Editing Goldberry (section)

==Analysis==

=== Type of being ===
{{Quote box
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 |quote=Her long yellow hair rippled down her shoulders; her gown was green, green as young reeds, shot with silver like beads of dew; and her belt was of gold, shaped like a chain of flag-lilies set with the pale-blue eyes of forget-me-nots. About her feet in wide vessels of green and brown earthenware, white water-lilies were floating, so that she seemed to be enthroned in the midst of a pool.<br/>
 —  ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', book 1, ch. 7, "In the House of Tom Bombadil"
}}

<!--Elemental water spirit-->
Goldberry does not fit easily into any of Tolkien's definitions of sentient beings in his world, and like Tom Bombadil she remains an enigma.<ref name="Hesser 2013"/> With regards to Goldberry's true nature within the context of [[Middle-earth]], the Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] suggested that Goldberry is similar to the many named [[water spirit]]s of traditional [[English folklore]] such as [[Jenny Greenteeth]] or [[Peg Powler]] of the [[River Tees]], though she is a noticeably gentler figure than they are.<ref name="Century">{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century]] |year=2001 |location=London  |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0261-10401-3 |pages=60–62}}</ref> The scholar Ann McCauley believed that she is likely a [[water sprite]],<ref name="Basso 2008"/> while [[John D. Rateliff]] suggested that, at least within the context of Tolkien's early mythology, she should be seen as one of the wide category of [[Fairy|fays]], spirits, and elementals.<ref name="Baggins">{{cite journal |last=Rateliff |first=John D. |author-link=John D. Rateliff |title=[[The History of The Hobbit]]: Volume I: Mr. Baggins |year=2007 |location=London |journal=[[Mythlore]] |issn=0146-9339 |pages=50–59}}</ref>
Goldberry's association with water, writes {{ill|Leo Carruthers|fr}}, thematically links Bombadil with [[Väinämöinen]] and his fiancée [[Aino (mythology)|Aino]] from the ''[[Kalevala]]'', the Finnish national [[epic poem|epic]].<ref name="Kalevala">{{cite book |editor-last=Carruthers |editor-first=Leo |title=Tolkien et le Moyen Age |trans-title=Tolkien and the Middle Ages |year=2007 |location=Paris |publisher=CNRS Éditions |isbn=978-2-271-06568-1 |pages=50–59 |language=fr}}</ref> 

The scholar Ruth Noel calls Bombadil and Goldberry "undisguised personifications of land untouched by humans".<ref name="Noel 1977">{{cite book |last=Noel |first=Ruth |title=The Mythology of Middle-earth |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson  |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-500-01187-4 |oclc=4034977 |pages=127, 130}}</ref>

<!--Goddess-->
Another proposed explanation is that she is one of [[Ainur (Middle-earth)|the Ainur]], specifically the [[Valar|Vala]] [[Yavanna]].<ref name="Basso 2008">{{cite journal |last=Basso |first=Ann McCauley |year=2008 |title=Fair Lady Goldberry, Daughter of the River |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=27 |issue=1 |at=article 12 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol27/iss1/12}}</ref><ref name="Hesser 2013"/> There are physical similarities between Goldberry and Yavanna: both characters have blond hair and dress in green, and are associated with the plant kingdom, which would make Tom Bombadil an [[avatar]] of [[Aulë]], husband of Yavanna.<ref name="Hargrove 1986">{{cite journal |last=Hargrove |first=Gene |title=Who Is Tom Bombadil |year=1986 |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=13 |issue=1 |at=Article 3  |issn=0146-9339 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol13/iss1/3}}</ref> Taryne Jade Taylor associates Goldberry with the Greek myth of the goddess [[Persephone]], for the way she is captured by Bombadil and its association with the rhythm of the seasons, as well as [[Étaín]], a deity in [[Irish mythology]] associated with light.<ref name="Investigating">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Taryne Jade |title=Investigating the Role and Origin of Goldberry in Tolkien's Mythology |year=2008 |publisher=Mythlore |isbn=978-2-271-06568-1 |pages=50–59 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=mythlore}}</ref> For Christina Ljungberg, Goldberry is one of the three divinities of [[Mother Nature|personified Nature]] that exist on the side of good: she represents the [[Immanence|immanent goddess]], while Elbereth or Varda represents the [[Transcendence (religion)|transcendent goddess]], and the elf queen [[Galadriel]] combines these two aspects.<ref name="Root">{{cite book |last=Ljungberg |first=Christina |title=Root & Branch: Approaches towards Understanding Tolkien |year=1999 |isbn=3-905703-01-7 |location=Zollikofen |publisher=[[Walking Tree Publishers]] |page=60}}</ref> 
<!-- A Maia?-->

=== Gender role ===

{{Quote box
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 |quote=Goldberry, with the smooth and kind way she relates to her odd husband Tom Bombadil and through her elegance, accomplishment, and connection to the natural world, brings much needed peace to Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. She seeks nothing, longs for nothing, yet appreciates and nurtures everything and everyone around her. <br/>
 —  Katherine Hasser, ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment]]''<ref name="Hesser 2013"/>
}}

