The History of LotR - Chapter-by-Chapter Companion

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Oh, I thought this thread was dead!

Not if I can help it! I'm continuing with my reading of The Return of the Shadow and intend to keep on with the discussion, though not every chapter has a lot of discussable content. Keeping up with the current CbC thread, I've read Ch. VI, 'Tom Bombadil'. Unfortunately, it doesn't say much about Goldberry; I wonder if what Tolkien wrote about her was more subconscious than conscious. He did however deliberately and early on choose the water-lily motive for her.

Here are a few scattered thoughts about the early drafts:

TB is called an 'aborigine' - interesting word!

Then the question:

Barrow-wights related to Black-riders. Are Black-riders actually horsed Barrow-wights?

Apparently the nature of the Black Riders was not yet defined; they became Nazgul later on.

Farmer Maggot was originally not a hobbit, but

a being of a wholly different kind, and akin to Bombadil.