Taters to Taters - II

[the phantom]

ABSURD

Attercop & Bombadil are definitely my favorites here. My first time through the book I remember thinking how ridiculous it was that Bilbo would call the spiders "attercop" and how silly it was that it actually made them angry. And of course with all the "derry dols" and such Tom is an obvious candidate...

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Tolkien's use of old words has always had great appeal to me, as it makes the linguistic ties between Scandinavia and Britain much more clear.

It wasn't something I paid much attention to until I read the Hobbit, and noticed the word "attercop", which is remarkable in its resemblance to the Danish word for spider: Edderkop.

Therefore I would hate to see "attercop" labeled absurd.

My choice would definitely be good ol' Bombadil, as he is the one most fitting of the description. I don't normally go for the obvious choices, but in this case there are no really amusing contenders for the title.

[Nogrod]

Well, of the four G55 mentioned in her opening post I'd pretty much think Bombadill and "There and Back Again" to be the best contestants.

Okay. Let's try some competition as it seems Bombadill is surfing away.

Now Bombadill, obviously could be seen as an absurd character both in the story but also as to why he is in the story in the first place. But on the other side he seems to be a most competent, decent and powerful character... If Gandalf spends time with him to learn things, if he saves the hobbits two times, if someone as wise and delightful as Goldberry wants to live with him... so can he really be that absurd?

Then again, any decent hobbit knows taking on a journey of "There and Back again" - let alone any journey off the Hobbitton - is an absurd idea. Why would anyone in their right minds want to do that? From a hobbit perspective it would be a most absurd thing to do.

I liked the argument that Attercop is absurd as it and other spiders went mad of being called names, but I'm not sure that is enough to challenge the other two.

With Merry I agree with Menel, that he's nowhere close to Pip in absurdity... if you can call a hobbitt-sillyness or thoughtlesness, or childishness, or inexperience etc. "absurd" in the first place.


Of others I think a case could be made for Isengard and Legolas (in case we interpreted it as the movie-Legolas aka. Orlando Bloom doing his skateboarding stunts etc. - that was absurd indeed!), maybe Denethor as well...

I try to come back a bit later with some added ideas on especially the latter ones.

[Galadriel55]

I like Nog's thought about Legolas. Haven't considered that, and probably should. It's a good one.

I like attercop because when I picture Bilbo teasing the spiders in such a situation it looks ridiculous. Also, There and Back Again is quite a ridiculus journey.

I suppose you're right about Merry not coming anywhere near Pippin when it comes to absurdity.

And it's quite obvious why Bombadil could be called absurd. Hey ho, derry dol...

[Pomegranate]

Oh, dear Legolas and his role as prince charming...

I also would have pointed out both of the two options Nog mentioned - Denethor and Isengard. Now, thinking about the definition of absurd as "Absurd (ridiculous, senseless, foolish)". Senseless - Denethor towards the end of his days, definitely losing his sense. Foolish? Saruman in his stony circle, assuming he could with the power of Isengard beat or even collaborate with the power of Mordor. There's a lot of absurdity in Bombadil, but I have to disagree him fitting with the latter two pieces of explanation.

"There and back again" - I love travelling too much to take it as absurd. Bilbo bought a lot back home from his trip, not only treasure but a broader understanding and stronger character. Not foolish or senseless, hardly even ridiculous.

[Galadriel55]

I think that Denethor and Saruman are too grave and serious to be called absurd. And I guess I could agree about There and Back Again.

So at the moment it is between Legolas, Bombadil, and attercop.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I find that the problem is that none of these things are really absurd in essence, sure you can argue that Denethor did some absurd things in his latter days, but that is pretty much the extend of it. It is only Bombadil where you can make a proper case of the very character being a bit of an absurdity (though very competent in his own right).

I guess you could take the Legolas skateboarding and other antics and pin the absurd label on that. You could even claim that it is absurd that a man as gifted as Tolkien could not make the Legolas character work, but all of this seems a tad vague.