What IS Tom Bombadil?

[nyriel]

who´s Tom?

hiya Grond!
I absolutely agree with you! Tom Bombadil is just Tom Bombadil and nobody can denyy ittt
Nyriel

 

[Aredhel]

I have never read the book, so I can't say.

 

[Greymantle]

Then hurry up and read it, before all hope is lost.
Is this our first sole movie-member (with the exception of Thunder)?

 

[Glamdring]

<<Bombadil and Goldberry>>
I think Tolkein meant them to be entirely of ME. That is why the Ring had no power over them and Bombadil would have eventually lost the Ring if it had been given to him. They were like the mountains - a part of creation but not relevant to the Elves and Men. Their power was that of the land and the natural world. There is a definite hint in the Appendices (if I remember) that the start of the Fourth Age was the end of the world described in the LOTR and that all beings and attributes of previous worlds were doomed to fade away.

"Leaf by Niggle" is one of my favourite works. The story shows how someone can become obsessed with a creation (like Tolkein was) and how the creation can eventually lead to his downfall. That was the criticism of Niggle - he was so involved in the Leaf and the Tree that he neglected his duties to help his neighbours who paid him back by using the painting as a temporary roof (if my memory serves me correctly).

 

[Flame of Utumno]

I don't believe Tom is just a freak of nature. All creatures on Arda were ultimately created by Iluvatar, and among his many creations, Tom is closest in form to a Maia, (one that decided not to live in Valinor). I like the mystery surrounding him and also his poetry from the The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, but during the War of the Ring, I really think he could have done more in terms of fighting Sauron and helping others rather than just taking care of himself. (He really needs to get a hold of himself and sober up a bit...)

 

[Godflesh]

Who is Tom Bomadil

I wonder how old Tom Bombadil are, he is he, The Silmarillron dont mention him at all, pretty strange if you have read Tom Bomadils own general "discription" on himself. He should be older then the ents and the world itself.

 

[Old Man Willow]

Actually, I have read a small book before on Bombadil (actually more of a childrens book) consisting mostly of poems and pictures about his coming and life. I can't really remember much except about the ocean maybe and that Tolkien wrote it. You could probably find it in a library.

 

[Centin]

Tom Bombadil

I always thought of Tom Bombadil as a sort of avatar of Tolkien in ME. I think he wanted to really put a part of his personality into the books and did it with Bombadil.

 

[Merry]

I am in the process of reading the Silmarillion and my answer is a little more educated. I think that Tom was not one of the original Valar but one of the Miair (sp) who remained on M-E to complete/ protect the creation of Eru via the Valar.

But since it does not clearly indicate who he is, my comments are just guesses.

 

[vidsa]

Tom Bombadil is the worst character in the movie

 

[Bryheinnen]

Bombadil

To me, Bombadil is one of the most fascinating characters in the book, and it always frustrates me when people dismiss him as an incongruity in LOTR.
Tom is Eldest and Master. I don't believe he is one of the Valar. I think he is the power of the earth itself. He is Cronus to Manwe's Zeus. He might be best compared to one of the precursors of the Olympian gods in Greco-Roman mythology, the titans.
Not original with me; some have made the obvious comparison of Bombadil to Melchizedek of the Old Testament, an enigmatic character of great spiritual authority, who is "The King of Salem" (a reference with a double meaning---the king of the city that was to become Jerusalem, but also, literally translated, the "king of peace") and perhaps the prefiguration of the Christ to come. Jesus makes it very clear that his preisthood is not the same as that of the Levutes, but that he is "A priest of the Order of Melchizedek".
Tom perhaps represents what Camus called "the tender indifference of the universe", an order above the ordered morality of men. A leopard is good in that it hunts the deer, even though that seems cruel to us. He is clearly good, but also answers to a clearly different morality and order of things than the other characters in the book. He is above their struggle, though not entirely indifferent to it
He has somewhat of a smaller-scale analog in Merlin in the last book of Lewis's space trilogy, THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH.
Don't know if that shed any light or not. More questions than answers. Let me know.

