Hey dol! Merry dol! Ring a dong dillow!

[Stormsrage00]

Well, no I'm not Tom Bombadil...or even the next best thing...

 

But I come to offer my humble introduction, if you'll hear it! It's been a while since an MMO has tugged at my heartstrings like FFXIV has and I can definitely see myself playing long term!

 

As far as my past MMO experience, I was hooked since Everquest (Though I didn't really get much int EQII) and I dipped my toes into Anarchy Online and Lineage II. After that City of Heroes took up a good deal of my time before World of Warcraft ripped me away kicking and screaming (We had a love hate relationship). I then moved on to Lord of the Rings Online which was great but I didn't really have a consistent group so I just hopped between that and Age of Conan. Guildwars 2 also took my attention for a while before real life punched me in the face with responsibilities that needed tending! And now I find myself here!

 

I've roleplayed in most of the MMO's I've played though it has mostly been on a casual level. I've always wanted to get into deeper storylines and longer archs but I kept getting pulled away by school and work. Now my schedule is a lot more stable which leaves me open to focus on deeper RP!

 

My main character is Theodoric Surefoot (I didn't realize that the "divine ruler" of Ala Migho had a very similar name until after I rolled and then I read the lore...) At the moment I'm a bit rusty on my RP and am looking to get the creative juices flowing again so I don't have many ideas just yet. I know for sure that his family fled after their defeat by the Garleans and that explains his presence in Ul'dah. I'm still deciding on where to take his story!

 

I began looking for ideas and direction by looking up RP groups for FFXIV and came across the Coalition. You guys are awesome, I've lurked on the forums and finally decided to come out of hiding.

 

So here I am, a light to medium RP'er fresh for the grinder!

 

It's a pleasure guys and I look forward to meeting you all here and in game soon! Feel free to send me a PM, I'm more than happy to make new friends! I apologize for my long winded post, but I hope you had some fun reading it!

[TheLastCandle]

But are you a merry fellow? Is your jacket blue? Are your boots yellow?

 

(I'll admit it, the Tom Bombadil quote drove me to click with ALL OF THE QUICKNESS.)

 

Welcome to the RPC! Feel free to send a message and/or friend request my way if you're looking for RP. Always ready and willing.

 

By any chance, did you RP on Landroval or Laurelin when you played LOTRO? I had a character on both: Branfrith the Rohirrim captain on Landroval, and Celothor the Elvish champion on Laurelin.

[Stormsrage00]

A merry fellow I certainly am and I occasionally don a blue jacket, now all I need is to get me some yellow boots!

 

I did some RP on Landroval back in the day but I wasn't involved enough in the community to have developed any reputation, unfortunately.

 

I'm looking to change that trend here! At the moment I'm in Ul'dah trying to raise my Pugilist level so I can turn him into a Monk. If you're ever in town and see Theodoric I'm sure we'll strike up a conversation!

 

Either way I need help in developing his story, nothing has really come to me yet about where I want to take it all, I just have a vague idea about his past and one goal for his future. I still need to tie it all together, though.

 

Thanks for the reply!

[Brynhilde]

Welcome, welcome!

 

Please keep an eye out for Brynhilde Wulf. Bryn's always happy to meet a fellow Ala Mhigan.

[Roen]

Welcome to Balmung!

 

And Yay for deeper RP!  My character right now is looking for some Highlanders to ask some questions, so should I ever see Theodoric around, I am poking you!  

[Stormsrage00]

Both Bryn(n)'s are more than welcome to leap out of the nearest alleyway and assault Theodoric with questions!

 

Like I said, I'm mostly in Ul'dah but I've been known to lurk around Gridania which is my current location. So if you're ever in the neighborhood feel free to send a tell to Theodoric Surefoot and I'd be more than happy to meet with you.

 

Thanks for making me feel welcome guys!

[Keru / E'ir]

Hallo! I'm usually on Keru Lowry and he tends to be shy or lost, in some cases both! Anyways welcome and feel free to send me a /tell I would like to make all teh friends.

[C'kayah Polaali]

Welcome! If you don't see me in game for a while, it's 'cos I'll be re-downloading LOTRO now, thank you.

 

*runs off to dig out his Sindarin language lessons*

[TheLastCandle]

Welcome! If you don't see me in game for a while, it's 'cos I'll be re-downloading LOTRO now, thank you.

