The Bombadil-Dark Santa connection...
Sea Wasp
Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
THE SYMMETRY of CORRUPTION:
An Examination of the History of
the One Ring subsequent to the
"War of the Ring", and the
Implications Thereof for the
Future of Civilization
As is well known, at the conclusion of the Third Age of Middle-Earth,
the One Ruling Ring fell into the Cracks of Doom and was destroyed,
obliterating the works directly tied to the One and undoing the Dark
Lord Sauron entirely.
Unfortunately, that which is "well-known" can often be incorrect.
Subsequent events of a disquieting nature demonstrate all too
conclusively that in point of fact not only was the One not destroyed,
but it was also taken up by a being more than capable of utilizing it
for its own purposes.
That being, known to most of the residents of Middle-Earth as "Tom
Bombadil", encountered the Ruling Ring quite early in its journey
towards Mount Doom. The incidents involving Bombadil and the Ringbearer
are often discounted; in fact, at least one dramatic production of the
story neglects this entirely. And to a mind incapable of visualizing the
Cosmic All in detail, it is true that this incident does not in fact
appear to have much bearing on the history of the Ring.
Yet to discount this apparently chance encounter is to discount the
significance of Bombadil himself. What, than, is Tom Bombadil? Some have
claimed he is Maia; he certainly cannot be Vala, for the Valar have all
been well known and accounted for. Yet, in his statements and those of
others, there are clues -- ones which point to an entirely different
origin, and which speak volumes of both his power and potential
vulnerabilities. He is the "Eldest". "Tom was here before the Dark Lord
came from Outside". The "Dark Lord from Outside" is, of course, Morgoth,
once called Melkor, mightiest of the Valar. Yet the Valar were the first
permitted entry to Arda. How, then, could Bombadil be there before them?
Even a very moderate intellect, given this clue and a few other such as
Bombadil's ties to the natural world, can envision the obvious solution.
Bombadil is the very spirit of Arda itself; he is the living soul of the
world of Middle-Earth. (Thus the statements that he could not resist
Sauron successfully, unless the strength to do so lies within the Earth
itself)
Such a being cannot be discounted by any who walk the surface of
Middle-Earth. This casts grave doubts, then, upon any assumption of
coincidence or happenstance leading to the meeting of the Ringbearer and
Tom Bombadil.
Much is made of the apparently failure of the Ring to affect Bombadil.
Yet there is a much simpler explanation, one which unfortunately leads
to darker conclusions. The Ring was created by a being of spirit, and
its powers work equally on beings of the flesh and ones of pure mind --
witness the temptation it worked upon such as Gandalf of the Maiar, who
was fortunately strong enough to resist it, and Boromir of Gondor, who
was not. It is then questionable, at the least, to contend that Bombadil
was immune.
Visibility, however, is an aspect of the physical. The Ring's
invisibility worked by shifting the being more fully into the shadowy
realm in which corrupted spirits in Middle-Earth are found, an
alternative or neighboring dimension in the more mechanistic terms of
Civilization. Bombadil, however, is the entirety of the world's spirit.
He cannot be shifted away, or rather if you shift one part, another
takes its place. The Ring worked perfectly upon Bombadil; he simply
existed simultaneously on all levels, so that there was no way for the
Ring to actually make him invisible, unless its power would have
permitted it to make the entire world invisible -- something beyond even
the power of Morgoth, let alone his sycophant's creation.
But if Bombadil is the spirit of the world, it follows that things
which affect the world affect Bombadil. Morgoth's delvings at Angband
and Thangorodrim, the wars, the "bending away" of huge parts of the
world, the despoiling of Mordor, and the actions of Sauruman, a thousand
other things, all would rebound upon he who represents the spirit of
Middle-Earth. And just as a peach can seem perfectly fine to the casual
glance, yet be suffering from rot beneath, so too can this damage leave
Bombadil apparently his normal, carefree, cheerful self yet with
dangerous and unnoted changes beneath. On these changes the Ring could
work. In a sense, Bombadil was NEVER far from the One Ring; his spirit
pervades the entirety of the world. Though the consciousness that was
Bombadil was, for the most part, distant, nonetheless the echoes of the
Ring's influence could still touch upon him.
By the time Bombadil met the Ringbearer, the damage had begun.
