Tom Bombadil: a character for generations past

[Hadhafang]

Tom Bombadil is no doubt on of the more quirky additions to LOTR. I personally believe that Tom represents a character not easily identifiable with modern day readers. Tom was more a product of the Wizard of Oz generation...cute, fantastical, and quirky. Everytime I read the book I find this chapter a bit surprising because I as a modern reader demand a little more credibility. There seems to be so many serious, grim themes in LOTR that Tom seems to stick out like a sore thumb. I also believe that if Tolkien were writing LOTR nowadays, Tom Bombadil's character would have been a little less goofy and a little more mystical. Call me crazy, but, I generally don't think it is cute to see a grown man (or maiar) hopping, skipping, singing, and dancing as he walks through the woods.

However, Tom (in my opinion) is an important character. I just wish Tolkien made him a little more cool. Any thoughts???

 

[FoolOfATook]

Bombadil was a character from a few poems that Tolkien had written early in his career at Oxford (for the publication Songs For Philologists, I believe) and fits in with the general attitude of the early part of LOTR- the idea of the work being a sequel to The Hobbit. Does he feel out of place? Yes and no. On the one hand, he certainly is a more flippant and light-hearted character than anyone else of significance we meet in Middle-earth, but on the other hand, he is important as part of the gradual darkening in tone. Tom's every bit as ridiculous as the Hobbits of the Shire (and that is not an insult by any means) but he also has mastery over very serious creatures like Old Man Willow, and even more so, the Barrow-Wights. In this respect, he works well as the bridge from the Shire to Bree- a town where there are still Hobbits, but much darker things lurking in the shadows.

 

[Hadhafang]

That is an excellent reply FoolofaTook. Thanks for the feedback. I have discussed with friends outside the forum who would agreee with what you said. Tom is a modulation point in the transition from the Hobbit to LOTR. By the time the Sil is published there is almost nothing left of the quirky character development seen in The Hobbit. I suppose there is something to be said about the juxtaposistion of Tom's silliness with his awesome power. However, I still wish Tolkien made him a little less intense if you know what I mean.

 

[balrog]

A few aspects I found interesting of Tom Bombadil was... as stated earlier he was so carefree, and yet he was a character of power and strength. He could weild the ring, and even wore it upon his finger! Another aspect was his timelessness. He was upon middle earth from the beginning, probably longer than everyon else!

 

[jimmyboy]

Bombadil's "silliness" is just a matter of perspective, I think. You said it already, Hadhafang, when you said that we as modern readers have a more...well, modern take on things. Bombadil to me is not a silly or out-of-place character, but is just like most things in Middle-earth: they are fantasic, or something out of a fantasy or fairy-tale, like the wizards, the dragons, the elves, the two trees of Valinor, or pretty much anything that's distinctive about Middle-earth. I actually think all the songs in LOTR are pretty silly, but at the same time I understand that before this "information age" we are in, that lore and knowledge was passed on in such manners. That's just how it was, though we don't do it that way anymore, at least in Western culture.

Actually, I'm glad Bombadil is in these stories. He is very mysterious, and is unlike anything else we see in ME. Nobody seems to really know who he is, or where he comes from, yet he's just...there. He's on nobody's side, and he cares for none of the affairs of elves and men, nor even of the Valar it seems. As far as I know he could be one of the Valar or the Maiar, or even some altogether separate creation of Eru. We could ask of our own world, "What's the point of all those stars out there,when we'll never ever get to see them all??" Well, what's the point of there being a Tom Bombadil? Who knows; he's just a wonderful creation that reminds us that there's much more to creation (and the creator) than what meets the eye.

 

[The lidless Eye]

I believe that Tom Bombadil is of the Maia. Because of the power he wields. And just like Luthien, Bombadil wields magic in song. And those who wield the magic powers is easily corrupted, but Bombadil is just like a carefree child, and that is part of the "good" in ME. When Saruman goes bad, he calls himself The Wise. So he's lost a part of the Way of the Maia and Valar, and it was his downfall. So, in my opinion, Bombadil is one of the best characters in LOTR.

By the way, is Bombadil in any other of Tolkiens works?

 

[roguelion]

I just re-read the chapter in FOTR regarding Tom and Goldberry. Goldberry is asked who Tom is and her reply is "He is" (then goes on to call him the master of hill, water etc...)that makes me think of the Old Testament where God is called "I am" so in my opinion Tom is the "God" of Arda....Aluvatar (hope i spelled that right) Thats just my opinion.

 

[Bombadillo]

there is a book by tolien the adventures of tom bombadil, this is a book with poems and about 2 of them are about tom bombadil...

