the reader as the price of not keeping his promise in failing to disclose and surrender the gift of the girdle. Gawain perceives a moral deficiency on his part – though the Green Knight declares the fault is small. The famous green girdle is thereafter wrapped as a baldric around his shoulder as a mark of failure and shame. Upon his safe return to Arthur’s court, the tale is told and Gawain is honored for his loyalty and courage.

Tolkien was extremely impressed by the ‘Gawain’ poem. The text was studied* in great detail and for students an academic book, comprising a pseudo-annotated version of the work, was published in 1925. This was done while at the University of Leeds and in conjunction with his associate: E.V. Gordon. Therein the tale was described as:

“… an excellent one for the purposes of the romancer.”,

– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Introduction – pg. xi, J.R.R. Tolkien & E.V. Gordon, 1925

being a story:

“… shaped with a sense of narrative not often found in Arthurian romance.”

– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Introduction – pg. x, J.R.R. Tolkien & E.V. Gordon, 1925

Some twenty-eight years later Tolkien delivered a scholarly lecture in Glasgow titled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and voiced similar sentiment.
 
There is zero doubt of Tolkien’s expertise on this medieval work. As well as producing scholarly publishings on the subject, he taught it as part of his lecturing classes at the University of Oxford. Nor can we doubt his awareness of the motif and importance of the green girdle to the tale and its crucial role in the final outcome. Because in his 1953 W.P. Ker lecture, Tolkien discussed the girdle at some length.


… to be continued





* Tolkien probably first became acquainted with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight at the University of Oxford as an undergraduate. As part of the syllabus for attaining an honors degree at the School of English Language and Literature, for finals:

“Four papers on Beowulf and Old English texts, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and other Middle English texts, Chaucer, and Shakespeare remained compulsory.”

– The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide 2017 Edition, Reader’s Guide, Oxford English School – pg. 951, C. Scull & W. Hammond   (my underlined emphasis)

[Silky Gooseness]

This is fascinating stuff Priya - I’ve long loved the Gawain tale. Green were his girdle also interests me because it seems to be plural, as opposed to Green was his girdle???

Anyway - can’t wait to hear your thoughts as to the representation of shame and a forbidden/concealed relationship and faerie as relates to the girdle

[Priya]

Hello Silky Gooseness

Green were his girdle also interests me because it seems to be plural, as opposed to Green was his girdle???

I’ve never thought about that before!

My assumption is that some poetic liberty has been taken, because there’s no plurality expressed to the noun ‘girdle’.

But maybe the intent was to plant the seed of an idea in the reader’s mind that there existed multiple green girdles; a pointer perhaps towards Goldberry’s green girdle (which I have already discussed in my ‘Goldberry’ thread and once again will touch on in this one)?




… continued from my previous post


Yes, Tolkien paid a great deal of attention in his lecture to the matter of the girdle:

“But the belt requires more attention.”

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953

However, throughout his treatment an opinion was hardly voiced on the authenticity of Lady Bertilak’s claim:

“For whoever goes girdled with this green riband, while he keeps it well clasped closely about him, there is none so hardy under heaven that to hew him were able; for he could not be killed by any cunning of hand.”

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953

Script from ‘MS Cotton Nero A.x’

The Professor certainly stressed how:

“… Gawain nowhere ever shows confidence in the girdle’s efficacy, …”,

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953

desiring

“… the belt on the chance … that it might save him from death; …”.

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953

But equally the Professor placed emphasis on how the religious knight:

 “… openly declares … that his trust is in God, …”.

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953

Yet Tolkien, in the main body of the lecture, was at pains to be non-committal on the girdle’s powers:

“… to possess the girdle for its possible power: … a talisman that may possibly have saved him … magic belt (or at least a belief that such a thing was possible), … possibility of enchanted belts … the Girdle, as a talisman able (or believed able) to defend a man from wounds, …”.

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953   (my underlined emphasis)

It is only in a footnote that he acknowledged:

“… God’s instrument could indeed be the Girdle, in a world where such things were possible, and lawful.”

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, Footnote 31, 1953

And that is because the tale, as opined by the Professor, is a fairy-story. Indeed one of the greater ones. And as such:

“Only fayryze … will suffice to make the plot of the lord and lady intelligible …”.

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953

In the poet’s contrived world of:

“… fay-magic folk …”,

– ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, W.P. Ker Lecture Paper, 1953

there is very little reason to doubt that the belt itself was truly enchanted!



… to be continued

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya, I had no idea you lived in the USA California, I thought you lived in Britain. Then you share the same state with Prince Harry and Meghan. Is Tom's belt such a big item to discuss? I spent my time to think more of this spirit and personality than what he wears. Oh yeah Tolkien had a knicknack for King Arthur's life and legend. I guess the whole theme around with the Knight and Roundtable idea speaks to a lot of people. Girdle is about a single belt, girdles about multiple, that is my understanding of the word, I read no plural in it.

What is with the Script MS Cotton Nero Ax? If correct Arthur got two (half-)sisters Morgana and Morgause... or even three, Elaine.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Is Tom's belt such a big item to discuss?

I think so.

Firstly, I wanted to show how much Tolkien pondered on the green girdle in 1955. So that when it came to his updated The Adventures of Tom Bombadil poem in 1962, it was virtually impossible that the inclusion of a new green girdle was accidental. Tolkien knew too much about the ramifications of a ‘green girdle’ for an absent-minded slip.

Secondly, criticism was once posted on another website that Sir Gawain never put his faith in the supposed powers of Lady Bertilak’s girdle, but instead in a Christian God. I wanted the reader to realize that Tolkien placed emphasis on the poem being a fairy-story. Sense could only be made of it by recognizing it had the quality of Faërie wrapped around it. And magic girdles would still come under the jurisdiction of Christian God, even in the unknown poet’s contrived(?) Faërie world.

Thirdly, that the fact the girdle is connected to Faerie-folk, is a big pointer to Tom’s genus in Tolkien’s tale.

Hope my points of view are helpful!

[Silky Gooseness]

I wonder if - having talked about gifting in the other thread - the fact of the girdle itself being an enchanted object is less important than the gifting of it as an enchanted object, and thus the power of belief.

When worn by the original owner, the girdle does not appear to have any particular obvious magical quality - although indeed it is not tested. It is only when it’s named for what it is that its magical qualities appear, and indeed this is the case for several magical quest objects in fairy stories.


Is it Gawain’s belief that the girdle will protect him that gives it some of his power - that is to say, the main magic is in fact Faith???

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Priya: Thanks for your explanation! It is certainly helpful!

[Priya]

Hello Silky Gooseness

Faith, belief and enchantment all go hand-in-hand in the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tale. I’m reluctant to separate them or question the power of the girdle. Although much is made of Gawain’s Christianity, chivalry and morals - there is also a definite element of ‘magic’ in the story. The beheading and escape from death of the Green Knight verges on the miraculous- don’t you think?

I think this is a case unlike Ron Weasley’s ‘gifted’ liquid luck in the Harry Potter series. Gawain exhibits little exuberance or faith in the green girdle, unlike Ron who was full of confidence, yet duped. To me self-belief only goes so far. But total belief in a magical object when one has his/her neck on the line is not realistic either. Even for the most noble - I think there will always be some overshadowing doubt at crunch time.


Hello Aiks

Thanks for the questions. I appreciate them because they keep me on my toes!




… continued from my previous post

Getting back to the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tale - where did the green girdle come from one might ask? How did the lady of the castle come to possess it? Was she a fay*? Or was it a gift from Morgan le Fay? If so, was the magic imbued by her or was the girdle’s lineage far older? These are not altogether unnatural questions that the Professor ought to have asked himself.


 

‘Morgan le Fay’, Frederick Sandys, 1864

(Permanently displayed at The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Quite possibly seen by Tolkien in his youth)

 



The trouble is the answers could not be extracted from the manuscript itself. Nor from any other source. And though from a scholastic standpoint a dead end had been reached, that wouldn’t be constraint enough to prevent linking the same green girdle to his mythology. For sure – Tolkien, the learned medievalist, knew that in Arthurian romance the givers of great gifts were English water-nymphs. The Lady of the Lake bestowed Arthur his legendary sword Excalibur**and its enchanted scabbard***. While Lancelot received a magic ring to dispel all spells. And then we have Morgan****le Fay*****who has her embryonic roots in Breton folklore as a water-fay. Though cast as Arthur’s half-sister, she is the cause of much mischief in plotting his downfall. To this end, the king was given a magical drinking horn which reveals infidelity. Also, she gifted a richly jeweled mantle used in an attempt to trick Arthur – for wearing it causes death. Though failing on that occasion – she is said to snatch Excalibur upon his actual demise.

