Q: Could Goldberry be an Elf?
ANSWER: Technically, yes, it’s conceivable that J.R.R. Tolkien might have explained Goldberry (and her mother, the river-woman) as being Elves. In my answer to the question “What Is Tom Bombadil?” I wrote: “…it should be noted that we are provided no reference to Goldberry’s true nature.” Of course, I continued with:
…In Letter No. 210 Tolkien notes that she “represents the actual seasonal changes in (river) lands”. This is the only indication that Goldberry may be like Tom in nature. Otherwise, she and her river-woman mother could be mortals (or elves). Of course, in “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” Goldberry appears to live in the water of the river, for when they first meet Tom sends her back “to her mother’s house in the deepest hollow”.
Many people, when responding to this and similar questions (such as whether Goldberry could be Nimrodel or a descendant of Nimrodel), point to the pre-LoTR version of “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” as proof that Goldberry was something other than a Tolkien elf. However, the pre-existence of a character or name in older Tolkien writings has no relevance to whatever “current” document a reader is considering. It is a common mistake, however, for people to “conflate” multiple generations or phases of Tolkien’s works into one pseudo-coherent set of sources.
But given what we have considered above, is there a definitive way to answer some of these questions about Goldberry? For example, is it possible she could be Nimrodel? I think a strong argument against that is possible because Nimrodel was lost in Gondor and we don’t have any reference to Tom in Gondor; how could he have met Nimrodel? Also, Nimrodel had — by the time she went missing — given her heart to Amroth. Tolkien’s elves generally only loved one partner in their lives, although he provides us with two exceptions: Finwë fell in love with and married Indis after the death of his first wife, Miriel. And Finduilas, who originally loved Gwindor of Nargothrond, fell in love with Turin. So there is no complete justification for saying that Nimrodel could not have fallen in love with Bombadil, but it would seem very unlikely.
Then there is the poem, “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil”, which Tolkien included in a post-LoTR work as a sort of sequel to The Lord of the Rings. In the poem Tom sends Goldbery back to her mother, the river-woman. Should that not mean that Goldberry is something other than an elf? It’s a perfectly reasonable inference and certainly one that I favor myself — but then the poem is presented as a Hobbit poem from the Shire and it does not necessarily follow that Tolkien would have intended the poem to be viewed as a piece of inarguable historical lore. Hobbits might have included some figurative ideas in their poetry, after all.
But if we accept for the sake of discussion that Nimrodel is probably not Goldberry and that Goldberry may not be an aborigine like Tom, then could she be a descendant of Nimrodel or some other elf? For example, what if some Maia (say, a servant of Ulmo) took bodily form (much like Melian) and married an Elf (who could have perished in one of the many wars). The Maia could be the “river-woman” and Goldberry her half-Maia/half-Elven daughter. We have the example of Lúthien Tinúviel to point to, although Melian is regarded as unusual among the Maiar in taking a mate from among the Elves (or any non-Maiaric race).
Hence, when it comes to devising a possible background for Goldberry, there are plenty of examples in Tolkien’s stories that could serve as models: she does not have to be an elf, a specific elf, or related to a specific elf. Therefore, while we cannot prove that Goldberry was related to (or descended from) Nimrodel, neither can we prove that she was NOT; and those inabilities apply to all seemingly reasonable or plausible explanations for who and what Goldberry might have been.
For my part, I favor the idea that Goldberry was similar to Tom in nature — and that Tolkien intended Tom and Goldberry to represent something else in Middle-earth that cannot be explained by the Elvish traditions. Tolkien did not intend the Elves to be all-knowing founts of lore and knowledge. He specifically meant that there were limits to their knowledge and comprehension; in fact, these limits presented him with some ideas for updating the mythologies (ideas that he never fully developed).
Ultimately, the reader is free to conceive of whatever backstory for Goldberry pleases them; there are no known authoritative or canonical decrees from J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien has refrained from injecting his own vision into that part of his father’s work. If you are writing fan fiction or a role-playing adventure, my suggestion would be to make Goldberry either an aborigine like Tom or perhaps a half-Maiaric spirit whose father might have been an elf.
See also
What Kind of Creature Is Goldberry?
What Happened to Tom Bombadil after the Destruction of the One Rign and the Fall of Sauron?
If I Only Had A Bombadil (Classic Essay)
Are There Fairies In Middle-earth?
What Are the Roles of Women in Tolkien?
# # #
Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
One argument that Goldberry wasn’t an elf can be taken from the reaction of Frodo (though it’s rather his personal, subjective view on the matter): ,,‘Fair lady Goldberry!’ said Frodo at last, feeling his heart moved with a joy that he did not understand. He stood as he had at times stood enchanted by fair elven-voices; but the spell that was now laid upon him was different: less keen and lofty was the delight, but deeper and nearer to mortal heart; marvellous and yet not strange.”
Also I have some questions don’t related to this topic, my questions concern actually too different subjects, so the first one is about ship building in Middle Earth. According to some source (which I can’t remember right now) Hirilonde, one of the ships of Aldarion was about 550 ft long. Is that even possible??? Does it have any support in texts or is it just wild guessing? And from that, my question extends to other kinds of ships, elven ones. Can we deduce something about their contruction, for example did they use steering wheel or other simpler devices. Maybe it’s too technologically advanced for Elves, what do you think about it? Possible size, overall look, did they resemble viking longboats. Did maybe they have lower deck?
Other subject may seem strange, 🙂 in the Hobbit we have references to Dwarves mining coal. Is it possible that their civilization had extensive use of it? I would be grateful if you could clear some of those matters to me. Thank you for your time :).
I don’t know of any specific ship dimensions written by J.R.R. Tolkien. That would take some research and I haven’t had time to look into it (I received an email about this recently, perhaps from you or maybe someone else). Is a 550-foot wooden ship possible? Absolutely. The ancient Greeks designed some huge ships (I don’t know if they were built) and the ancient Chinese DID build some huge ships.
Tolkien was not a ship-builder but he did provide a few details about Elven ships. Perhaps I can piece together enough citations to write something in the near future.
Dwarves and anyone else operating forges or even fireplaces would have been able to use to coal. Tolkien would have known of some ancient uses of coal as an alternative to charcoal.
Thank you very much, it’s likely that the e-mail was mine, 🙂 I tried to contact but I thought that it didn’t work (something about invalid address or redirection).
I read somewhere about the ship’s size and it really interested me (it was some internet site). If Hirilonde really was such a big vessel it would mean it was even larger than XIX century barques/barks (I don’t know proper name for them, they have three or more masts, over hundred meters long) which are considered one of the biggest sailing ships in history (according to wikipedia).
My question about the use of coal was inspired by bits of iformation about the production of steel, that the proper technology to use coal instead of charcoal in the process of making steel, appeared sometime in XVIII century (until about 1750 the charcoal was used), because normal coal required to be processed into coke and first attempts to use it were unsuccesful. I’m not an expert in these matters :), I know only what I read about it, and Tolkien probably did’t consider this too deep, but such simple things have fascinating implications.
Ohh, probably you don’t remember it was I who asked about clock in Bag End. As you see I’m always interested in such strange, tiny details :).