What IS Tom Bombadil?

[gil-estel]

Sorry. never say that before

 

[gil-estel]

or saw that before

 

[Greymantle]

It's alright. Just pointing it out in case you wanted to take a look.

 

[gil-estel]

Cheers. Just did. It was good. Thanx again

 

[Telchar]

Well, think this poll is worth voting on, since it's hard to decide who belive what in the other thread.. And there are many new members that might belive something else..

 

[Greymantle]

Might I request that more options be added?

 

[gil-estel]

Can anyone suggest new threads? Kinda stuck on the ones i put there in the first place

 

[Gothmog]

If you mean other options, have another look at the view given on the other thread on this subject and put in the extra options posted there. Just a suggestion.

 

[Talierin]

Unfortunatly, the mods are the only ones who can change the poll options once you have posted.... I've tried many times to change them, without success......

 

[Beren Erchanion]

No other choice than a maia: he's doing magic so he's not an elf and don't even think of a sleepy Valar in the Middle-Earth far is the time when they were playing like elves in the Middle-Earth we don't need more choices he's a maia (well maybe are they Beren and Luthien?)

 

[Telchar]

He's more powerfull than Gandalf when it comes to controlling the Ring, remember that Gandalf didn't even want to hold it, except when he threw it in the fire and took it out again.. And another thing, Tom could see Frodo when he used the Ring.. So I strongly doubt he was a maia..

 

[Grond]

Tom is described as an enigma by Tolkien in his letters. (The direct quote is in another Tom thread in this very forum.) Tom is the eldest of Earth and, unlike the other Maia facing it, he neither fears the ring(Gandalf) nor desires it (Saruman and Sauron). It seems to have no control over him nor does it seem to have any effect over his domain. (He could see Frodo after Frodo had put on the ring). So Tom is a none of the above. He isn't an Elda, Maia, Vala, Man, Hobbit......he's just........"Tom!"

 

[Beorn]

Well, I'll dig this thread out, again, because I was looking through the Encyclopedia of Arda, when I noticed Iarwain Ben-Adar. I'd never heard of this (but I bet it was in the Sil), so I checked it out, and found it to be Tom (as you probably know), and thought of this thread. Most of the stuff in this post is from the E of A and I noticed nothing was posted on this thread about it

Firstly, lets start off with some of the elvish words that can be extracted from his name:

Iaur-'old' as in Iant, Iaur; cf. the Elvish name of Bombadil, Iarwain.
Ben-without
Adar-Father

And, not from his name:

Iluve-'the whole, the all' in Iluvatar
Atar-father

So he is Oldest Without Father, and Ilu is All's Father. So, if Ilu is all's father, then he doesn't have a father...If Ilu had a father, then we would know that his father would be the father of All....
Does anyone see the link?

 

[Gandalf White]

Personally, I could never stand ol' Tom. Sorry!

 

[Cian]

Originally posted by Mike B and stuff from E of A
Iaur-'old' as in Iant, Iaur; cf. the Elvish name of Bombadil, Iarwain.
Ben-without
Adar-Father
And, not from his name: Iluve-'the whole, the all' in Iluvatar Atar-father

So he is Oldest Without Father, and Ilu is All's Father. So, if Ilu is all's father, then he doesn't have a father...If Ilu had a father, then we would know that his father would be the father of All.... Does anyone see the link?

That Bombadil is not the All-father Ilúvatar is one thing Tolkien revealed in Letters Imo, on this subject. Tolkien was happy with "enigma"

On the Elvish:
Pen "lack, be without" ~ Ben-adar is the lenited version of *Pen-adar.
Iarwain may contain a superlative (old-est) or may be the compound Iar(g)wain, meaning "old-new". The name appears in FotR.

 

[Capt. Yosarian]

Seems to me the best arguments are for Tom's true identity being Aule or Iluvatar. I think of the reason for Tom limiting his territory to Old Forest being that if you want a change of sceenery and don't want too much interruption on your vacation then you would spend it in a place that would be conducive to that. Also if he were a Valar or Eru then he would know that helping out the hobbits would be just tampering with things that do not require his meddling.

I also hold the idea that it might be that everyone so far has gotten the identity crisis the wrong way around. Ilvatar or Aule show their true form as Tom Bombadil! Oh the irony of it all!

 

[Merry]

Without reading the Sil, it is difficult for me to make an educated guess at who TB really is. I got the impression that he was part of the earth and was lord over his domain without being tied to a certain race.

TB's magic is certainly enhanced by his mysterious beginnings.

 

[ratodelmorte]

the inklings and nigglings

a great story"leaf by niggle" the other stories contained in the
this tome, such as bombadil and goldberry?
who were they?
the ring had no power over him, and thus he was not ishtari,
he must have been older, one of the ainur...or, if you'll excuse
my humour, Iluvatar,himself....perhaps, but it would explain certain things, the barrow wrights having no power over him, old man willow bending to his SONG....these are just a few examples, tidbits of information i throw out to you, my fellow ardans.
the story of leaf by niggle, upon after reading the posthumous writings of Tolkien, show the confussion of how to draw the line between doing one thing and wanting to do another...niggle goes into transcendence when he travels by train, after his entermant where he worked(the purgatory a god must face when he allows the other to be part of the song)[or as being an auther, creating and destroying the creation within the book that which he/she is writing],to the meadows and feilds, the mountains....all in the realm of the creation.

 

[Chuncky Choopie]

Tom Bombadil

I will never know what Tom Bombadil is, or was,... I personally think that he was a delineation of Tolkien. The creator of this wonderful world but no more than a mere spectator.

But Why Should I Speak?
Why Should Anyone Listen To Me?
For I Know Nothing...

 

[ratodelmorte]

tis all jibberish

a very good insight, perhaps the role of author is what you meant by saying bombadil was a spectator...often the writer
of a story wishes to see his/her world realized...fulfilled....but another clue...to the bombadil/iluvater factor. Joseph Campbell in his books on mythoi, the heroic cycle would agree with you.
In his later years, Tolkien made draft after draft of pages on the silmarillion and his lost tales, his manuscripts were hard for his son christopher to put together, jumbled-out of order, he worked
on constantly revising. perhaps he felt if he added himself to the story he would see it better, but then again all this mental masturbation makes my typing fingers hurt and i want to puke.

I still believe bombadil-whether god, auther,both-was Iluvater