The gifting of magical objects and clothing by water-nymphs (or those that had transitioned to land beings – ala Morgan le Fay) in anglicized versions of the Arthurian mythos is then by no means uncommon or unusual!

… to be continued




*As Lady Bertilak is the wife of the Green Knight – a fay creature, it reasonably follows that she too is a ‘fay’ (fairy). The color symbolism within the picture (MS Nero A X, f 129r - see below) of her and Gawain is of alluring interest.

The red and white of the gown along with her white complexion and red-jeweled hair-piece are discerned as fairy colors. While the yellow of her hair and the blue in the gown, when combined make ‘green’ – another fairy color. Maybe Tolkien, who had much studied the document, was aware of this. Pure speculation – but perhaps this illustration was the seed which gave birth to Tom and Goldberry’s literary colors.

** The sword belonged to the rightful King of England and was so bright that it blinded its enemies (see Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, 1485).

*** The scabbard would heal the wounds suffered in battle by its bearer.

**** The Breton name for a water-nymph is a ‘Morgan’. Antecedents are thought to include Morrigan – an Irish Celtic water goddess, ruling over rivers and lakes, and Modron a Welsh water goddess.

***** Le Fay’ is an ancient combination word for ‘the fairy’ in french form.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya: I was always under the impression Morgana was an evil and jealous sort of person. This returns also in your analysis. The gift of the green girdle to Gawain can never be good either. Hmm, I don't know if this picture is inspirational? The woman is pretty ugly depicted for something from the Middle Ages. I think the inspiration for the colours of Goldberry and Bombadil stems from real waterbody as fountains in spring and summer time. A place that have real touch in view, smell and sound. As I remember Tolkien was a frequent wanderer on a stroll through nature. Not daily perhaps, but quite often.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

I think the inspiration for the colours of Goldberry and Bombadil stems from real waterbody as fountains in spring and summer time

Back in the 1920’s at issue of his Sir Gawain and the Green Knight scholarly publication Tolkien (with E.V. Gordon) wrote:

“… green is a fairy color.”

This is the earliest record we have on Tolkien thinking about ‘fairy colors’.

I have a feeling he must have pondered, long and hard, on the Gawain and Lady Bertilak illustration as it is part of the Gawain manuscript. The colors we see in the picture are only: red, blue, yellow, green and white. This is reducible upon mixing to just red, green and white - which are three very basic fairy colors - as already extensively discussed.

I have a strong suspicion why Tolkien decided to equip Goldberry and Tom so colorfully in The Lord of the Rings, compared to other characters, relates back to them being creatures of Faërie. This illustration, with its faerie colors was probably a reminder to him of both a fairy-setting and a fairy-being. And it would have constituted a strong defense (in his mind) for describing Tom and Goldberry in such a chromatically vivid fashion.

Of course you are right:Goldberry, given a water-lily nature-driven complexion, possesses faerie colors by default!



… continued from my previous post

If gifting is an established trait of mythological English water-fairies, then with reasonable logic we can answer how came Tom to possess a girdle of invincibility.
 

‘The Lady of the Lake’*, Lancelot Speed (1860-1931), from: ‘The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights’ by Sir James Knowles

 
Yes, the most obvious route is a bestowal** from his consort: Goldberry. Cast as a water-nymph in the poetry, and then deduced for the mythology to be a water fay of lily-ponds***, not only I perceive – but also Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull comment:

“Goldberry in The Lord of the Rings has stature, and powers, not even hinted at in the 1934 poem.”

– The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide 2006 Edition, A Reader’s Companion, In the House of Tom Bombadil – pg. 132, W. Hammond & C. Scull

Though I cannot prove it – I suspect Tolkien had even more in mind for Tom’s fair lady. Nonetheless, by logically creating a simple path – left in the updated poetry was the slickest of clues that those knowledgeable in Arthurian lore could easily digest. Oh yes, he disconcertingly left it late. But better late than never. Once again the researcher could logically fathom out a path that completed the circle of mythos, legend and historia.

How can we be reasonably sure of this? Well there is one compelling intimation that gives the game away. Once again we must return to color mixing and look at flora from a ‘Mooreeffoc’ vista. With Tom’s monochromatic belt fresh in our minds, we must take a closer look at Goldberry’s. And when we do something intriguing results. Because quite remarkably those flowers making up her girdle consisted of yellow:

“… flag-lilies**** set with the pale-blue eyes of forget-me-nots.”

– The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil

Which of course leads to our well-discussed color equation: ‘yellow’ and ‘blue’ makes ‘green’. And ‘green’ as Tolkien pointed out – is a ‘fairy color’. Which inevitably can only lead to one logical conclusion. The Professor, with artful ingenuity and utmost subtlety, effectively endowed Goldberry herself with a ‘green’ girdle!



 * Most commonly known as ‘Nimue’. Tolkien explicitly refers to her in his satirical poetry written to Charles Williams some time during World War II (see Humphrey Carpenter’s The Inklings, ‘We had nothing to say to one another’, pg. 126, 1979).

Nimue and Merlin, Arthur Rackham, 1917

** One would have to assume that Tom’s attire description was one put together by Buckland hobbits (see Preface of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, 1962) after he’d got together with Goldberry. Or that the River-woman’s daughter had already gifted him the girdle – part of his enamor in “sitting by the waterside for hours upon hours”. Both scenarios are plausible.

*** See my ‘Goldberry’ thread, post of 21 August 2025.

**** It is quite possible that entwined yellow flag-lilies gave the impression of the belt being ‘gold’ under an aura of “golden light”.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya, sure! Girdle of invincilibity? I guess that is detail I missed out from the tale on Bombadil in the Lotr books. Does that appear in the poems about him? From what I can conclude from your observations?

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Girdle of invincilibity? I guess that is detail I missed out from the tale on Bombadil in the Lotr books. Does that appear in the poems?

Yes, a green girdle only occurs once, and in a poem.




… continued from my previous post

Throughout this thread I have drummed home Tolkien’s desire to integrate motifs from more modern-day folklore/fairy tale with those of ancient Eurocentric stories and somehow bind them to his mythology. A perception of what would constitute a winning formula was certainly discussed with C.S. Lewis, and reflected by an opinion of his friend’s Out of the Silent Planet:

“I found the blend of vera historia with mythos irresistible.”

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #26 – 4 March 1938, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981

Certainly this letter’s time-frame indicates he sought to follow the same path for The Lord of the Rings. Because to Tolkien:

“ ‘… there was always a kernel of fact behind a legend.’ ”.

– Lecture of 14 February 1938, Report in Amon Hen 28, August 1977

So woven into his tales would be nuggets of early European legends. And to bolster my earlier point about the inclusion of Arthurian elements, we only have to look as far as, arguably, the Professor’s first major scholastic success. Extracted from the co-edited Sir Gawain and Green Knight publication, a couple of alike insertions first used in The Hobbit and all but repeated in the sequel are:

“ ‘Third time pays for all. …’ ”;

– The Two Towers, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit

“ ‘…Thrice shall pay for all, …’ ”,

– The Return of the King, The Field of Cormallen

echoing a translation from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:

“… ‘third time, turn out best’ …”.

– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Notes to Line 1680, J.R.R. Tolkien & E.V. Gordon, 1925 

Similarly, in The Lord of the Rings we have:

“ ‘… Time was when a squirrel could go from tree to tree from what is now the Shire to Dunland west of Isengard. …’ ”,

– The Fellowship of the Ring, The Council of Elrond

closely resembling an old saying:

“From Blacon Point to Helbree 
A squirrel may leap from tree to tree.”

– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Notes to Line 701, J.R.R. Tolkien & E.V. Gordon, 1925 

And believe it or not – Tolkien prolifically added in copycat elements when it came to Bombadil too. One highly probable inclusion in The Lord of the Rings is based on the courtly manner ladies were introduced in medieval times with clothing at the forefront. Per The Fellowship of the Ring Tom presents Goldberry as follows:

“ ‘Here’s my pretty lady!’ … ‘… clothed all in silver-green …’ ”.

– The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil

Which follows traditional medieval introduction:

“… ‘that lovely one under linen’ … ‘fair under garment’.”

– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Notes to Line 1814, J.R.R. Tolkien & E.V. Gordon, 1925 

Though a resonance exists, it is Tolkien’s poetry about Tom that has undeniable historical linkage to our world. The brand-new poem of 1962, and the second in the booklet to feature Tom, had hidden undercurrents only detectable by knowledgeable scholars. In Letter #240 (from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981) Tolkien disclosed three specific insertions:

“… the otter’s whisker sticking out of the gold, …”: from the Norse Nibelung legends (Völsungasaga);

“… the three places for gossip, smithy, mill, and cheaping …”: from The Ancrene Wisse;

“… the hanging up of a kingfisher to see the way of the wind, …”: from Vulgar Errors, Sir T. Browne, 1664
 

‘Ancrene Riwle’ Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI, f. 4r’ (later adapted for other communities of anchorites under the title ‘Ancrene Wisse’)
 

It is possible there was at least one more:

“ ‘… bogies from the Barrows …’ ”,

– The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Bombadil goes Boating, 1962 release

manifesting his own attempt at recreating a segment of English history based on a surviving fragment telling of the Battle of Maldon:

“And your eyes fancied barrow-wights and bogies.”

– The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son by J.R.R. Tolkien, Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, Volume 6 – pg. 4, 1953 

For the purpose of rooting Tom into our world, as well as more firmly into the mythology, Tolkien used hobbit folklore as a pretext. The good news was that even the original 1934 poetry depicting Tom’s invulnerability would now become fully compliant and explainable with his new ‘green girdle’. Yet a chance to create a little mischief could not be missed. When it came to the Bombadil goes Boating poetry the admitted historical connections were a supposed:

“… donnish detail …”.

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #240 – 1 August 1962, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981

But make no mistake – they were all deliberate. Tom’s connections to real-world historical folklore/legends were intentionally hidden. And their revelation was intended for the eyes of the ‘illustrator’ and ‘publishing house owner’ only. We must not lose sight of that.

Nor must we lose sight of the admissions themselves (Letters #237 & #240 from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981). In that light, how can we possibly view ‘the green girdle’ addition to the original Adventures poem as a mere accident?

“green were his girdle and his breeches all of leather;”.

– The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, 1962 release

How could the invention of an entirely new line possibly have been an absentminded slip?

*Thank you for your excellent contributions to the Plaza.

[Priya]

Now, a summary was promised. But I’m going to postpone it, because I briefly want to touch on the scene in the barrow. It is most mysterious, and worth commenting upon while employing some conjecture too!

Monstrous Barrow Dwellers

When it came to ‘barrows’, there is little doubt Tolkien grew reasonably familiar with them from studying North European lore. As well as knowledge obtained from literature – there was some firsthand experience too:

“The Oxford Don and author J.R.R. Tolkien … travelled to the downs with his family and friends. He was impressed by the downs with their sarsen stones, barrows and hill forts and painted pictures of Lambourn in 1912.”

– Wikipedia article on ‘Lambourn’   (my underlined emphasis)

“After Tolkien acquired a car … they would drive west into Berkshire and up onto White Horse Hill to see Wayland’s Smithy, the ancient long-barrow near Uffington.”

– J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, Oxford – pg. 496, M. Drout   (my underlined emphasis)

No barrows are explicitly mentioned in The Hobbit, however Tolkien’s own art depicts the approach to King Thranduil’s underground halls as vaguely similar to Newgrange – a Neolithic tomb located in Ireland.

‘Newgrange’, County Meath, Ireland

Artwork by J.R.R. Tolkien

Real-world barrows come in all shapes and sizes. From what we can tell the Wight’s barrow in The Lord of the Rings was unlike Newgrange, and much closer in size and design to Wayland’s Smithy on the Berkshire Downs. Topographically though, its location differed in being set atop a hill.

‘Wayland’s Smithy Long Barrow’, Oxfordshire, England

In pagan and early Christian times barrow burials in Britain were usually reserved for dignitaries (to which the novel is in good keeping). Graves were often oriented west-east. West was the direction of the utopian Celtic otherworld which coincided with Christian belief that such positioning allowed the dead to face Christ when He raised them on Resurrection Day. Once the mounded tombs of the dead enriched with earthly treasures, in mythological writings (if not plundered by men) barrows became the feared abodes of monstrous entities: dragons and wights:

“… the dragon in legend is a potent creation of men’s imagination, richer in significance than his barrow is in gold.”

– The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, Beowulf – Sir Israel Gollancz Lecture of 1936, HarperCollins, 1983

“… that terrible northern imagination to which I have ventured to give the name ‘barrow-wights’. The ‘undead’. Those dreadful creatures that inhabit tombs and mounds. They are not living: they have left humanity, but they are ‘undead’.”

– Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary – pgs. 163-164, J.R.R. Tolkien, Edited by C. Tolkien   (Tolkien’s emphasis)

It was in Norse tradition that barrows had most strongly an association to evil spirits of the kind in The Lord of the Rings. And it is quite probable that the Icelandic Grettir’s Saga greatly influenced a young Tolkien:

“… ‘barrow-wights’ … Glámr in the story of Grettir the Strong is a well-known example.”

– Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary – pg. 164, J.R.R. Tolkien, Edited by C. Tolkien   (Tolkien’s emphasis)


… to be continued

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya, little while that I posted. Sorry I can't compare Thranduil's latest home Aradhrynd or the two before with this Neolithic stone grave. All of Thranduil's homes were natural underground caverns and by that quarters to live and thrive. The Neolithic grave hill is entirely man-made. There is nothing natural about it. I think the elvenhalls have quite some comparison how the Hobbits live in their homes under the hills. Besides Hunebedden like in Wayland Oxfordshire, we have in Holland in quite some numbers. Dolmen are from the Neolithic, 4000BC - 3000BC and nothing to do with Christianity.

But otherwise an interesting text to read, even I can't agree with it all. It gives something to think about. Thanks for sharing!

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

If one gets rid of all the trees in Tolkien’s drawing, we have a stone-faced low edifice with a single entrance which has not only a lawn before it but a ‘roof’ topped with grass too. In my mind’s eye there’s some similarity. I did say ‘vaguely’ similar - but I’m fine if you don’t see it that way.




… continued from my previous post

Yes, the influence of Norse tales was enough that the eerie setting and gripping battle with the barrow denizen Karr culminated in a decision to include a wight, barrow-treasure and a pseudo battle scene. It is worthwhile partly repeating the evocative episode – for not only the vivid terror of the encounter, but also because it possesses elements somewhat reminiscent of Beowulf’s wrestling bout with Grendel – a matter that surely would have drawn Tolkien’s attention:

“Then Grettir entered into the barrow, and right dark it was, and a smell there was therein none of the sweetest. Now he groped about to see how things were below; first he found horse-bones, and then he stumbled against the arm of a high-chair, and in that chair found a man sitting; great treasures of gold and silver were heaped together there, and a small chest was set under the feet of him full of silver; all these riches Grettir carried together to the rope; but as he went out through the barrow he was griped at right strongly; thereon he let go the treasure and rushed against the barrow-dweller, and now they set on one another unsparingly enough.

Everything in their way was kicked out of place, the barrow-wight setting on with hideous eagerness; Grettir gave back before him for a long time, till at last it came to this, that he saw it would not do to hoard his strength any more; now neither spared the other, and they were brought to where the horse-bones were, and thereabout they wrestled long. And now one, now the other, fell on his knee; but the end of the strife was, that the barrow-dweller fell over on his back with huge din. Then ran Audun from the holding of the rope, and deemed Grettir dead. But Grettir drew the sword, ‘Jokul’s gift,’ and drave it at the neck of the barrow-bider so that it took off his head, and Grettir laid it at the thigh of him.”

