Posted: September 20, 1999 at 17:20:52: by Seanith
Yeah, this can get confusing.
You might choose to remember that Wizards in LotR are not quite wizards, but, if I may venture to say, a mesenger type superior being.
The "wizards" in Roverandom were men-in-the-moon, Sand people, and old men.
IMHO "wizard" is just a term that Tolkien likes to throw around.
We're talking direct connections to character origins, so, let's, for the time being, forget the term.
Mr. Martinez is in the process of mustering up more references, so, for your viewing pleasure, this letter written by JRR:240 To Mrs Pauline Gasch (Pauline Baynes) [Pauline Baynes, who was illustrating THE ADVENTURES OF
TOM BOMBADIL, pointed out that typescript of the title
poem described Tom as wearing a peacock's feather in his
hat, but the version in the galley-proofs had the reading
'a swan-wing feather'.] 1 August 1962 76 Sandfield Road, Headington, Oxford
Dear Mrs Gasch, I am sorry that you have been bothered by this detail. There
have been a number of minor changes made at various times in
the process of assimilating Tom B. to the LORD OF THE RINGS
world. The peacock's feather belongs to an old draft. Being unsuitable
to the L.R. this becomes in the L.R. (I p. 130) 'a long blue
feather'. In the poems as now to be published Tom appears (in
line 4 of the first poem) with a 'swan-wing feather': to
increase the riverishness, and o allow for the incident in the
second poem, the gift of a blue feather by the king's fisher.
That incident also explains the blue feather of the L.R. Poem
one is evidently, as said in the introduction, a hobbit-version
of things long before the days of the L.R. But the second poem
refers to the days of growing shadow, before Frodo set out (as
the consultation with Maggot shows: cf. L.R. I p. 143). When
therefore Tom appears in the L.R. he is wearing a blue feather. As far sa you are concerned peacocks are out. A swan-feather in
the first poem; and a blue one after the kingfisher incident. For instance, in the altercation with the kingfisher, I found
that no variety likely to be in our parts of the world has a
scarlet crest. (Scarlet BREASTS are more likely though ones I
know are pinkish!) Also, more interesting, I found that the
bird's name did not mean, as I had supposed, 'a King that fishes'.
It was originally THE KING'S FISHER. That links the swan
(traditionally the property of the King) with the fisher-bird;
explains both their rivalry, and their special friendship with
Tom: they were creatures who looked for the return of their
rightful LOrd, the true King. Do not be put off by this sort of thing unless it affects the
picture! The inwardly seen picture is to me the most important.
I look forward to your intepretation. The donnish detail is
just a private pleasure which I do not expect anyone to notice.
(E.g. the hanging up of a kingfisher to see the way of the wind,
which comes from Sir T. Browne; the otter's whisker sticking
out of the gold, from the Norse Nibelung legends; and the three
places for gossip, SMITHY, MILL, AND CHEAPING (market), from
a medieval instructive work that I have been editing!) With
very best wishes Yours sincerely
Ronald Tolkien In the end notes, Humphrey Carpenter explains the Thomas Browne reference: Sir Thomas Browne, VULGAR ERRORS, III Chapter 10: 'That a
Kingfisher, hanged by the bill, showeth where the wind la Seanith
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