19 - B1C7 - In The House of Tom Bombadil - [LoTR Read Along]

In this episode the Nicks discuss what it's like to be the house guest of the biggest enigma in literary history - as Nick likes to say. Nicholas asks about potentially bad habits of being a house guest, and together they try to uncover some clues about Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry - the River Woman's Daughter.

---

Maps

Map of Middle-earth 

LoTRproject.com interactive map - Caution: spoilers for new readers!

---

Notes for this episode

Last Time - In the Lord of The Rings:
Frodo, Pippin, Merry, and Sam have reached a safe haven…. Or have they?!  After a dizzying experience in the Old Forest and a harrowing brush with death at the roots of Old Man Willow our hobbits are invited to the home of a strange man who seems to have saved them from danger with mere song.  Who is this “Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo”, and was it mere chance that he happened on them just in the nick of time?  

The Story in this Chapter:

• They are greeted by Goldberry, Frodo is stirred into a sudden outburst of song.
• The hobbits can’t help but SING when they are in the HoTB
• Song is everywhere in the HoTB!  Everywhere.
• They bathe and are treated to an amazing dinner where they all drink sing together.
• Dreams - each of the hobbits has a dream (Except Sam).
• Frodo clearly dreams of a tower that we may or may not have talked about in the prologue series… and an old man with white hair wielding a staff.
• The hobbits are all comforted back into sleep by the words spoken earlier by Tom and/or Goldberry.
• Tom tells stories by speaking and singing -- as he tells them the hobbits lose themselves in his words.
• They learn all about Old Man Willow. They also keep losing him and then catching up with his song/tale.
• Tom tells them he came before. He is “Eldest”.  What could this mean?

Notable Difference(s) from Films:

“Gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning.” is a line given by Treebeard in the films when he describes creatures that come into the woods.  This line here is spoken by Tom when he is telling the Hobbits about the ways of trees.

New Characters:

• Tom Bombadil
• Goldberry

What to Watch for in the Next Chapter:

The Barrows!

---

Links

greendragonlive.com

Twitter

Facebook

Special thanks to our friend Harry Murrell for the use of his music. Listen to more and subscribe to his channel here.