 

*runs off to dig out his Sindarin language lessons*

 

Aaaagh, it's so tempting.

[Stormsrage00]

Welcome! If you don't see me in game for a while, it's 'cos I'll be re-downloading LOTRO now, thank you.

 

*runs off to dig out his Sindarin language lessons*

 

Aaaagh, it's so tempting.

 

 

Oh no what have I done?! c:<

[Rinh Hallani]

Aaaagh, it's so tempting.

 

I know right? Must...resist!

 

Welcome to the RPC and hope you enjoy your stay!

[Hammer]

Hey Stormsrageoo! Glad to have you here on Balmung! If you see Thundering Hammer running around, please feel free to say hello!

 

I loved LotRO as well, but I ran into the same problem you did with not being able to find a consistent group. I played for a few months after release, and then only came back for small patchy spots here and there. It was a great game. I liked all the little RP touches, like the smokeable pipeweed with different smoke graphics depending on quality.

 

I read the most interesting theory on Tom Bombadil the other day! You can find it here. However, the text is kind of hard to read, so I'll just insert it under a spoiler:

 

Old Tom Bombadil. Possibly the least liked character in The Lord of the Rings. A childish figure so disliked by fans of the book that few object to his absence from all adaptations of the story. And yet, there is another way of looking at Bombadil, based only on what appears in the book itself, that paints a very different picture of this figure of fun.

 

What do we know about Tom Bombadil? He is fat and jolly and smiles all the time. He is friendly and gregarious and always ready to help travellers in distress.

 

Except that none of that can possibly be true.

 

Consider: By his own account (and by Elrond’s surprisingly sketchy knowledge) Bombadil has lived in the Old Forest since before the hobbits came to the Shire. Since before Elrond was born. Since the earliest days of the First Age.

 

And yet no hobbit has ever heard of him.

 

The guise in which Bombadil appears to Frodo and his companions is much like a hobbit writ large. He loves food and songs and nonsense rhymes and drink and company. Any hobbit who saw such a person would tell tales of him. Any hobbit who was rescued by Tom would sing songs about him and tell everyone else. Yet Merry – who knows all the history of Buckland and has ventured into the Old Forest many times – has never heard of Tom Bombadil. Frodo and Sam – avid readers of old Bilbo’s lore – have no idea that any such being exists, until he appears to them. All the hobbits of the Shire think of the Old Forest as a place of horror – not as the abode of a jolly fat man who is surprisingly generous with his food.

 

If Bombadil has indeed lived in the Old Forest all this time – in a house less than twenty miles from Buckland – then it stands to reason that he has never appeared to a single hobbit traveller before, and has certainly never rescued one from death. In the 1400 years since the Shire was settled.

 

What do we know about Tom Bombadil? He is not what he seems.

 

Elrond, the greatest lore-master of the Third Age, has never heard of Tom Bombadil. Elrond is only vaguely aware that there was once someone called Iarwain Ben-Adar (“Oldest and Fatherless”) who might be the same as Bombadil. And yet, the main road between Rivendell and the Grey Havens passes not 20 miles from Bombadil’s house, which stands beside the most ancient forest in Middle Earth. Has no elf ever wandered in the Old Forest or encountered Bombadil in all these thousands of years? Apparently not.

 

Gandalf seems to know more, but he keeps his knowledge to himself. At the Council of Elrond, when people suggest sending the Ring to Bombadil, Gandalf comes up with a surprisingly varied list of reasons why that should not be done. It is not clear that any of the reasons that he gives are the true one.

 

Now, in his conversation with Frodo, Bombadil implies (but avoids directly stating) that he had heard of their coming from Farmer Maggot and from Gildor’s elves (both of whom Frodo had recently described). But that also makes no sense. Maggot lives west of the Brandywine, remained there when Frodo left, and never even knew that Frodo would be leaving the Shire. And if Elrond knows nothing of Bombadil, how can he be a friend of Gildor’s?

 

What do we know about Tom Bombadil? He lies.

 

A question: what is the most dangerous place in Middle Earth? First place goes to the Mines of Moria, home of the Balrog, but what is the second most dangerous place? Tom Bombadil’s country.

By comparison, Mordor is a safe and well-run land, where two lightly-armed hobbits can wander for days without meeting anything more dangerous than themselves. Yet the Old Forest and the Barrow Downs, all part of Tom’s country, are filled with perils that would tax anyone in the Fellowship except perhaps Gandalf.