– The Story of Grettir the Strong, Chapter XVIII – pgs. 46-47, Translation from the Icelandic tale by W. Morris & E. Magnusson, 1869

‘Karr the Old seizes Grettir’, Henry Justice Ford, 1901

From Norse origins, barrow-wights were firmly expanded to inhabit English barrows in a fictional depiction constructed by Tolkien himself. In his fragmentary piece recreating the aftermath of the 991 A.D. Battle of Maldon, we have:

“TORHTHELM. Why, Tída, you! The time seemed long alone among the lost. They lie so queer. I’ve watched and waited, till the wind sighing was like words whispered by walking ghosts that in my ears muttered. 
TÍDWALD. And your eyes fancied barrow-wights and bogies.”

– Essays and Studies for 1953, Volume 6, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son – pg. 3, J.R.R. Tolkien

But though some had been invaded to become the dwelling of demonized human spirits, we must also note barrows have for generations been closely linked in the folklore of the British Isles to fairy-folk.

… to be continued

[Priya]

A Fairy Otherworld Beneath Barrows

 

The Shee (Sidhe-folk) of Celtic legends, as folklore has it, dwelt below mounds and barrows in a fabled subterranean realm constituting a dimensionally adjacent otherworld. Making up part of mixed legends, the land of the Shee was sometimes referred to by the Irish as the ‘Tír na nÓg’ – the country of the young. Similarly, the Welsh had their own otherworld known as ‘Gwlâd yr Hâv’ – the land of summer. And the Scottish had their version too.

It was to these places that mortal spirits sped and then lingered after death:

“In Ireland this world and the world we go to after death are not far apart.”,

– The Celtic Twilight, Concerning The Nearness Together Of Heaven, Earth, And Purgatory – pg. 165, W.B. Yeats, 1902

“Many go to the Tir-na-nog in sleep, and some are said to have remained there, and only a vacant form is left behind without the light in the eyes which marks the presence of a soul.”,

– The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries, Chapter VI – pg. 332 – Quote by G.W. Russell, W.Y. Evans Wentz, 1911 

“Highlanders ‘superstitiously believe the souls of their Predecessors to dwell’ in the fairy-hills. ‘And for that end, say they, a Mote or Mount was dedicate beside every Churchyard, to receive the souls till their adjacent bodies arise, and so become as a Fairy hill.’ ”

– The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns & Fairies, Introduction – pg. xxxiii, R. Kirk and A. Lang, 1893

I have a distinct feeling Tolkien deliberately included links to such folklore in The Lord of the Rings when it came to Sam, Pippin and Merry’s state of unconsciousness inside the barrow. Had their souls departed? If so, where had they gone? Tolkien had Merry make it more blatant in the drafts:

“ ‘I begin to remember, … I thought I was dead …’ ”.

– The Return of the Shadow, VII The Barrow-wight – pg. 128, 1988

It is perhaps from tarrying in a proximate otherworld which allowed their souls to be recalled. Because spiritually this was not their final destination. Anyhow, Celtic mythology was consistent with that of the English:

“With this he anointed the ears, eyelids, nostrils, lips, and finger-tips, of the two brothers, and they sprang at once into life, and declared that their souls had been away, but had now returned.”

– English Fairy Tales, Childe Rowland – pg. 124, J. Jacobs, 1890

Now the exact geographical location of this elusively idyllic yet parallel world varied among the many recorded accounts of the Celts. Some scribes placed it underground and others across an ocean. Tolkien covered both bases by implying spiritual recollection from the latter location as well:

“ ‘You’ve found yourselves again out of the deep water. Clothes are but little loss, …’ ”.

– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

A clue that the Professor researched material of this type can be deduced from a jotting made against Andrew Lang’s Yellow Fairy Book. In The Land of Souls story, we have a connection of an old man (just like Tom) possessing power over departed spirits:

“… in the murmur of the wind he heard the Master of Life saying to him, ‘Return whither you came, for I have work for you to do, and your people need you, and for many years you shall rule over them. At the gate my messenger awaits you, and you shall take again your body which you left behind, and he will show you what you are to do. …’ ”.

– The Yellow Fairy Book, In the Land of Souls – pg. 154, A. Lang, 1895

Ultimately it appears Tolkien rejected explicit use of this particular fairy tale because of its American-Indian origin. Unsuitable for a North European climate, Tolkien remarked alongside the story:

“Red Indians”.

– Tolkien On Fairy-stories, Bibliographies – Works consulted or cited by J.R.R. Tolkien – pg. 309, V. Flieger and D. Anderson, 2014

Nevertheless, in returning our focus back on Saint Michael from near the beginning of my posts in this thread, one can see how his apocryphal accreditation as a caller of souls has analogues in fairy tale and local legends.

‘The Last Judgment’, a triptych, Hans Memling, 1467-1471

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya: Sure. And two new interesting posts to read. It could be a conclusion that Saint Michael has indeed these origins. You made a real come-about with it. Well done! The judgment between heaven and hell by scales.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Glad you are seeing some connections back to my earliest posts!



… continued from my previous


When it comes to angels, it’s curious that there exists records of an otherworld categorically allied to England which intriguingly adjoined its very soil. Moreover, it was connected to a saint.

From the famed account of the Green Children of Woolpit who had emerged from underground in Norfolk back in the 12th century, it was claimed:

“ ‘We are inhabitants of the land of St. Martin, who is regarded with peculiar veneration in the country which gave us birth.’ ”, and “… that the inhabitants, and all they had in that country, were of a green colour.”

– Sources: translation of Historia Rerum Anglicarum, Book 1, Ch. 27, William of Newburgh, 1189 and information presented by T. Keightley in The Fairy Mythology, The Green Children – pg. 282, 1860

Now there are merely four saints named Martin appearing in historical records prior to the 12th Century. None of them warrant the honor of having an otherworld named after them – at least that is what Tolkien might have thought*. Indeed, what would a human saint have to do with a wholly different dimension than the one which we live in? Other such cases are distinctly lacking. Unsurprisingly so – for mortals inherently lack the power of godly creation. This area was exclusively reserved for the divine.

Saint Martin of Tours (316/336 - 397) - An ex Roman soldier

(Possibly the most famous of all the saints named Martin)

Given the children were quite young and initially unschooled in the English language, perhaps they were slightly mistaken. Or perhaps the account had become muddled in translation. Feasibly it was not ‘St. Martin’s Land’, but really ‘St. Michael’s Land’. A place that he could rationalize God’s heavenly beings would have access to. A land reconcilable as Faërie – inhabited by fairy-folk – the so called ‘fallen angels’ of ancient religious manuscripts:

“St. Michael fought Lucifer and his companions. He overcame the rebel angels and drove them to hell. Ten orders of angels were created, the tenth of which went to perdition. Good and evil angels cause dreams** and the nightmare**. Out-cast angels are elves in the woods and on the downs, …”.

– The Early South-English Legendary c. 1280-1290, 45. Michael, C. Horstmann*** translation, 1887   (my underlined emphasis)

Hmm – ‘angels on the downs’ – part of the ‘true tradition’ of English folklore!

Then as to Tom – he was the perfect invention that could be molded to befit quirky English traditions about a storied archangel, epitomize the ‘English fairy’, and serve as the tie to a legendary otherworld below England’s soil – all at the same time. Yes, it’s hard not to conclude that Tolkien made Tom the source and ‘true’ origin of these aspects of our folklore and legends in his great tale. And certainly I am not the only researcher to have reflected on the impact of these early texts and St. Michael’s involvement:

“I am also persuaded that Tolkien found stimulus in the … legends of St. Michael … in The Early South English Legendary****, …”.

– The Road to Middle-earth, Tolkien’s Sources: The True Tradition – pg. 349, T. Shippey, 2014



* The story of the green children of Woolpit is documented in Edwin Hartland’s English Fairy and Other Folk Tales (see Works consulted or cited by J.R.R. Tolkien per Tolkien On Fairy-stories, 2014 by Verlyn Flieger & Douglas Anderson).

** Consistent with the hobbits’ experiences while under the auspices of Tom.

*** Tolkien references this book in Notes to line 774 in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, J.R.R. Tolkien & E. V. Gordon, 1925.

