My, my. What a firestorm is ignited by my comments.
Let's sort something out.
First, I don't speak of
Bombadil as he "was" before, or as he "may have been" at some point.
I'm well aware he's a complex character, and had (and still has) occassional involvements with such as Maggot.
What I'm speaking of is what we KNOW about, and what he DID 'in the present time' at the time of M-e's greatest needs.
A person is not known by what he says, or what we surmise based on skimpy information or data.
A person is known by what he DOES.
And to borrow from the illustrious Spider Man movie, 'with great power comes great responsibility'.
What we know about Bombadil is... he did nothing.
Oh he was congenial, and in his muddled way, possibly enjoyed guests at some point in the past... and an occassional chat with a farmer when he was out and about... (at least we know of one)... but he had no conscious or demonstrated care for the
peoples of M-e whatsoever... unless THEY happened to come across HIM in HIS territory. (At the time of the 3rd age and LoTR. again, NOT speaking of whatever MAY have happened in the past.)
He was very like the
Ents, hoping the world would just pass him by... but at least the Ents were roused in the end.
There is one other possibility I could entertain, with some difficulty:
....his trust in
Eru was so great, he already knew everything was going to work out fine, and he had just one small role to play in the
events...i.e. get the
hobbits moved along on their way. (There is some hint he really didn't "just happen" to stumble upon the hobbits when Mr. Willow was trying to have a snack.)
but we must face the fact he was simply otherwise 'uninvolved' in the events in M-e.
Much like the rest of the hobbits, who only dealt with that part of the problem 'coming their way' in their own 'safe' digs... though they simply bowed to the will of the invaders, until a
hobbit or 4 with some grit returned. (One of them speaks an incredible line: "It's about time someone raised
the Shire!" to which I add "but I'm certainly not going to be
the one to do it..!!" The common trait of the complacent... "somebody needs to do it, just not me. that person over there, maybe."
Given
Tom's (apparent) muddling of brain though, it's likely just as well he stayed out of the way as there's little he would have cared for or about on a journey to anywhere, not caring a whit for the struggles others had in areas he seemed to have none.
Am I 'harsh' on Mr. Bombadil? Possibly. Perhaps he actually had great wisdom about his shortcomings - so purposely chose to keep out of the way.
I'm sure he was a wonderful person to know... as noted above, the
Elves and Wise certainly felt so.
He just wasn't involved in anything, or to be relied upon, outside of his own little sphere, when it came to a "do".
I know I stand in the minority. Certainly the Great
Gandalf didn't rue him his lack of involvement and participation. I shall try to carve out some charity for the oaf.
This is why I've indicated I'll go back and review everything.
If I can determine his faith in Eru and connection to what was unfolding was so great he just knew he needed no further involvement for 'the universe (to) unfold as it should'
(Spock, Star Trek VI), then I'll change my perspective and grant he's the most prescient of them all. (which he could well be, given his enigmatic status in the canon.)
