How do you perceive Tom Bombadil? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

littlemanpoet · 10-30-2015, 08:48 PM

Aaron, that seems somewhat selective to me. In the story Tolkien wrote, the Hobbits do not experience Bombadil as a menace during the night; rather, their fears of the Ringwraiths are calmed by Tom and Goldberry. Menace is there aplenty in the Downs.

I'm all for people's perceptions to be at variance with each other, but it seems to me that there's such a thing as mis-perception, such that it misses some of what's actually there, and projects onto it what is not.

10-30-2015, 08:48 PM	#22
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,072	Aaron, that seems somewhat selective to me. In the story Tolkien wrote, the Hobbits do not experience Bombadil as a menace during the night; rather, their fears of the Ringwraiths are calmed by Tom and Goldberry. Menace is there aplenty in the Downs. I'm all for people's perceptions to be at variance with each other, but it seems to me that there's such a thing as mis-perception, such that it misses some of what's actually there, and projects onto it what is not.