**** Tolkien was certainly aware of this medieval manuscript. He cites it per Notes to Line 774 in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, J.R.R. Tolkien & E. V. Gordon, 1925.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya! I have read your lastest post. I have never heard of the lands of St. Martin, or even the name. It is new for me. 12th century, that is a thousands years ago. Could be it was used by Tolkien as well? Who shall say?

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Keep up the good comments - and, once again, thanks for your continued interest.



Five-fingered Demons


Now I have already gone into some detail about the inclusion of a subtle undercurrent whereby the wisest of kings of our known history: Solomon, has been purposely intertwined into the character Frodo (see my post of 17 January 2024). Also present are subtle referrals to the five pointed pentangle engraving on Solomon’s great ring and its connection to the one emblazoned on Sir Gawain’s shield (see my post of 24 January 2024).

Counterbalanced against the Five Virtues/Joys/Wounds* symbolized by the pentangle are the five fingers of the Devil. All of these in medieval lore are associated with evil lust to catch humanity:

“The first is, eating before it is time to eat. The second is when a man gets himself too delicate food or drink. The third is when men eat too much, and beyond measure. The fourth is fastidiousness, with great attention paid to the preparation and dressing of food. The fifth is to eat too greedily. These are the five fingers of the Devil’s hand wherewith he draws folk into sin. 
… This is the Devil’s other hand, with five fingers to catch the people into his slavery. The first finger is the foolish interchange of glances between the foolish woman and the foolish man, which slays just as the basilisk slays folk by the venom of its sight; for the lust of the eyes follows the lust of the heart. The second finger is vile touching in wicked manner; and thereupon Solomon** says that he who touches and handles a woman fares like the man that handles the scorpion which stings and suddenly slays by its poisoning; even as, if any man touch warm pitch, it defiles his fingers. The third is vile words, which are like fire, which immediately burns the heart. The fourth finger is kissing; and truly he were a great fool who would kiss the mouth of a burning oven or of a furnace. …”.

– Canterbury Tales (modern translation), The Parson’s Tale, G. Chaucer, 1380

‘Maddo’, Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien, Wayne Hammond & Christina Scull
(Note : the black hand has five fingers)

If I were to wager a guess, Tolkien’s intention was to have Bombadil’s house and the barrow wriggling hand scene as the true origin of the folkloric pentangle and Devil’s five fingers. The powerful imagery of the hand dates back even further than Chaucer. Indeed to the Early South-English Legendary where Satan:

“His fingers, wherewith he tempts men, have particular names. The devil begins his temptation of men with his little finger.”

– The Early South-English Legendary c. 1280-1290, 45,Michael, C. Horstmann translation, 1887

Animated*** by a spell from the Barrow-wight, the slaying of Frodo by the corpse hand and a subsequent capture of the Ring would have truly left mankind in a desperate state.



… to be continued




* These are mentioned when commenting on the medieval poem Pearl:

“… there are also 101 stanzas in Sir Gawain. The number was evidently aimed at, though what its significance was for the author has not been discovered. The grouping by fives also connects the poem with Gawain, where the poet elaborates the significance: the Five Wounds, the Five Joys, the Five virtues, and the Five wits.”

– The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #238 – 18 July 1962, Edited by H. Carpenter, 1981

** Once again we have a connection back to Solomon.

*** Remote animation appears to be Tolkien’s own touch. Such an ability is not reflected in the tales of the ‘undead’ corpses known as the Draugr and Haugbui of Norse legends – ultimately the source of Tolkien’s Wight.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya! Sure, love to read what you post. I hope you had a good Merry Christmas and the best wishes for the year later today. Now your update... I do recall something on Solomon. Five fingers of den devil, never thought of that. Hmm yeah true, that in lore something hands were used to rise from the grave with the body following. Often a troubled person whose spirit can't find rest. Or better was not even admitted in hell or heaven. Could be an interlude to the roaming dead. That's what springs up in my mind, reading your post.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

A happy, prosperous and healthy New Year to you.

So given your thought about spirits rising from the dead, I’m going to shortly provide a wholly new explanation of Merry’s dream of ‘dying’ after Tom’s rescue. I hope that’s of interest - because there’s been a lot of head scratching over the years about it.




… continued from my previous post

Mixed in with these legends of England were some from other areas of the British Isles. The Barrow-wight (of Tolkien’s conceit) was perhaps, to the Professor, the source of the Irish Púca* – a malevolent spirit of the fairy-folk. Blackberries too are entwined in the legend. They are not to be eaten after the festival of Samhain because the Púca spits (or urinates) on them leaving them inedible. And also similar to English folklore, the Irish proverb goes:

“At Michaelmas the devil puts his foot on the blackberries.”

– Publications of the Folk-lore Society, Volume 2, St. Michael’s Day – pg. 96, 1879

But Tolkien’s desire for historical and mythological continuity meant he could selectively take core principles and discernible ‘facts’ and stitch together a magnificently coherent story. His mythology would be the feigned source of our world’s early legends which had become embellished and distorted when passed down the generations. So it was not the Devil, Púca or even Barrow-wight that did the stamping – it was Tom:

“… he thought he saw a severed hand wriggling still, like a wounded spider, in a heap of fallen earth. Tom went back in again, and there was a sound of much thumping and stamping.”

– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

And it was not blackberries that were trodden upon but rather the dismembered hand still animated by the residual effect of the Wights’ spell. Equipped with a magical girdle omnipotent Tom would be more than a match for the demon. Perhaps that’s how the origin of an ancient prayer arose:

“Gabriel is my lorica. / Michael is my belt. / Raphael is my shield. / Uriel is my protector. / Rumiel is my defender. / Phanniel is my health.”

– The Prayer Book of Aedeluald the Bishop – pg. 153, translated by A.B. Kuypers, 1902   (my emphasis)

And perhaps that’s why the imagery of Satan underneath Michael’s foot is so prevalent in medieval and renaissance art.

‘St. Michael Vanquishing Satan’, Raphael, 1518

… to be continued




* Christopher Tolkien makes the following comment:

“… Anglo-Saxon púcel ‘goblin, demon’, a relative of the word púca from which Puck is derived …”.

– Unfinished Tales, Part Four – The Drúedain – pg. 387, J.R.R. Tolkien, 1980

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya! Thanks. A lot of headscratching? Ah... *reads post* Strange idea about the blackberries, must be something with the colour of the fruit, I guess? I do remember what Bombadil does, but never would think a connection to the devil stamping on blackberries. I wonder what the connection is between the two unrelated tales. Or is it only because Bombadil stamps a dismembered hands back in the earth, that you see a similar thing in the painting you have posted, of St. Michael standing on the devil below? Sorry, I find it a bit unlikely. What is the religious connection here, if that is what you are trying explaining?

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Take a look back in my early post of 12 December 2023 how the Devil stamping on blackberries is part of an early folktale about one of the legends of St. Michael. And how cleverly Tolkien included a mention of blackberries on the 29th September which is a date intrinsically associated to the legend. What I am saying is that the Barrow scene with the ‘demonic’ hand and Tom’s ‘stamping’ is Tolkien’s truth of a legend that has become distorted over the ages, and is supposedly the true origin of our world’s tale according to his fiction.



… continued from my previous post


At the point where the crawling arm in the barrow was severed at the wrist:

“There was a shriek … In the dark there was a snarling noise.”

– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

Because shrieking and snarling is typically what demons do when intimidating or under attack:

“There abides Minos horribly, and snarls; he examines the sins at the entrance; …”.

– Divine Comedy*, Hell – Canto V – pg. 21, Dante 1320, translation by C.E. Norton, 1891 (my underlined emphasis)

Minos from Dante’s Inferno, Gustave Dore

“ ‘Be quiet!’ said Jesus sternly. ‘Come out of him!’
The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.**”
– The Bible, New International Version, Mark 1: 25-26 (my underlined emphasis)

In line with biblical tradition, it was to barren lands where Tolkien’s demon was banished:

“Shrivel like the cold mist,
like the winds go wailing,

Out into the barren lands far beyond the mountains!”

– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

For the desert, where Jesus was tempted by Satan, is classically the abode of demons:

“The demons Resheph, Lilith, and Azazel clearly show the influence of the DESERT and other religions upon Israel. Resheph was the Canaanite god of plague and pestilence (Deut 32:24 “burning heat”, “plague”; Hab 3:5), Lilith was the Mesapotomian storm demon who in the OT became a night demon of the wilderness (Isa 34:14 “night hag”), and Azazel was the desert demon …”.

– Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, Demon in the Old Testament – pg. 209, W. Mills/A. Bullard/V. McKnight, 1990

And then returning to Solomon (see my posts of January 17 & 24 of 2024) and the building of his great temple for God, demons of angelic origin were employed; but in this task it was forbidden to use ‘iron’ on holy ground:

“In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.”

– The Bible, New International Version, 1 Kings 7 

King Solomon dedicates the Temple at Jerusalem to God, J. Tissot

Conybeare in commenting on The Testament of Solomon observed:

“… the fear of iron on the part of evil spirits is a feature common to both old and recent folk-lore.”

– The Jewish Encyclopedia: Vol. 2 – Asmodeus/Elements of the Ashmedai-Solomon Legend – pg. 219, 1902

In line with the extensive discussion in my post of 31 July 2024 we have an answer why fairies (fallen angels per ancient English texts) were also averse to ‘iron’. For reasons we should not question – its usage, and thus touch, had been banned. This we can reasonably infer, was the decree of God:

“The word of the Lord came to Solomon: ‘As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.’ ”

– The Bible, New International Version, 1 Kings 11:13 

And that edict appears to have been employed by Tolkien for his mythology, and obeyed by Tom in his avoidance of all things made of ‘iron’!

So to summarize – what has been exposed is a submerged layer of religious parallelism beyond the obvious. How deep Tolkien went in entwining Tom in with a Christian theme is hard to say. But from my research – I think there is more. To come, we will see how Merry’s dream recollection after Tom’s rescue fits in!




* Tolkien was a member of the Oxford Dante Society between 20 February 1945 and 15 February 1955. Translated excerpts from the Divine Comedy were often read out aloud at club meetings. One such occurrence is recorded in 1950:

“Tolkien attends a meeting of the Oxford Dante Society … Colin Hardie reads a paper on Dante’s interpretation of classical mythology in the Divine Comedy.”

– The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide 2017 Edition, Chronology, 14 February 1950, C. Scull & W. Hammond

When Tolkien first became acquainted with Dante’s famous work is unknown. It is interesting to note Dante’s conception of hell was one located under the physical earth rather than an ‘otherworld’. Furthest away from the sun – the center of hell, in which Satan abode, was a place of extreme cold much of which was enveloped in ice (see The Inferno – being the first part of the Divine Comedy). This is consistent with Tolkien’s location*** of Utumno, Morgoth’s underground northern fortress. It also reflects Sauron’s seeming intention (as chanted by the Barrow-wight) to turn the surface of the planet into an utterly cold and desolate place:

“Cold be hand and heart and bone,

and cold be sleep under stone:

never more to wake on stony bed,

never, till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead.

In the black wind the stars shall die,

and still on gold here let them lie

till the dark lord lifts his hand
over dead sea and withered land.”

– The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

** Cited is one of several instances of demonic spirits ‘shrieking’ on expulsion by the power of Jesus.

*** And also Milton’s in Paradise Lost, Book II – “a frozen continent” where “cold performs the effect of fire”.

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya! Ah, that is three years ago. I see, well is the circle not round then by now, the subject returns?

How deep Tolkien went in entwining Tom in with a Christian theme is hard to say.

I think there could be good truth in this and something I feel is quite delighting actually. It says we won't be looking for Christian touches too much in Tom Bombadil. I rather see him that Tolkien woke up one day with this jolly figure in his mind, and thought 'lovely, let's bring him to life'. Christian themes are also funded on pagan themes before that. I think the whole entwining issue is an enigma. We'll never be able to know for sure, because Tolkien left no notes or other materials behind, what says how strong the measure is.

But it is good to see where your research is taking you. Keeps being interesting to read, though I never read the bible, or am I a believer in the Christian faith.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Yes, much is interconnected and thus leads us back in circular fashion - at least that is what I believe!

The curiosity of Merry’s dream - recollected outside the Barrow

Now I know this is kind of getting off track - but I wanted to explore an incident that has kind of flummoxed readers and dedicated scholars alike and led to all sorts of speculation. But because Merry’s startling verbal re-enaction of an event long in the past occurred under the auspices of Tom Bombadil - it’s possible that there is a deliberate connection left for us to ponder upon.

As you no doubt know, Merry experienced a ‘vision’ that was actually a vivid memory of someone’s death. Upon waking, Merry momentarily relinquished his own identity, exclaiming:

" ‘The men of Carn Dûm came on us at night, and we were worsted. Ah! The spear in my heart!’ He clutched at his breast. 'No! No!' he said, opening his eyes. 'What am I saying? I have been dreaming. …’ “.
- The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs

Tolkien gave us some other pertinent information in TLotR:

“Some say that the mound in which the Ring-bearer was imprisoned had been the grave of the last prince of Cardolan, who fell in the war of 1409.”
- The Return of the King, Appendix A

But what was all of this about? And why did Tolkien decide to include such an enigmatic twist? A kind of possession seems a tad out of place - don’t you think?

Before I go on to propose - what I believe, is a new explanation, I would love to hear any other thoughts and theories?


… to be continued

[Priya]

Before I put forward my own views of Merry’s exceedingly strange ‘possession’ - I would like to give a brief overview of what others have made of the matter. Below are a sampling of thoughts from various websites and publications.


The Tolkien Gateway:

“As Merry regained consciousness, he initially seemed to believe that he was one of the kings laid to rest in the barrow, and even recounted the final moments of that life.”


Google AI (Gemini Pro mode):

“The Prince of Cardolan did not inhabit Merry in the traditional sense of ghostly possession. Instead, while trapped in the Barrow-downs, Merry was placed under a necromantic spell that caused him to temporarily relive the memories and death of the Last Prince of Cardolan, the noble warrior in whose tomb he was imprisoned.

When the Barrow-wight (an evil spirit sent by the Witch-king) captured Merry, it performed a ritual to bind him to the grave. This magic suppressed Merry's own personality and overlaid it with the final moments of the Prince, who had died centuries earlier fighting the forces of Angmar.”


Sci-Fi Stack Exchange:

“In layman's terms: Yes, he was possessed and, (speculation); saw a vision of the prince's death.”


Ask Middle-earth.com:

“… while captured by the barrow-wights, the hobbits’ spirits were affected (perhaps as part of the possession ceremony, if you like that particular theory.) Being thus more receptive to these things, Merry happened to pick up on a lingering memory of the last Dunedain of Cardolan being attacked and killed by the men of Carn Dum (Angmar.)

I’m not sure if this means that the spirits of these Dunedain remain in the barrow-downs (this seems somewhat unlikely, as it really isn’t natural for men’s spirits to linger in Middle Earth, but it is possible), or if the memory was somehow imprinted on the land.”


Mythgard Forum:

“I had always assumed that Merry's dream of death was a memory scavenged by the Barrow-wight from the corpse it occupied and was inflicted as part of its dreadful ritual. … If the circlet retained the last memory of its wearer, this could also explain another fact, why (so far as we know) only Merry is afflicted with a memory of an actual death: perhaps the circlet is the only object in the barrow that the long-dead warrior was actually wearing when he was killed. It could still be a deliberate part of the Barrow-wight's ritual (selecting an artifact that it knows will torment the wearer with a memory of death).”


Reddit:

“Why would the Prince want to possess Merry? He's supposed to be a good guy, and it seems hostile to go around posessing people. Why is his fea still in the barrow and not in the halls of Mandos?
It's been bothering me 30 years what happened to Merry in the barrows”

“… to me it seems the vision comes from the source - the Prince. And that it isn't the Barrow Wight that wants Merry to see this.

Could Merry maybe get a vision of the death scene by wearing the Prince's clothes, or maybe some of the items he wore when he died - and the event could somehow be stored in those items?”


Verlyn Flieger’s Essay:

The Curious Incident of the Dream at the Barrow: Memory and Reincarnation in Middle-earth printed in Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review, Volume IV, 2007 & repeated in Green Suns and Faërie: Essays on J.R.R. Tolkien, 2012.


