The Revelation of the River Daughter

Hey y'all, LOTRfanMiguel here to show some art I've been working on. Pictured above, I used collage and acrylic paint on canvas in order to portray Tom Bombadil's discovery of Goldberry, the daughter of the River.

As we all know, Tolkien bathes Goldberry in waves of similes evoking imagery of nature including reeds, beads of dew, flowers, and water. Just look at this quote from page 134 of The Fellowship of the Ring:

"Her long yellow hair rippled down her shoulders; her gown was green, green as young reeds, shot with silver like beads of dew; and her belt was of gold, shaped like a chain of flag-lilies set with the pale-blue eyes of forget-me-nots. About her feet in wide vessels of green and brown earthenware, white water-lilies were floating so that she seemed to be enthroned in the midst of a pool."

I wasn't really sure how to portray the river daughter herself, so I took on an abstract approach, portraying her as a blinding light, radiating past Bombadil towards the viewer of the piece. The scenery I took directly from one of Bombadil's song from The Fellowship on page 137:

"Each year at summer's end I go to find [water lilies] for her,
in a wide pool, deep and clear, far down Withywindle;
There they open first in spring and they linger latest.
By that pool long ago I found the River-daughter,
Fair young Goldberry sitting in the rushes.
Sweet was hersinging then, and her heart was beating!"

As you guys can all see, I tried my best to capture this moment, Bombadil peeking over the bushes, depicted as a sketch of Michelangelo, witnessing the angelic vision of Goldberry. Because of Tolkien's faith, I thought it all the more fitting that Goldberry is presented as a Byzantine narrative, full of gold and divine quality.

Although, as we know, Peter Jackson cut Bombadil and Goldberry from the films, and in terms of a commercial film, maybe he was right. However, as an avid fan of Tolkien's writings (as I am sure all of you are as well), I adamantly believe these spirits of nature would have provided a new level of nuance and mystery into the world of Middle-earth.

I guess people could say, "LOTRfanMiguel, Tolkien does this with the Ents, and they contribute way more to the plot than the random characters who come from an old Tolkien poem."

To which, I would say: good point. But alas, I don't care. This is my blog, and I love the unique narrative which Tom Bombadil and Goldberry introduce to us as the four hobbits begin their legendary journey.