Internally Bombadil was filled with conflict, yet never having had
anyone like himself to speak with, he could neither understand nor even
verbalize the existence of his conflict. It is clear that he bent the
Ringbearer's path to himself; this is a trivial exercise of power that
even the Elves could manage. Eventually, he gained momentary possession
of the Ring -- and it was then that his simple, direct cleverness
tricked all of the Wise. With the same skills of a sideshow magician,
Bombadil palmed the One and returned to Frodo Ringbearer an
identical-seeming Ring -- a lesser Ring, which unlike the Nine, Seven,
and Three was unadorned, yet which by the Ruling Ring's enchantment was
still bound to it.
What followed would, of course, have been impossible had any lesser
being taken the Ring. Perhaps one of the great Maia, or a Valar, could
have done what Bombadil did, but even that is of doubt. But Bombadil is
born of the World, and in the world his power is great beyond easy
reckoning. While the Ringbearer journeyed, he kept much of the power of
the One channeled to the lesser Ring that Frodo now carried. Had anyone
performed the same test Gandalf had in Bag End -- casting it into the
fire -- the substitution would have been unmasked. But Bombadil knew
that it was exceedingly unlikely anyone would, unless they were given
reason to suspect a substitution, and he made sure that there were no
such grounds for suspicion. At the ultimate moment, he directed not only
the full power of the One, but some of his own might through the Earth
that is his to command, and the works of Sauron that depended upon the
One were unmade. The Nazgul appeared to die, and Sauron himself became a
great shadow and was blown away. To all appearances, the One was
destroyed, Sauron undone, and the rest is known.
But what, we ask, were the motives of Bombadil?
Following the changes through the subsequent ages, and looking at the
damage done by the Enemy and his Servant in the prior ones, a pattern
emerges. Technology can be an aid or a hindrance; the mining of metals
and forging of them can be done destructively or not. The wars, and
destructiveness of technology, in Middle-Earth have nearly all stemmed,
not merely from pride, but from covetousness -- the desire for material
things, and the mistaking of this desire for a need, and the
satisfaction of the desire for happiness.
Bombadil is a being like a caring parent -- in fact, many cultures view
the Earth-spirit as female, not male. It wants its "children" -- those
who inhabit the world -- to be, for the most part, happy. Bombadil is
the essence of growth and life, but the essence of Morgoth's works, and
those of his protege', is and was corruption, barrenness, sterility, and
a turning inward in search of unfulfillable desires.
The small corruptions done to Bombadil's spirit over the Ages
accumulated, and were worked upon by the Ring's peculiar tendency to
find one's weaknesses and play upon them. Bombadil then took the Ring
for himself and found a mad logic to the contradictions that were
plaguing him. If his "children" found joy in these things, then joy
there must be, even if it seemed painful to him. So he would embrace the
pain and make it a joy.
The rise in material and commercial culture, and its strident and
ever-quickening pace -- something seen more than once in the history
since the great War of the Ring -- reflects the efforts of Bombadil to
reconcile his spiritual knowledge with the corruption that has infected
him.
Bombadil has always chosen to have a locus -- a place in which he is
content to do his own work, far from the easy access of others. With his
newfound purpose, however, the backwoods and rivers and natural vistas
no longer held a fascination; he needed a place of isolation where he
could have vast workshops to produce these "things" that people coveted,
that seemed in his now-bent mind to be the focus of joy. Therefore he
travelled far to the North, to lands lost to mortal access by the
"bending" of the world, but not lost to him since they remained yet a
part of what he was. At the ruins left by Morgoth, in the uttermost
North, he settled. And to him in tatters came the Nine, and he drew
others to his cause -- elves and orcs together in unholy accord, the one
drawn by Bombadil's call, the other by the power of the Ring. And in the
reopened delvings he began to create. The Nine he reshaped into more
fitting seemings. Dark Lord he might be becoming, yet his essential
personality was not entirely gone, and perhaps could not be ever
entirely destroyed; the full power of Middle-Earth may well lie beyond
even the Ring to reshape in its entirety.
Bombadil became a subtly corruptive spirit -- apparently a bearer of
gifts (reflecting, of course, the original guise with which Sauron had
tricked others into the snare of Ring-Forging, Annatar), but his gifts
carried with them the corruption of desire. He encouraged the
gift-giving, taking pleasure in the giving, yet the very power he used
was to slowly emphasize the need for ever MORE gift-receiving on the
part of the mortals involved. In early days he was seen in a number of
guises, but as the effects of Bombadil's Corruption began to be seen
more and more throughout the world, his image was refined -- partly by
himself, and, in accordance with the way it had begun, partly by the
very organizations of mortals that his corruption had helped to define.