Flieger explores ‘inherited memory’ as the mechanism behind Merry’s dream, as used by Tolkien in the Notion Club Papers and The Lost Road. However after a heap load of discussion she comes to a ‘dead end’ (pardon the pun)!

“… there is no pattern of lineal descent, no link through language, no indication whatsoever of any special circumstance that would associate Merry Brandybuck with the prince of Cardolan or the barrow. Only the gold crown on Merry’s head ties his physical presence to the dream-memory of that earlier event and un-ancestral person. … This cannot be Merry’s inherited memory, …

… The episode of Merry’s dream at the barrow remains, then the most irregular, least explicable and least historically prepared for event in the entire book, singular in its mystery …”.




Any thoughts others would like to share before I press onwards?


… to be continued

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya: Sorry I haven't been checking. I was wrapped up in some other things and a book I am reading from Tad Williams, War of the Flowers.

Now back to your Merry chapter. "But what was all of this about? And why did Tolkien decide to include such an enigmatic twist? A kind of possession seems a tad out of place - don’t you think?"

No, it is not out of place, because if you read a bit above in the text: "Together they carried out Merry, Pippin, and Sam. As Frodo left the barrow for the last time he thought he saw a severed hand wriggling still, like a wounded spider, in a heap of fallen earth. Tom went back in again, and there was a sound of much thumping and stamping. When he came out he was bearing in his arms a great load of treasure: things of gold, silver, copper, and bronze; many beads and chains and jewelled ornaments.He climbed the green barrow and laid them all on top in the sunshine." There you see Tolkien talks of riches, great load of treasure. A wight could do that to people, tricking them in dreams of sorts to snatch them up as the Hobbits walked into that trap Bombadil saved them from.

“Some say that the mound in which the Ring-bearer was imprisoned had been the grave of the last prince of Cardolan, who fell in the war of 1409.” That is what Tolkien said. Sounds pretty logic to me. Something that doesn't rise questions for me.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

I don’t know where the Wight would have got such a memory to place a trick. The Wights arrived more than 200 years after the last prince of Cardolan was interred in the barrow.

There’s no evidence Wights fought at the battle where the prince was slain. And there’s no evidence they possessed powers to implant such thoughts - at least Tolkien didn’t explicitly write about it. Besides, why was Merry specifically chosen? Wouldn’t you have thought all the victims would have had similar experiences?

So to many, Merry’s utterance seems to be a mystery - as it would appear from the multiple different theories that abound on the matter that I’ve already chatted about.

I think, however, that there is a reasonable way of attacking the problem. By using evidence provided by Tolkien in TLotR gives us the highest chance of success. And additionally by following some of his thoughts laid out before TLotR was published (per Morgoth’s Ring) is helpful and a satisfactory way of understanding the overall picture in resolving the issue.

And that’s where I would like to go with my next post!


… to be continued

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya: Hmm, I see where your thoughts are taking you. On Wiki this is said:

Old English
The eoten Grendel, who is described in Beowulf as wiht unhaélo ("that damned creature"), as illustrated by J.R. Skelton.

"In Old English, wiht has been variously translated as "wight", "creature" and "being". The term is found in the compound words eall-wihta ("all beings") and á-wiht ("aught", "anything"). Wiht is often used as the subject of riddles, such as riddle 86 from the Exeter Book, in which it has been interpreted as referring to a person selling vegetables, likely garlics. The term is also used to refer to beings such as the dwarf which is the focus of the XCIIIB charm, and the eoten Grendel and the dragon in Beowulf. The word began to acquire the sense of supernatural or unearthly beings, included in the 8th century Lindisfarne Gospels."

Wights were considered as supernatural beings. And true such a creature could inhabit an old grave site later on. They appear in the Lindisfarne Gospels. I am not all knowing person, nor scientific, but it was pretty interesting to read the page, learning of some background. Who knows what kind of powers were poeted to the wights in those times, but one thing is certain, they were never used for good. I guess these wights had some disbodily voices to entice their listeners to come. Who knows exactly what people considered in the eight century? They had no conception of what our today science was. They called it magic.

Merry has quite a leading character when it comes to mischief things, Pippins hooks on and Sam follows as well. None of them carry the Ring, as Frodo does at the start of the journey and thus are not effected by it? But let's see how you are working it out in your next segments. I like to ramble now and then even there is not much stock to it. I am quite easy satisfied often how things come to me, really true or not.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

To satisfactorily resolve the Merry Brandybuck ‘possession’ incident - I think we need to pay heed to what Tolkien expected from an intelligent and careful reader. When answering a query on whether Shadowfax accompanied Gandalf overseas he gave some advice:

“… the truth has to be discovered or guessed from such evidence as there is …”.
- The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter #268

And that reflects his general mode of thinking, for sure.

The evidence I firstly want to point to is in The Fellowship of the Ring. It concerns the effect on a mortal of a wound inflicted by a spell-bound weapon belonging to the Witch-king:

“They tried to pierce your heart with a Morgul-knife which remains in the wound. If they had succeeded, you would have become like they are, only weaker and under their command. You would have become a wraith under the dominion of the Dark Lord …”.
- The Fellowship of the Ring, Many Meetings

What one can reasonably discern is that the dagger was designed to splinter and the incumbent spell drove that shard towards the victim’s heart. Once it reached and pierced the organ, physical death would have occurred. However, heinously the imbued ‘magic’ was such that the spirit of that person was prevented from undergoing its normal journey. Sauron the Necromancer had found a way of delaying departure of a mortal soul to a place beyond the circles of the world. And he had taught the art to his most trusted servants.

So the victim became an unbodied wraith, and was bound to Sauron’s command and the Witch-king’s too. But the affected person was not a Ringwraith. For the Nazgûl under the power of the Ring were able to be clad and thus pseudo-present in the ‘seen’ primary plane of Middle-earth (our physical plane of existence). Whereas a wraith would have its ‘being’ in the ‘unseen’ but still primary plane of our world. Yet the design was such that both ‘seen’ and ‘unseen’ worlds overlapped.

But a key consideration is - what would have resulted if Frodo had been stabbed directly in the heart with the Morgul blade?

I think the most logical answer is that Frodo would have instantaneously experienced physical death, and at the same time become a wraith.

So now I think we ought to turn to the last prince of Cardolan and contemplate his fate. It’s beyond curious that Tolkien made his heart the textual target. That most vital organ, of which so many fairy tales are centered upon, was pierced:

“ ‘The men of Carn Dûm came on us at night, and we were worsted. Ah! the spear in my heart!’ “.
- The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-downs (my underlined emphasis)

Were the men of Carn Dûm (who were in the service of the Witch-king) supplied with spell-laden weaponry from Angmar?

Did the spear tip have a ‘wraithing’ spell lain upon it?

Did the prince upon death turn into a wraith?

It seems quite possible to me; even quite probable!

Then where did this wraith go? Was there a story, beyond death, behind the unnamed last prince of Cardolan?

Then just maybe we can piece it together with logic and what little evidence we have!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya: Are we not careful and intelligent readers? Off course I see your point. Yes Sauron's nine Ringwraith were there to discover the Ring's whereabouts and so find it and bring it back to it's master. When the Ring was destroyed these wraiths went along with it. Their undead lives were bound to it's existence. But my discussion of the wights was not about these Nazgul in mind.

Are wights really wraiths? I thought there was a significant difference between these sorts of spirits?

But a key consideration is - what would have resulted if Frodo had been stabbed directly in the heart with the Morgul blade?
I think the most logical answer is that Frodo would have instantaneously experienced physical death, and at the same time become a wraith.

Yep, that would have happened straight on, I agree.

The last prince of Cardolan was buried in a mound in the Barrow-downs. You may found references and more back to this in Appendix X of the Numenorean Kings, Eriador, Arnor and Heirs of Isildur, entry about the mounts of Tyrn Gorthad.

Rest assured, I love the discussion *g*.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Love your participation, especially as you are always willing to add thoughtful comments!!!

“Are wights really wraiths? I thought there was a significant difference between these sorts of spirits?”

