Middle-Earth Tours

Tour 1: The People of Middle-Earth

Bombadil & Goldberry
There was another burst of song, and then suddenly, hopping and dancing along the path, there appeared above the reeds an old battered hat with a tall crown and a long blue feather stuck in the band. With another hop and a bound there came into view a man, or so it seemed. At any rate he was too large and heavy for a hobbit, if not quite tall enough for one of the Big People, though he made noise enough for one, stumping along with great yellow boots on his thick legs, and charging through grass and rushes like a cow going down to drink. He had a blue coat and a long brown beard; his eyes were blue and bright, and his face was red as a ripe apple, but creased into a hundred wrinkles of laughter. In his hands he carried on a large leaf as on a tray a small pile of white water-lilies. --FotR, "The Old Forest"

The Taming of Old Man Willow,
by Roger Garland


Tom Bombadil, by Alessandra Cimatoribus
Tom Bombadil, by Daniel Govar
detail of Tom Bombadil,
by Roger Garland
But I had forgotten Bombadil, if indeed this is still the same that walked the woods and hills long ago, and even then was older than the old. That was not then his name. Iarwain Ben-Adar we called him, oldest and fatherless. But many another name he has since been given by other folk: Forn by the Dwarves, Orald by the Northern Men, and other names beside. He is a strange creature, but maybe I should have summoned him to our Council.'
     'He would not have come,' said Gandalf. --Elrond and Gandalf discuss Tom Bombadil, FotR, "The Council of Elrond"

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. --FotR, "In the House of Tom Bombadil"

Goldberry, by Dan Govar


Tom Bombadil and Goldberry,
by Ted Nasmith
Baccador (Goldberry), by
Maura Boldi
Weta Workshop and Decipher have collaborated to produce playing cards for several characters who didn't appear in the LotR movies. Behold, Goldberry and Bombadil!

In the House of Tom Bombadil,
by Alan Lee		 A door opened and in came Tom Bombadil. He had now no hat and his thick brown hair was crowned with autumn leaves. He laughed, and going to Goldberry, took her hand.
    'Here's my pretty lady!" he said, bowing to the hobbits. 'Here's my Goldberry clothed all in silver-green with flowers in her girdle! Is the table laden? I see yellow cream and honeycomb, and white bread, and butter; milk, cheese, and green herbs and ripe berries gathered. Is that enough for us? Is the supper ready?' --FotR, "In the House of Tom Bombadil"
In the House of Tom Bombadil,
by Anke-Katrin Eiszmann

Beyond the Old Forest, by
Ted Nasmith		 They hastened up the last slope, and stood breathless beside her. They bowed, but with a wave of her arm she bade them look round; and they looked out from the hilltop over lands under the morning. It was now as clear and as far-seen as it had been veiled and misty when they stood upon the knoll in the Forest, which could now be seen rising pale and green out of the dark trees in the West. In that direction the land rose in wooded ridges, green, yellow, russet under the sun, beyond which lay hidden the valley of the Brandywine. --FotR, "Fog on the Barrow-Downs"


For more on Bombadil and Goldberry, visit the Old Forest page
Full-size versions of these pictures are on display at Rolozo Tolkien and There and Back Again.