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Post by Sparrow on Aug 31, 2004 19:39:55 GMT -6
The night after Bilbo climbed the tree and brought back his report, Bombur dreamed of a great feast and a woodland king. What is the meaning of this dream? Does this dream affect the company's course of action? How so? Why were the dwarves and Bilbo so quick to abandon Beorn's admonition to stay on the path? Do our dreams influences our choices in our waking lives? Is this for better or for worse?
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Post by Greenleaf on Sept 1, 2004 13:00:58 GMT -6
This seems like a foretelling dream as many other dreams in Tolkien. But I think the dream was not the only reason the company forgot Beorn's admonition to not leave the path. The dwarves and Bilbo had run out of food and water at the time and it's not very easy to keep to counsels when you're starving and thirsty.
Getting back to dreams, a lot of cultures have heeded dreams and tried to interpret their meaning throughout history. Modern science, though, doesn't seem to take them seriously and I don't think there's an established explanation regarding the true nature of dreams - whether they're inventions of our subconcious or something more. Although I'm a very rational person I think threre are some occasions, however rare, when we cannot (and maybe should not) brush aside certain dreams that look very much like premonitions. If someone has delved into this subject I'd be interested to hear more about dreams and their explanations (scientific or not) or about dreams with regard to older/ancient cultures/civilizations.
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Post by jerseyshore on Sept 5, 2004 10:30:56 GMT -6
It was perfectly understandable that Bombur would dream of a feast. He's been asleep for quite some time, so it has been days since he's had anything to eat. Of course he dreamed of food! The woodland king is a little more significant, although he didn't say it was an elf.
I don't think the dream had much to do with the party leaving the path. The lights shining in that horribly oppressive darkness, and the aroma of roasted meats seem to me to have been more of a lure than any connection made with Bombur's dream.
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Post by Desi Baggins on Sept 14, 2004 16:30:41 GMT -6
According to Encyclopedia & Dictionary of Dreams:
dreaming of a King means- Will encounter deceit in love matters.
I find this meaning funny because it does not fit the story at all!
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Post by Stormrider on Sept 3, 2012 14:13:08 GMT -6
As Jerseyshore mentioned, Bombor had been asleep for several days so it was only natural that he would dream of food and drink. Drinking the enchanted river water may have given Bombor some insight and sensitivity to the forest's nature. His dreams were giving him hints of the feast headed by the woodland king as part of the enchantment itself.
Bilbo and Dwarves were already certain (after Bilbo climbed the tree and saw nothing but trees all around him) they were still deep in the middle of the forest with a long trekk still ahead to get out. The enchantment of the drink and Bombor's dream was playing on the lost feeling from the others along with their hunger.
So was the enchantment trying to draw the lost and hungry party deeper into the woods? Whose enchantment was it? Was it from the Dwarves, the Spiders, or the Necromancer?
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Post by Andorinha on Sept 6, 2012 5:04:15 GMT -6
RE Stormrider's: "So was the enchantment trying to draw the lost and hungry party deeper into the woods? Whose enchantment was it? Was it from the Dwarves, the Spiders, or the Necromancer?"
Hmm, never thought about the role of the river enchantment in giving Bombur a "true dream" of foretelling as Greenleaf sees it, nor did I connect the actual leaving of the path as possibly being caused or heavily conditioned by Bombur's dream -- but, yeah, I guess it was. Now comes the big question, "whose enchantment was it?"
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