 

[j0n4th4n]

Originally posted by roguelion
I just re-read the chapter in FOTR regarding Tom and Goldberry. Goldberry is asked who Tom is and her reply is "He is" (then goes on to call him the master of hill, water etc...)that makes me think of the Old Testament where God is called "I am" so in my opinion Tom is the "God" of Arda....Aluvatar (hope i spelled that right) Thats just my opinion.

hmmm. I don't think God would be *quite* so silly, so I don't agree with you there. In fact isn't there a letter of Tolkiens where he says clearly that Tom isn't God (Ilúvatar)?
What's important about Tom isn't who or what he is, but how he is.

 

[FoolOfATook]

hmmm. I don't think God would be *quite* so silly, so I don't agree with you there. In fact isn't there a letter of Tolkiens where he says clearly that Tom isn't God (Il?atar)?

Yes there is.

 

[OfRhosgobel]

Tom Bombadil is no doubt on of the more quirky additions to LOTR. I personally believe that Tom represents a character not easily identifiable with modern day readers. Tom was more a product of the Wizard of Oz generation...cute, fantastical, and quirky. Everytime I read the book I find this chapter a bit surprising because I as a modern reader demand a little more credibility. There seems to be so many serious, grim themes in LOTR that Tom seems to stick out like a sore thumb. I also believe that if Tolkien were writing LOTR nowadays, Tom Bombadil's character would have been a little less goofy and a little more mystical. Call me crazy, but, I generally don't think it is cute to see a grown man (or maiar) hopping, skipping, singing, and dancing as he walks through the woods.

However, Tom (in my opinion) is an important character. I just wish Tolkien made him a little more cool. Any thoughts???

Well let us start with the idea that Toms "strangeness" really comes from his absolute carefree existence. That is why I think he seems a bit goofy. He is all powerful within the borders of the Old Forest. No power can touch him their. Somehow, someway, he received this grace from Illuvitar. Perhaps he is the favored son of Illuvitar, I don't know. So Tom has very little to be worried about, he has his forest, he has his trophy wife, and this makes him quite the jovial spirit. I think he was written as a character that takes it easy for the rest of us, truly without a care in the world and perfectly content. In the end, I find it to be another bit of Tolkiens genious and ability to create intrigue that he made a character so jovial and strange and carefree, so very powerful as well. Tom Bombadil is the counter-part of Sauron really, the complete opposite of everything the Lord of Mordor is, and I think that was the main role Tolkien designed for this character, to be the Anti-Sauron.

 

[HLGStrider]

I actually am fairly familiar with the Oz books and books of that age and rather like them, so I think the comparison does hold up in a valid way and isn't necessarily a negative. However, the "there's more to this guy than meets the eye" vibe you get from Tom goes very deep. Merriness and great joy and lack of concern for what other folk say of you does come across as "silly" but there is obviously more to Tom than the silly. He's in many ways childlike but undeniably ancient and in every way contradictory to the expected. I think he was written that way on purpose and I admire the craft put into it. He is a little bit of a detour in that if you cut everything from the Old Forest and Barrow Downs out of the plot, it still continues nicely without him. The same could be said for Beorn in the Hobbit. They aren't essential to the plot line. They just add richness and character to the story.

 

[mikacuarez]

I think he is the complete opposite of Gollum. I kind of like how Tolkien described how he came up with this character. That it reminded him of a Dutch doll flushed down the toilet.

 

[PaigeSinclaire88]

This might be the reader in me but I find him very comparable to Rip Van Winkle By Washington Irving. I say this because while he does remind me of old man Willow he is timeless and in that timelessness he is wise and it is his wisdom perhaps that makes him the bridge between the shire and bree.

 

[OfRhosgobel]

Tom Bombadil is no doubt on of the more quirky additions to LOTR. I personally believe that Tom represents a character not easily identifiable with modern day readers. Tom was more a product of the Wizard of Oz generation...cute, fantastical, and quirky. Everytime I read the book I find this chapter a bit surprising because I as a modern reader demand a little more credibility. There seems to be so many serious, grim themes in LOTR that Tom seems to stick out like a sore thumb. I also believe that if Tolkien were writing LOTR nowadays, Tom Bombadil's character would have been a little less goofy and a little more mystical. Call me crazy, but, I generally don't think it is cute to see a grown man (or maiar) hopping, skipping, singing, and dancing as he walks through the woods.

However, Tom (in my opinion) is an important character. I just wish Tolkien made him a little more cool. Any thoughts???

I think a lot lies in the interpretation of what you read. Tom is a free spirit bound by no "earthly" worries. I feel it shows Tolkien's depth in story telling to come up with such a character. He's a rolling stone that gathers no moss. What would such a spirit act like? I think a lot like Tom.. I imagine that with the power he has that he would be both fierce and merry at the turn of a coin, flashing quickly from wrath to mirth. When I read about him, that's what I pictured in my mind. And if you add this flash of power and fierceness to his character, his antics become less comical. No doubt about it though.. he is Tolkien's most bizarre character ever! lol