The Nine were now Reindeer, or so they would appear to most, and
Bombadil, still jolly and cheerful, was Saint Nicholas, or Santa Claus.
The origin of the Christmas celebrations of course were tied to the old
celebrations of nature which Bombadil had now forsaken.
But what of Sauron? The One still, in fact, existed. Thus Sauron could
no more have been destroyed than the Nine.
This much is true; yet with a Power so great in utter and complete
control of the One, Sauron had been reduced to a state lower than any he
had previously attained. Barely able to regain power to manifest at all,
he became a sour and weak spirit, assuming a generally humanoid form. He
had of course lost all ability to take a pleasing form after the first
War of the Ring, but now, reduced as he was, he could not even assume
one with majesty or terror, but one of simple ugliness, to inspire
distaste or pity. So weakened was he that he could not even remember,
clearly, who and what he was.
Instinctively he sought the places least affected by the power of the
Dark Lord Bombadil, for if he were to recover at all, he had to spend
many years indeed unmolested and unremarked. By coincidence or destiny,
the place he chose was the Shire, or rather what the Shire had become in
the intervening years.
The Hobbits, always insular, over the years became more and more inward
focused. Their borders became harder and harder to find or define as
time wore on, and not only they personally, but their entire land,
seemed to remain remarkably free of the taint of Bombadil's Gifts. Why
this was is clear to any adequate mind, but is not the subject of this
particular discourse.
An Age passed, and the Hobbits changed, as did the world around them,
but in a different way. Still unaffected by the Power of Corruption, at
least for the most part, they exchanged gifts at Christmas but did so in
the spirit that was outwardly intended, succumbing little, if at all, to
the corruption of the One combined with the First, and what little
corruption seemed to take hold was only in the frenetic enthusiasm of
their celebrations. Due to the changes in the world, the lingering Elven
magic gifted to them through Sam Gamgee, and certain other obvious
influences, they became a diverse people in appearance, yet still
completely isolated; in fact, many if not all of them had ceased to
think of there being any outside world, and indeed to reach the outside
world from the place that had been the Shire was now a task no ordinary
mortal could manage.
Sauron, not even a shadow of his former self, of course detested the
joy and generosity of these people; in part, because he confused his own
memories with those he ripped from others, he adopted an almost
Gollum-like attitude, associating all "presents" with the one "precious
present" that he'd given himself, and despising the ceremony of
giftgiving. He was, however, also fearful and wary, knowing somehow that
these harmless-looking creatures had been responsible for the condition
he now found himself in, and for uncounted years he lived there,
skulking in the mountains that now cut off the once-Shire from the rest
of the world, a bogeyman to the little people below (originally calling
him, in mangled Elven, Gaur ringe-oron ("the werewolf of the Cold
Mountain"). Inevitably this was shortened to "The Gaurringe" and
eventually to "The Grinch".
Eventually, towards the end of the 5th age (the latter part of the 20th
century in Earthly terms), his bitterness overcame his fear, at least to
the extent that he determined to make everyone in the lands below as
miserable as he himself was. On Christmas, he raised up what little
power remained to him, and stole every gift that had been prepared for
the celebration, and their food as well, thinking that not only would
they be deprived of the joy of gifts, but of food as well; perhaps they
would starve, or turn upon one another in their misery.
However, the Hobbits, or what they had become, had long since
recognized their own joy in community and being together; thus their
traditional celebratory rituals -- singing in the new year at the end of
the old, which was how they viewed this particular celebration --
proceeded unchanged. It wasn't that they didn't notice the things
missing, but that they possessed an absolute certainty that they could
work out such problems as long as they, themselves, were unharmed.
What happened next could not have happened if things had gone at all
differently; had Sauron been stronger, Bombadil weaker, the Hobbits and
their descendants less resistant to corruption, the tale would have a
different ending. But Sauron was weak, yet still a conscious mind, and
all minds desire some kind of communication with others. And for two
ages he had had no such communication. The song reached him where he
stood, ready to cast all the accumulated treasures into the void on the
other side of the mountains. And it touched a part of him which had been
thought dead ages agone, that which had once borne the name Aulendil,
and awakened in him the possibility of friendship. For in the past Ages
was he too well known, both to himself and others, and trust would have
been long, long in coming, and never fully would it be given. Now was he
almost unknown, and that which he had been not even a rumor to these
people. And with that came hope, and with hope there re-awakened within
him the knowlege of the Light of Aman. The Light rekindled, he rose, and
for the first time in uncounted years one of the Maiar stood upon the
soil of that which had been Middle-Earth. Then did he return unto the
people that which he had taken, and took up his abode among them. With
this clarity of strength and purpose had come recognition of the
changes, and he now resolved to discover what had happened to the
world... but that, too, would take much time, as would becoming firm and
accustomed to being one with the world itself.
