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Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc
But Tolkien himself says that there were more things that he has written about! So that fits.
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Yes, he did say that, but we don't know what he had in mind for those creatures that were in his head, but he didn't tell us about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc
And for multiple River-daughters, well, I always thought about it that way that she was just one of many daughters of her own mother, and in any case, if we take her mother as a real character, as specifically said especially in the Adventures of Tom Bombadil, that would imply that there is just a "race", we could say, of these river-sprites, who procreate and therefore one could assume there being more of them.
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I've certainly heard of nymphs and sprites like that in other stories. My interpretion of 'River-daughter' has been that Goldberry was 'the daughter of the River', the river being the Withywindle specifically, and that she was attached to
that place in Middle-earth. Tom said he 'found' her at that particular river, so it seems clear she was connected to it somehow. That could indeed fit the criteria for her being a sprite or something similar. Or maybe she was a daughter of another Maia. Yes, I know. The tendancy to go back to the
Maia well for explanations can be tiring.
I've always seen Goldberry and Tom as both being unique in Middle-earth, a matched pair, and without further evidence in the books, there being a race of similar beings is difficult for me to accept. As much as we do get to hear of legends and myths held by the denizens of ME, I just have to think there would be a mention of other Golberries somewhere if they were around. I have the
Adventures lying around here somewhere, but it's been missing for quite a while, and I don't remember the reference you cite.