Hey dol! Merry dol! Get lost Tom!!!

[Bêthberry]

With all this whipped cream being licked off fingers and pineapple upsidedown cake and likely faces too, I think it's time to add yet another dimension to Tom, much as I appreciate alatar's clever trekkie attempt to explain all the tribbles we've seen with Tom.

Tom obviously is Tolkien's slight recognition of eastern philosophies, for Goldberry's lilies are obviously lotus flowers, sacred in those philosophies' creation myth and representative of purity and detachment from desire. Just check out the River Goddess too if you need further similarities. Of course, Tolkien was not pure in his assumption of eastern iconography and sometimes got his symbolism mixed up, as when he attributes Sarasvati's white swans to Galadriel, although he did get the use of honey correct.

So it is quite appropriate that so many in the western tradition leave Tom and eastern thought out, speaking only applicably of course and not allegorically.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

So it is quite appropriate that so many in the western tradition leave Tom and eastern thought out, speaking only applicably of course and not allegorically.

Well, pineapples are of eastern derivation, I suppose. So, philosophically speaking, Tom and pineapples equate further than we had first surmised.
Deep.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Well, pineapples are of eastern derivation, I suppose. So, philosophically speaking, Tom and pineapples equate further than we had first surmised.
Deep.

Well, given that "pineapple" first was used, c. 1398, to refer to the reproductive organs of evergreens--what we now call the pine cone--there might be a very fascinating avenue to explore here. Other trees might be involved. It could well be no mystery that Tom had power over Old Man Willow.

Originally Posted by alatar

I have no idea about east meeting west, but I do know that PJ did good leaving Tom and Goldberry out. We saw what he did to Treebeard, and so it's a double helping.

I take this to mean you are suggesting that absence makes the heart grow fonder?

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

I take this to mean you are suggesting that absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Of one or more of the LotR characters in PJ's movies, or your posts here in the movies forum?

It's actually surprising the number of characters PJ *was* able to work in.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

With all this whipped cream being licked off fingers and pineapple upsidedown cake and likely faces too, I think it's time to add yet another dimension to Tom, much as I appreciate alatar's clever trekkie attempt to explain all the tribbles we've seen with Tom.

Ick! I use a fork.

So it is quite appropriate that so many in the western tradition leave Tom and eastern thought out, speaking only applicably of course and not allegorically.

I have no idea about east meeting west, but I do know that PJ did good leaving Tom and Goldberry out. We saw what he did to Treebeard, and so it's a double helping.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by alatar

I have no idea about east meeting west, but I do know that PJ did good leaving Tom and Goldberry out. We saw what he did to Treebeard, and so it's a double helping.

And h aving heard what PJ has done to Radagast in TH, I'm coming around to the idea that we should be grateful he didn't mess with Tom and Goldberry.

[Celuien]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

And h aving heard what PJ has done to Radagast in TH, I'm coming around to the idea that we should be grateful he didn't mess with Tom and Goldberry.

Excellent point... I can see Goldberry being pulled down the Withywindle in a canoe drawn by fish. Or Tom having a 15 minute fistfight with Old Man Willow.