Thus the Symmetry of Corruption; the corruption of the land that
Morgoth and Sauron promoted led to the downfall of the Dark Lord, and
the corruption promoted by the new Dark Lord led to the rise of one who
had been utterly fallen. There is hope in even the darkest of events,
and a cautionary word is needed even in the brightest of times. Remember
these words, and think upon them, Wise of Middle-Earth, for the next Age
is upon thee, and how you deal with the Powers that now reawaken will
determine the shape of all things to come.
--
Sea Wasp http://www.wizvax.net/seawasp/index.htm
/^\
;;; _Morgantown: The Jason Wood Chronicles_, at
http://www.hyperbooks.com/catalog/20040.html
The Great Gray Skwid
> (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
--
| | |\ | | | ) Theudegisklos "Skwid" Sweinbrothar
|/| |\ |/ | |X| ( SKWID, Vulture V4 pilot ( The Humblest Mollusc
| | | | | | | ) Evan "Skwid" Langlinais ) on the Net
"The Happy Phantom has no right to bitch." -- "Happy Phantom," Tori Amos
Sea Wasp
>
> We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
>
> Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
Thank you, thank you. Send checks or small bills, please.
The Great Gray Skwid
> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
> > Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
> Thank you, thank you. Send checks or small bills, please.
Right. I'll get on catching baby canards right away.
Bill Snyder
<sk...@grandamgt.com> wrote:
>We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
>> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
>> > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
>> > > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
>> > > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
>> > Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
>> Thank you, thank you. Send checks or small bills, please.
>
>Right. I'll get on catching baby canards right away.
You're not trying to duck your responsibility here, are you?
--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank.]
The Great Gray Skwid
And who said you could shove your beak in, anyway?
--
| | |\ | | | ) Theudegisklos "Skwid" Sweinbrothar
|/| |\ |/ | |X| ( SKWID, Vulture V4 pilot ( The Humblest Mollusc
| | | | | | | ) Evan "Skwid" Langlinais ) on the Net
"You can barely taste the squid once your entire oral cavity burns" - TB
Sea Wasp
>
> We leaned closer as Bill Snyder <bsn...@iadfw.net> whispered:
> > On Tue, 8 Jan 2002 11:12:00 -0500, The Great Gray Skwid
> > <sk...@grandamgt.com> wrote:
> > >We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > >> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > >> > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > >> > > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > >> > > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
> > >> > Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
> > >> Thank you, thank you. Send checks or small bills, please.
> > >Right. I'll get on catching baby canards right away.
> > You're not trying to duck your responsibility here, are you?
>
> And who said you could shove your beak in, anyway?
You people quack me up. And all I was asking for was a little something
to feather my nest...
The Great Gray Skwid
> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > We leaned closer as Bill Snyder <bsn...@iadfw.net> whispered:
> > > On Tue, 8 Jan 2002 11:12:00 -0500, The Great Gray Skwid
> > > <sk...@grandamgt.com> wrote:
> > > >We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > >> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > > >> > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > >> > > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > > >> > > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
> > > >> > Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
> > > >> Thank you, thank you. Send checks or small bills, please.
> > > >Right. I'll get on catching baby canards right away.
> > > You're not trying to duck your responsibility here, are you?
> > And who said you could shove your beak in, anyway?
> You people quack me up. And all I was asking for was a little something
> to feather my nest...
I think it was all just a decoy operation. That's my call, anyway.
--
| | |\ | | | ) Theudegisklos "Skwid" Sweinbrothar
|/| |\ |/ | |X| ( SKWID, Vulture V4 pilot ( The Humblest Mollusc
| | | | | | | ) Evan "Skwid" Langlinais ) on the Net
Sea Wasp
>
> We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > > We leaned closer as Bill Snyder <bsn...@iadfw.net> whispered:
> > > > On Tue, 8 Jan 2002 11:12:00 -0500, The Great Gray Skwid
> > > > <sk...@grandamgt.com> wrote:
> > > > >We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > > >> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > > > >> > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > > >> > > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > > > >> > > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
> > > > >> > Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
> > > > >> Thank you, thank you. Send checks or small bills, please.