 

Now, it is canonical in Tolkein that powerful magical beings imprint their nature on their homes. Lorien under Galadriel is a place of peace and light. Moria, after the Balrog awoke, was a place of terror to which lesser evil creatures were drawn. Likewise, when Sauron lived in Mirkwood, it became blighted with evil and a home to monsters.

 

And then, there’s Tom Bombadil’s Country.

 

The hobbits can sense the hatred within all the trees in the Old Forest. Every tree in that place is a malevolent huorn, hating humankind. Every single tree. And the barrows of the ancient kings that lie nearby are defiled and inhabited by Barrow-Wights. Bombadil has the power to control or banish all these creatures, but he does not do so. Instead, he provides a refuge for them against men and other powers. Evil things – and only evil things – flourish in his domain. “Tom Bombadil is the master” Goldberry says. And his subjects are black huorns and barrow wights.

 

What do we know about Tom Bombadil? He is not the benevolent figure that he pretends to be.

 

Tom appears to the Ringbearer in a friendly, happy guise, to question and test him and to give him and his companions swords that can kill the servants of another evil power. But his motives are his own.

 

Consider: it is said more than once that the willows are the most powerful and evil trees in the Forest. Yet, the rhyme that Bombadil teaches the hobbits to use in conjuring up Bombadil himself includes the line, “By the reed and willow.” The willows are a part of Bombadil’s power and a means of calling on him. They draw their strength from the cursed river Withywindle, the centre of all the evil in the Forest.

 

And the springs of the Withywindle are right next to Tom Bombadil’s house.

 

And then there is Goldberry, “the river-daughter”. She is presented as Bombadil’s wife, an improbably beautiful and regal being who charms and beguiles the hobbits. It is implied that she is a water spirit, and she sits combing her long, blonde hair after the manner of a mermaid. (And it is worth remembering that mermaids were originally seen as monsters, beautiful above the water, slimy and hideous below, luring sailors to drown and be eaten.) But I suggest the name means that in her true state, Goldberry is nourished by the River – that is, by the proverbially evil Withywindle.

 

In folklore and legend (as Tolkien would know well) there are many tales of creatures that can take on human form but whose human shape always contains a clue to their true nature. So what might Goldberry be? She is tall and slender - specifically she is “slender as a willow wand”. She wears a green dress, sits amidst bowls of river water and is surrounded by the curtain of her golden hair. I suggest that she is a Willow tree conjured into human form, a malevolent huorn like the Old Man Willow from whom the hobbits have just escaped. If she is not indeed the same tree.

 

So, if this is true, then why does Bombadil save and help the ringbearer and his companions? Because they can bring about the downfall of Sauron, the current Dark Lord of Middle Earth. When Sauron falls, the other rings will fail and the wizards and elves will leave Middle Earth and the only great power that is left will be Bombadil.

 

There is a boundary around Bombadil’s country that he cannot or will not pass, something that confines him to a narrow space. And in return, no wizard or elf comes into his country to see who rules it, or to disturb the evil creatures that gather under his protection.

 

When the hobbits return to the Shire after their journey to Mordor, Gandalf leaves them close to Bree and goes towards Bombadil’s country to have words with him. We do not know what they say. But Gandalf was sent to Middle Earth to contend against Sauron and now he must depart. He has been given no mission to confront Bombadil and he must soon leave Middle Earth to powerless men and hobbits, while Bombadil remains, waiting to fulfill his purpose.

 

Do I think that Tolkien planned things in this way? Not at all, but I find it an interesting speculation.

 

To speculate further and more wildly:

 

The spell that binds Bombadil to his narrow and cursed country was put in place centuries ago by the Valar to protect men and elves. It may last a few decades more, perhaps a few generations of hobbit lives. But when the last elf has gone from the havens and the last spells of rings and wizards unravel, then it will be gone. And Iarwain Ben-Adar, Oldest and Fatherless, who was ruler of the darkness in Middle Earth before Sauron was, before Morgoth set foot there, before the first rising of the sun, will come into his inheritance again. And one dark night the old trees will march westward into the Shire to feed their ancient hatred. And Bombadil will dance down amongst them, clad in his true shape at last, singing his incomprehensible rhymes as the trees mutter their curses and the black and terrible Barrow-Wights dance and gibber around him. And he will be smiling.