JimboCat
2015-12-17 18:09:17 UTC
This has always bothered me a bit. It seems highly unrealistic - which is, perhaps, perfectly in character for Tom Bombadil - but also kinda stupid, or even a little evil, which most definitely is not...
After Tom rescues the Hobbits from the barrow wight he carries all the treasures from the barrow:
While they were eating Tom went up to the mound and
looked through the treasures. Most of these he made
into a pile that glistered and sparkled on the grass.
He bade them lie there 'free to all finders, birds,
beasts, Elves or Men, and all kindly creatures'; for
so the spell of the mound should be broken and
scattered and no Wight ever come back to it.
Doesn't this strike you as a very naive plan? Sure, maybe a crow or a (talking?) fox might take a bauble away from the pile, but if any Men happen by it seems way more likely that they'll try to take and hold the entire hoard for themselves, and strife, robbery and murder are almost certain to be the result. The picture of a guy happening by and scarfing up nothing but a nice little jeweled cup for his sweetheart is laughably implausible. Even a hobbit would likely be corrupted by so much wealth. The finders might start out as "kindly creatures" when they happen across the hoard, but it's not likely to go well from there.
Is Tom's plan going to work? Or is the liberated treasure more likely to wind up as a magnet for evil?
JimboCat
After Tom rescues the Hobbits from the barrow wight he carries all the treasures from the barrow:
While they were eating Tom went up to the mound and
looked through the treasures. Most of these he made
into a pile that glistered and sparkled on the grass.
He bade them lie there 'free to all finders, birds,
beasts, Elves or Men, and all kindly creatures'; for
so the spell of the mound should be broken and
scattered and no Wight ever come back to it.
Doesn't this strike you as a very naive plan? Sure, maybe a crow or a (talking?) fox might take a bauble away from the pile, but if any Men happen by it seems way more likely that they'll try to take and hold the entire hoard for themselves, and strife, robbery and murder are almost certain to be the result. The picture of a guy happening by and scarfing up nothing but a nice little jeweled cup for his sweetheart is laughably implausible. Even a hobbit would likely be corrupted by so much wealth. The finders might start out as "kindly creatures" when they happen across the hoard, but it's not likely to go well from there.
Is Tom's plan going to work? Or is the liberated treasure more likely to wind up as a magnet for evil?
JimboCat
--
I do love the word "glistered", though. It is, of course, from archaic roots: "Middle English glistren; akin to Old English glisian"...
I do love the word "glistered", though. It is, of course, from archaic roots: "Middle English glistren; akin to Old English glisian"...