> > > > >Right. I'll get on catching baby canards right away.
> > > > You're not trying to duck your responsibility here, are you?
> > > And who said you could shove your beak in, anyway?
> > You people quack me up. And all I was asking for was a little something
> > to feather my nest...
>
> I think it was all just a decoy operation. That's my call, anyway.
My goose is cooked; now they'll never stop hounding me.
The Great Gray Skwid
> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > > > We leaned closer as Bill Snyder <bsn...@iadfw.net> whispered:
> > > > > On Tue, 8 Jan 2002 11:12:00 -0500, The Great Gray Skwid
> > > > > <sk...@grandamgt.com> wrote:
> > > > > >We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > > > >> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > > > > >> > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > > > >> > > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > > > > >> > > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
> > > > > >> > Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
> > > > > >> Thank you, thank you. Send checks or small bills, please.
> > > > > >Right. I'll get on catching baby canards right away.
> > > > > You're not trying to duck your responsibility here, are you?
> > > > And who said you could shove your beak in, anyway?
> > > You people quack me up. And all I was asking for was a little something
> > > to feather my nest...
> > I think it was all just a decoy operation. That's my call, anyway.
> My goose is cooked; now they'll never stop hounding me.
Flying off to cover sure would put a feather in your hat. This time of
year, I'd try South.
Sea Wasp
>
> We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > > The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > > > > We leaned closer as Bill Snyder <bsn...@iadfw.net> whispered:
> > > > > > On Tue, 8 Jan 2002 11:12:00 -0500, The Great Gray Skwid
> > > > > > <sk...@grandamgt.com> wrote:
> > > > > > >We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > > > > >> The Great Gray Skwid wrote:
> > > > > > >> > We leaned closer as Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> whispered:
> > > > > > >> > > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > > > > > >> > > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
> > > > > > >> > Beautiful, Sea Wasp. I love it.
> > > > > > >> Thank you, thank you. Send checks or small bills, please.
> > > > > > >Right. I'll get on catching baby canards right away.
> > > > > > You're not trying to duck your responsibility here, are you?
> > > > > And who said you could shove your beak in, anyway?
> > > > You people quack me up. And all I was asking for was a little something
> > > > to feather my nest...
> > > I think it was all just a decoy operation. That's my call, anyway.
> > My goose is cooked; now they'll never stop hounding me.
>
> Flying off to cover sure would put a feather in your hat. This time of
> year, I'd try South.
Nah, they'd just clip my wings; I'd be cuckoo to try.
Bill Snyder
These puns are a horrible Webbed feat. Waddle it take to quiet you
down?
Chad Irby
<67A3B9F6811A3E12.46D1607D...@lp.airnews.net>,
Bill Snyder <bsn...@iadfw.net> wrote:
How about offering them some pate'?
Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.
Richard Harter
Or else sing the "We hate puns" song which has the refrain,
"Let's go a flaming, Oh".
Richard Harter, c...@tiac.net,
http://www.tiac.net/users/cri, http://www.varinoma.com
Love, no matter how pure, is the most selfish of gifts.
For that reason it is the one gift that must be given.
Richard Harter
[snip something real vile and awful which may also be found at
http://www.tiac.net/users/cri/bombadil.html]
The Great Gray Skwid
I'm sure you'd be pecked and cackled at. This highflying crowd won't
settle for less than foie gras.
--
| | |\ | | | ) Theudegisklos "Skwid" Sweinbrothar
|/| |\ |/ | |X| ( SKWID, Vulture V4 pilot ( The Humblest Mollusc
| | | | | | | ) Evan "Skwid" Langlinais ) on the Net
"Ram Air? Sounds like a Porn Airline?"-Mel http://skwid.home.texas.net
Ashland Henderson
> (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
>
>
>
> THE SYMMETRY of CORRUPTION:
> An Examination of the History of
> the One Ring subsequent to the
> "War of the Ring", and the
> Implications Thereof for the
> Future of Civilization
Without posting the entire transcript, I suspect that there is one
incorrect item which Eukonidor, as a young Arisian, may have missed.