They are both ‘undead’. But you are right there, there are many differences between these types of spirits. It is noteworthy that in an early draft of TLotR Tolkien jotted down that Black Riders were barrow wights on horses. Still, this was very early on - and much development occurred afterwards.




… continued from my previous post

So as I’ve stated before - the men of Carn Dûm were allies of Angmar and likely supplied with spell-laden weaponry for the battle of T.A. 1409. A couple of relevant things which we know for sure about the conflict:

(a) The prince of Cardolan’s forces were defeated
(b) Some of his followers managed to recover his body.

We don’t know whether the retrieval occurred after the fighting was over or whether the slain prince was carried off during the clash. The latter seems more likely to me. Anyhow, with reverence, the last remnants of his followers managed to, as Aiks pointed out, lay his remains to rest in the barrow tomb. Given we have knowledge of the pre-burial customs of the Numenoreans, it is quite probable that the body was embalmed, and thus preserved against decay - the Dúnedain of Arnor as descendants of Númenor had inherited the art.

Anyhow, the next piece of evidence I would like to consider was written before TLotR was published and can be found in Morgoth’s Ring. It concerns the fate of elvish spirits once death has occurred. Equally - I would think - it is applicable to mankind.

Both of the Children of Eru have their spirits summoned upon physical death - the point where spiritual disassociation occurs (for whatever reason) from the being’s flesh. For elves we are told that the spirit hungers for a body. Of course naturally one would expect it had an attachment for its own - though it may no longer be fit for habitation. But, perhaps just as importantly, as I will later discuss:

“Some say that the Houseless desire bodies (…) The wicked among them will take bodies, if they can, unlawfully.”
- Morgoth’s Ring. (my underlined emphasis)

I see no reason why those spirits of men (unlawfully restrained from departing the world) would not have the same desire.

Indeed then, did the unseen wraith follow his body. Knowing full well that it was now subject to the Witch-king’s command, did it try to get away from the battlefield; and did a rapid removal of the corpse both compel and offer the opportunity to leave. Then once the interring happened, did the barrow provide a place to hide from the enemy? Did it afford some safety?

We are told that the foes of the Witch-king also cast spells on their weaponry for the demise of the hosts of Angmar and, I would think - particularly their leader. So, I suspect the wraith of the deceased prince of Cardolan knew it would have to wait it out until the Witch-king met his end. Only then would any spells that had been cast by him (or in his name) be lifted. Only then could his spirit follow its pre-ordained path.

But little did this wraith know that a Barrow-wight would enter the tomb, Effectively a lieutenant of the Witch-king, and with power over the undead - he would now be under its command.

This is the story, I can logically arrive at. And in my next post, I’m going to discuss some information that will help firm up the idea that the barrow shared double occupancy. Yes, I have a strong feeling the Wight dwelt there with the sub-ordinate wraith of the prince; that is until the hobbits strayed too close!

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya! *reads* Interestingly written.

"I see no reason why those spirits of men (unlawfully restrained from departing the world) would not have the same desire. - (quoted)"

I think you could couple emotion to this, feelings as contentment, willing, desire, hatred, fear, resentment, towards the moment of death, when the spirit goes someplace else. The circumstances of death can play a role in this graving too. Was it a natural death; or one of by battle, murder or an accident? Both for the elves and the men, but also species as the hobbits, the ents, the dwarves... I like to include also the others, for those have also spirits that don't just blink out after death, if they never existed.

"We are told that the foes of the Witch-king also cast spells on their weaponry for the demise of the hosts of Angmar and, I would think - particularly their leader. So, I suspect the wraith of the deceased prince of Cardolan knew it would have to wait it out until the Witch-king met his end. Only then would any spells that had been cast by him (or in his name) be lifted. Only then could his spirit follow its pre-ordained path. (- quoted)"

Ah that is very likely possible.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

Glad to see you are following along, and I’m hoping that what I have written so far doesn’t seem too unreasonable.




… continued from my previous post

So one of the things I have examined and pondered about in depth is Merry’s phrasing:

“ ‘Of course, I remember!’ he said. ‘The men of Carn Dûm came on us at night, and we were worsted. Ah! the spear in my heart!’ He clutched at his breast.”
- The Fellowship of the Ring, Fog on the Barrow-down

Looking at the draft text - Tolkien already had the idea that a death had occurred.

“ ‘I begin to remember,’ he said. ‘I thought I was dead — but don’t let us speak of it.’ ”.
- The Return of the Shadow

Christopher Tolkien notes that ‘There is no mention of the Men of Carn Dûm (FR p. 154).’ in this early version. But in any case, Tolkien expanded the narrative to include them and also the most telling couple of sentences:

“Ah! the spear in my heart!’ He clutched at his breast.”

Are these the sort of words you’d expect to be said straight after being stabbed in such a vital organ? They seem a bit strange for a dying breath: kind of forced and unnatural in my opinion. Thus lending to an idea that something odd is afoot.

So of greatest consideration and what we must acknowledge is that these are words that a living human would be unable to utter immediately after being pierced by such a weapon. Medically, it is practically impossible!

I have no doubt that a knowledgeable Tolkien, the most careful of wordsmiths, knew it and phrased it thus because there was another untold part to this story which he purposely kept back. Instead, given the circumstances and construction, this first sentence (it seems to me) is from a person who has experienced death and then recalls it. Reemphasizing then, it is highly unlikely a man can speak coherently and utter an entire sentence after a spear is thrust through his heart. And to boot, as it would appear with Merry imitating the trauma, go through the motion of clutching at his breast per the second sentence.

From Google AI:

The victim is generally unlikely to speak immediately after a fatal stab wound to the heart due to rapid, severe blood loss, shock, and loss of consciousness.

Key Considerations:

* Immediate Physiological Impact: A stab to the heart causes massive, rapid internal bleeding and immediate blood pressure collapse, which typically causes instant unconsciousness.
* Time Lapse: If the injury does not instantly stop the heart, there may be a very short window of consciousness, but speaking is difficult.
* Shock: The body goes into severe shock instantly, causing the person to become unresponsive, dizzy, and unable to speak.


Therefore the memory recounted by Merry, we might readily conclude, must be one implanted in Merry’s mind by a spirit - an ‘undead’ spirit. A spirit who has shared both Merry’s body and mind - who reexperiences the pain of the event - but nevertheless it is a wraith’s memory.

But why did Tolkien go to such lengths is a larger question that we must try and answer. Did he have an ulterior motive? I think so ….


… to be continued

[Aikári Salmarinian]

Hi Priya! Unreasonable? I am not using much icons as and , so I think what you put together is alright. I am not always ready with good constructive thoughts, but I am myself not a scholar. Just an enthousiast for Tolkien's works and with the 50's thinking in new corners I didn't when being in my thirties and forties.

“Ah! the spear in my heart!’ He clutched at his breast.”

Hmm, couldn't that be actually a metaphor too? I can't tell you exactly where that thought came from, but it was a kind of feeling that popped up while reading your new post. You can ask for what were these men from Carn Dum chasing and what is the spirit of this Cardolanian prince communicating to Merry? I guess there is room to treat it as a metaphor, but I have to leave to you to work out for what, as this is your expertise, and not mine.


********
One note: Google IA barks nonsense, it doesn't do scientifically fact checking as a right honourable human can do. I never make use of it, because it ensnares the human senses too much (in Prof. Snape's words) and makes the brains lazy. I like to discourage others to use it. Tolkien had no computers at all to his researches, so why we should be not honour his ways in the same fashion. Physically digging in the books and resources there are. I love that methodical thinking as he once did, and it is what I learned in my youth at school.

[Priya]

Hello Aiks

I completely agree with you. AI is not (yet) to be fully trusted; especially for Tolkien matters. However, when it comes to a ‘heart stabbing’ I did dig deeper with a check of the AI sources as well as conducting my own independent research. In this case the Google AI results are reasonable, verifiable and trustworthy.



… continued from my previous post


So I wanted to chat a little about Tolkien’s purpose behind the ‘Merry Possession’. But perhaps it’s the right moment to first discuss the ‘crawling arm’ in the barrow.

Who did it belong to?

Over the years I’ve seen differing opinions. Some say it was the Wight’s while other folk have been convinced that it belonged to the last Prince of Cardolan.

What do you (or anyone else on the Plaza) think?