In the ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]]'', Katherine Hasser observed that Goldberry appeared to the hobbits in the diverse roles of "goddess, nurturer, and manager of domestic responsibilities". With regards to her initial appearance, Hasser said Tolkien's description evokes a "[[Sandro Botticelli|Botticelli]]-like image of a woman embodied and surrounded by the natural characteristics of her environment", and her clothing reflects her peaceful, symbiotic connection with the natural world.<ref name="Hesser 2013"/> 

Goldberry is sometimes discussed in critical commentary about [[Women in The Lord of the Rings|the roles of women in ''The Lord of the Rings'']]. She is presented as a hospitable domestic figure,<ref name="Basso 2008"/> a good hostess who feeds passing travellers.<ref name="Hesser 2013"/> While the scholar of children's literature Melissa McCrory Hatcher called her "a mystical washer-woman",<ref name="Hatcher 2007">{{cite journal |last=Hatcher |first=Melissa McCrory |year=2007 |title=Finding Woman's Role in The Lord of the Rings |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=25 |issue=3 |at=article 5 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol25/iss3/5}}</ref> Hasser emphasized that the most significant point about Goldberry as a feminine figure is that she shares a cooperative and reciprocal domestic relationship with Bombadil, with a dynamic of equality that is not seen in other romantic pairings in Tolkien's body of work as the other [[Middle-earth peoples]] often have a clearer separation of gender roles within their societies.<ref name="Hesser 2013"/> Hasser noted that Goldberry is the sole female character in ''The Lord of the Rings'' who does not have a personal agenda, and that she provides a feminine figure who is "pure, content, significant to the world around her, and wise" in its narrative.<ref name="Hesser 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hesser |first=Katherine |chapter=Goldberry |editor=Michael D. C. Drout |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2006 |location=Abingdon |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1358-8033-0 |pages=245–246}}</ref>

=== Theological role ===

<!--Unfallen creation-->
For several critics, the appearance of Goldberry in ''The Lord of the Rings'' foreshadows that of Galadriel's later appearance: both are beautiful and of regal stature, live in an isolated domain and are associated with water.<ref name="Hesser 2013"/><ref name="Startzman 1989"/><ref name="Barnett 2019">{{cite journal |last=Enright |first=Nancy |title=Tolkien's females and the defining of power |year=2007 |journal=[[Renascence (journal)|Renascence]] |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=93–108 |doi=10.5840/renascence200759213}}</ref> Ann McCauley Basso compared Goldberry as a biblical [[Eve]] figure to Galadriel's [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]].<ref name="Basso 2008"/> In an entry on [[Redemption (theology)|redemption]] in [[mythopoeia|mythopoeic]] writing by the Catholic writer [[Joseph Pearce]] for the ''J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia'', the apparent innocence and primitive nature of Goldberry and Tom Bombadil is analogous to [[Adam and Eve]], as they represent the "Unfallen Creation".<ref name="Redemption">{{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Pearce |editor=Michael D. C. Drout |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |chapter=Adventures of Tom Bombadil |title=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |date=2013 |orig-year=2007 |location=Abingdon |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=562 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC}}</ref>

=== Sacrament of marriage ===

The scholar Brandon Best sees Goldberry's relationship to Tom Bombadil as a model of the [[sacrament of marriage]], something to be witnessed rather than explained. Further, they sing of all creation, celebrating the natural order, and they include themselves as part of that order, with Goldberry's song:<ref>{{cite journal |last=Best |first=Brandon |date=2018 |title=Romantic Theology as Revelation through Tom Bombadil and Goldberry in Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' |journal=Augsburg Honors Review |volume=11 |at=Article 6 |url=https://idun.augsburg.edu/honors_review/vol11/iss1/6}}</ref>

{{poem quote|Wind on the open hill, bells on the heather,
Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water:
Old Tom Bombadil and the River-daughter!<ref name="Old Forest" group=T/>}}

Robert Chapman-Morales notes that scholars such as L. Eugene Startzman and Jennifer Raimundo see Goldberry and Bombadil as embodiments of unexpected joy, an aspect of Tolkien's [[eucatastrophe]].<ref name="Startzman 1989">{{cite journal |last=Startzman |first=L. Eugene |date=1989 |title=Goldberry and Galadriel: The Quality of Joy |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=16 |issue=2 |at=Article 14 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol16/iss2/14}}</ref><ref name="Chapman-Morales 2020">{{cite journal |last=Chapman-Morales |first=Robert B. |date=2020 |title=Fearless Joy: Tom Bombadil's Function in The Lord of the Rings |journal=Mythlore |volume=38 |issue=2 |at=Article 5 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol38/iss2/5}}</ref> He quotes one of Tolkien's letters: "the government of a 'family' ... was not a monarchy ... It was a 'dyarchy', in which master and mistress had equal status, if different functions."<ref name="Letter 214" group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=letter 214 to A. C. Nunn, draft 1958-1959 }}</ref><ref name="Chapman-Morales 2020"/> He notes also that Basso describes the couple's marital joy,<ref name="Basso 2008"/> and he remarks on their "mutual respect when we see how different they are, yet how perfectly they work together".<ref name="Chapman-Morales 2020"/>