It would appear clear from source material that the leader of the Nine
Ringwraiths was actually destroyed. Originally, only eight reindeer
apparently existed to help the corrupted Bombadil/Santa. The ninth
reindeer appeared quite recently and given certain attributes of it's
appearance, it would not seem to be a ringwraith, but rather some other
form of being that was still subject to the power of the one ring, especially
when the ring was held by a being of the power of Bombadil. I would suspect,
given the blazing red nose of the last reindeer, that it is what remains
of a ring-controlled Balrog, possibly the last such in existance. It may
be that the explosion of Krakatoa was caused by the struggle of the last
Balrog to escape the power of the ring, a struggle that failed and ended
in a slow remake into a different form so that there would be a creature
to "guide the sleigh" on foggy nights.
Guillaume Dargaud
> Bombadil", encountered the Ruling Ring quite early in its journey
Yes, I could never grok what was Tom Bombadil.
I'm glad they left him out of the movie, his presence was confusing enough
in the book.
Valar ? Eldar ? Wizard ? Alien ? Something left over from before the 1st age
? Spirit of the Earth as this post suggest ? Nothing seems to satisfy.
But if Shelob the spider was left over from 'before the first age' why not
other beings, with a power to assume different shapes ?
--
Guillaume Dargaud
Colorado State University - Dept of Atmospheric Science
http://rome.atmos.colostate.edu/
"- You know," said Arthur, "it's times like this, when I'm trapped in a
Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation
in deep space, that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me
when I was young."
"- Why, what did she tell you ?"
"- I don't know, I didn't listen." - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy.
Sea Wasp
>
> Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> wrote in message news:<3C3909...@wizvax.net>...
> > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
> >
> >
> >
> > THE SYMMETRY of CORRUPTION:
> > An Examination of the History of
> > the One Ring subsequent to the
> > "War of the Ring", and the
> > Implications Thereof for the
> > Future of Civilization
>
> Without posting the entire transcript, I suspect that there is one
> incorrect item which Eukonidor, as a young Arisian, may have missed.
> It would appear clear from source material that the leader of the Nine
> Ringwraiths was actually destroyed.
Possibly, though I myself would be leery of trying to out-think even an
Arisian child.
Also according to the source material, nothing of the Enemy could be
completely unmade so long as the One existed; I suppose it depends on
just how much the Nazgul were tied to the Rings. If the Nazgul itself
could indeed be destroyed, ol' Tommy would just have to hand the Ring
that it no longer needed to another human being, and shortly thereafter
he'd have a Ringwraith.
Ashland Henderson
> Ashland Henderson wrote:
> >
> > Sea Wasp <sea...@wizvax.net> wrote in message news:<3C3909...@wizvax.net>...
> > > (the following is a transcript of a paper presented by Eukonidor at the
> > > Fifth Age Conference on Arisia to the delegation from Middle-Earth)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > THE SYMMETRY of CORRUPTION:
> > > An Examination of the History of
> > > the One Ring subsequent to the
> > > "War of the Ring", and the
> > > Implications Thereof for the
> > > Future of Civilization
> >
> > Without posting the entire transcript, I suspect that there is one
> > incorrect item which Eukonidor, as a young Arisian, may have missed.
> > It would appear clear from source material that the leader of the Nine
> > Ringwraiths was actually destroyed.
>
> Possibly, though I myself would be leery of trying to out-think even an
> Arisian child.
>
> Also according to the source material, nothing of the Enemy could be
> completely unmade so long as the One existed; I suppose it depends on
> just how much the Nazgul were tied to the Rings. If the Nazgul itself
> could indeed be destroyed, ol' Tommy would just have to hand the Ring
> that it no longer needed to another human being, and shortly thereafter
> he'd have a Ringwraith.
True. Of course it is possible that he ended up handing the unused one of
the Nine Rings to a Balrog. This would also help explain why the other
eight reindeer did not like Rudolph at first and only followed him after
they realized that his power was greater than their's.
Konrad Gaertner
For some reason, I was thinking about this today, and came up with the
following....
Three holidays to commercialize,
Seven days a week the malls have a sale.
Nine wraith-deer speed across the skies,
One abused wife to handle all the mail;
At the North Pole, where the Elf-slaves toil.
Commercialism to rule them all, commercialism to find them,
Commercialism to bring them all and under the fir trees bind them,
At the North Pole, where the Elf-slaves toil.
--KG
Sea Wasp
You fool! That's part of the SECRET teachings!