 

[Evenstar]

The aspect of Tom being Illuvator is an interesting idea that I never thought of before. I'm not sure if I'm totally sold on it though.

I think Tom is closest to an Earth spirit. Kind of like a child of Earth. I know it says he is father-less, but maybe that means he had no physical father or that he is not a son of Illuvator. Doesn't it fit that the River-Daughter should be with the Earth's son? In a way Bombadil reminds me of Cahadras or the monster in the lake. There are constantly forces that are older and more powerful than Sauron, Gandalf and the inhabitants of the ME that Gandalf mention in the book. I believe Bombadil is a force that is older than all the inhabitants and maybe he is not Illuvator himself. He simply came as a child of the Earth.

 

[ReadWryt]

Since Tom started life (outside of Middle-earth) as the spirit of a woodland that was dissapearing, perhaps one should take into account the love of the wild country side that spawned him in Tolkien's mind.

 

[Old Man Willow]

Evenstar,


Not necessarily more powerful than Sauron, just indifferent to and unaffected by his powers.


I agree with those who say Bombadil is more than just Tolkien's fancy of his child's doll, though it may have spawned the idea. Perhaps Bombadil IS the only one of his kind? The Valar, as well as the Maiar came across to Middle-Earth, correct? If that is the case, then Bombadil is surely not one of them. He and Goldberry made it plain and clear in LOTR (yes, without having to consult the Sil) that he originated from Middle-Earth itself. And having no ancestral lineage, it is impossible for him to have made an exodus to Middle-Earth. This would in fact exclude him from being Valar and Maiar. And the term nature-spirit can be interpreted many different ways. I think Bombadil was created to be never fully understood, a creative yet somehow connected insert by Tolkien. And whoever said that it makes sense for the river-daughter Goldberry to be with 'father' of the earth Bombadil, I agree.






Whither do you wander, along the Withywindle.........???

 

[Eonwe]

I always thought he was a great Maia of Yavanna, and I reconciled his powers with the fact that Yavanna grew the two trees.

But I remember somewhere reading that someone thought he was a manifestation of Illuvatar

One thing is for sure he is really bizarre and yet really simple. I thought he seemed a little scared about the barrow wight stuff (like he put out the treasure to break the spell, why couldn't he break it himself?)

 

[Orin]

Janitor of Arda

Tom's the guy who, originally, was supposed to keep the place clean and looking sharp. You know, he took care of the minor landscaping that the Elves couldn't be bothered with, cleaned up and disposed of the mine tailings from the Dwarves, and the Men, boy what slobs! In order to remain inconspicous and, above all, Neutral, Tom was immune to the petty annoyances of magic, politics, power and the like that governed the rest of the races of Middle Earth.

As time went on, the World grew, the job got too big for Tom to do alone, and gradually, he was forgotten. He cut his responsibilities back more and more with each passing age, until he was left with a sphere of control that included the bit of the Old Forest around his home. In a sense, he was the caretaker of the place, and the place got too big and no one bothered to tell him he wasn't needed anymore. How's that for a theory?

 

[Curufinwe]

definately a maiar

It says so in the book , 'A Guide To Tolkien'.

 

[Greymantle]

So what? One would assume that Tolkien's own words would outweigh this!
The only definitive word is that Tom B. is an enigma, which means that there is no definitive answer! We can all speculate about what we personally thought he was in the conext of M-e; however, in terms of an actual answer: there is none! If Tolkien himself decided that Tom was an enigma, then this is as right as you can get.

Hehe...btw, the singular form of "Maiar" is "Maia." Sorry, I just love to be nit-picky sometimes.

 

[Curufinwe]

I'm illiterate sometimes. should of known.

 

[Grond]

Originally posted by Curufinwe
I'm illiterate sometimes. should of known.

As far as Tom being a maia, I would have to agree with my friend Greymantle on this one. The letters of JRRT absolutely point to Tom being a none of the above. He was simply a character developed in another story that fit in here and whom JRRT wanted to use.

Cian has the exact quote from the letters somewhere.