Nar & Bethberry, perhaps its wrong to think of Bombadil & Goldberry as individuals, in the sense of hobbits, Elves, humans, etc. Aren't they more 'manifestations' of the land, & the river. The land & river become conscious, in a way like the Ents are trees become conscious?. There's so much more of this in the book I mentioned in a previous posting, The Uncharted Realms of Tolkien, which also has a fantastic discussion on Tolkien & feminism. One of the best Tolkien books published in years as far as I'm concerned. What they do show is how far ahead of his time Tolkien was in his representation of women. You always have to keep in mind, Bethberry, that Tolkien was the product of the Victorian period, & was creating his Legendarium during the first half of the 20th century. Find ANY female characters in any book from that, pre-feminist period who are as well developed & strong as Eowyn, Galadriel, Luthien. They don't exist. You can only judge him in relation to the other writers around at the time & previously. Also, its important to remember that he was writing an 'epic romance' along the lines of Morte D'Arthur, or the Faerie Queene, which has its own rules & forms.
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