Goldberry

Goldberry
Biographical information
Other names	The River-daughter
Birth	Unknown
Death	Unknown, possibly immortal
Spouse	Tom Bombadil
Physical description
Race	Unknown
Gender	Female
Height	Average
Hair	Golden

Goldberry, also called The River-daughter, was the wife of Tom Bombadil in the Old Forest at the edge of Buckland.

Biography

The character Goldberry, like Tom Bombadil, is a kind of nature-spirit personified. Tom Bombadil would refer to her often as the River-daughter, saying she was the "River-woman's daughter," and that he had found her long ago by the pool where he gathered water-lilies from the Withywindle river. She had long, yellow hair and her voice was beautiful, "as young and as ancient as spring, like the song of a glad water flowing down into the night from a bright morning in the hills."

Goldberry hosted the Hobbits Frodo Baggins, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, and Samwise Gamgee when Tom Bombadil brought them to his house after rescuing them from the perils of Old Man Willow in the Old Forest. They found her to be as mysterious as Tom, but were grateful for her kindness to them and were enchanted by her presence. When they first saw her she was wearing a gown "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." She was standing amid wide vessels of green and brown earthenware in which "white water-lilies were floating, so that she seemed to be enthroned in the midst of a pool."

After rescuing the Hobbits from the Barrow-downs, Tom Bombadil selected a brooch with blue stones from the hoard of the Barrow-wights to give Goldberry.

Speculations on character origin

In The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Tolkien describes Goldberry as the seasonal changes in nature, and Tom Bombadil as the nature spirit of the English countryside.

Tolkien based his mythic personages on Eurasian myth and cosmology: The Great Goddess who is mother of all things was, before Time existed, the element of water, undifferentiated. Time begins when her first offspring is born, and, according to Tom Bombadil, he is the Eldest, or first-born. The River is the local manifestation of the primal Great Goddess, and Goldberry is her daughter, the spirit of all local waters existing in Time, alive and embodied. Both Tom and Goldberry are primal spirits of nature, he of the land and its produce and she of the water. In early Eurasian myth, the element of water is feminine and the land or earth is masculine; therefore, Goldberry represents the female principle of life while Tom represents the male. Together as husband and wife they are the totality of primal Nature, endlessly proceeding in an eternal circle from season to season forever.

Most Tolkien scholars presume both Goldberry and Bombadil to be Maiar of the Ainur race,^{[citation needed]}but this is not explicitly supported in The Lord of the Rings.

Portrayal in adaptations

Radio

Goldberry is heard in The Lord of the Rings radio series and is possibly voiced by Nicolette Bernard. In the Tales from the Perilous Realm radio series, she is voiced by Sorcha Cusack.

Video games

She appears in the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and is voiced by Kath Soucie.

Short film

Goldberry has recently been portrayed in a short film produced by fans at TheOneRing.net.

Trading Card Game

In The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game, Goldberry is portrayed by Amanda Niel.

Gallery

Goldberry as seen in The Lord of the Rings Online

File:Goldberry-by-Hildebrandt.jpg

Goldberry in her home

Goldberry in the Old Forest surrounded by a pool of water-lilies, by Wouter

Miniatures of Tom Bombadil and Goldberry by Games Workshop.

Goldberry, by Nebulosa Dreams

Translation around the world

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Goudbessie
Albanian	Kokërr ari
Amharic	ወርቅ ቤሪ
Arabic	غولدبيري
Armenian	Ոսկյա հատապտուղ
Azerbaijani	Qızıl giləmeyvə
Belarusian Cyrillic	Залатая ягада
Bengali	গোল্ড বেরি
Bosnian	Zlatozrna
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Златоронка
Catalan	Orifraula
Chinese (Hong Kong)	金莓
Croatian	Zlatna bobica
Czech	Zlatěnka
Danish	Gyldenbær
Dutch	Goudbezie
Estonian	Kuldmari
Finnish	Kultamarja
French	Baie d'Or
Galician	Baga de ouro
Georgian	ოქროს კენკრა
German	Goldbeere
Greek	Χρυσό μούρο
Gujarati	ગોલ્ડબેરી
Hebrew	גולדברי
Hindi	गोल्डबेरी
Hungarian	Aranymag
Icelandic	Gullbrá
Italian	Baccador
Japanese	ゴールドベリー
Kannada	ಗೋಲ್ಡ್ ಬೆರ್ರಿ
Kazakh	Алтын жидек (Cyrillic) Altın jïdek (Latin)
Korean	금 베리
Latin	Aurum baca
Latvian	Zelta ogu
Lithuanian	Auksauogė
Macedonian Cyrillic	Златна Бери
Maltese	Frotta tad-deheb
Marathi	गोल्डबरी
Mongolian Cyrillic	Алт жимс
Nepalese	सुनको बेरी
Norwegian	Gullbær
Persian	توت طلایی
Polish	Złota Jagoda
Portuguese (Brazil)	Fruta d'Ouro
Punjabi	ਗੋਲਡਬੈਰੀ
Romanian	Bacă de aur
Russian	Златеника
Serbian	Златна бобица (Cyrillic) Zlatna bobica (Latin)
Sinhalese	රන් බෙරී
Slovak	Zlaté bobule
Slovenian	Zlato jagodami
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Baya de Oro
Swedish	Guldbär
Tamil	தங்கம் பெர்ரி
Telugu	గోల్డ్ బెర్రీ
Thai	โกลด์เบอร์รี่
Turkish	Altınyemiş
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Золотинка
Urdu	گولڈ بیری
Welsh	Aeron aur
Yiddish	גאָלדבעררי