Tom Bombadil
 

I could not find a thread already about him so I just made this one. I have always wondered who he is. I know what inspired Tolkien to create Tom but I do not know who Tom is. None of us do since nothing is really explained about him in the books. Some of the theories I have heard about him are that he is Eru or he is in fact the land itself in the form of a person. I doubt that second one. I do not think that he could be Eru. He is not serious enough. I think wikipedia offers some insight into who he could be, but it is not a lot. What do you all of you think about Tom?

From "In the House of Tom Bombadil:"
Also, from "In the House of Tom Bombadil:"
I'm afraid there is little (if any) answer beyond this text. You can explore thread, after thread, after thread and many more threads besides these few. I don't think you'll find any more explanation than that.

Tom IS. The rest of the explanation is meant to come from inside you, yourself, I think. Tolkien is deliberately, even stubbornly, silent.

I have said many times in the countless threads of Bombadil, He is an Ent... you see most Ents slow down become treeish, he saw Goldberry and fell in love thereby becoming "faster" his spirit ripping from his tree body Bombadil is the spirit, and the body? Well haven't you ever wondered why Od Man Willow is so angry? you'd be angry too without your soul.

actually side thought... is Old Man Willow a "Hanar"(is that what the moving trees are called? Been a while)

You didn't look very hard. Search function + Bombadil brings up loads of threads. Literally hours of reading.

Why so serious? Seriously, I would like to think that Eru, who fabricated Middle-earth in song and music, and created such whimsical things as ents, Hobbits, Oliphants and inquisitive foxes would have much room for lightheartedness and fun...

Over on another forum (LotR Plaza) there's a long discussion on TB (currently 12 pages long). The recently auctioned letter which contains the following

has been discussed & Charles Noad (Tolkien expert who proof read most of HoM-e for Christopher Tolkien) who got to see the whole letter at the auction passed on the following report:

So, direct from the horse's mouth, as 'twere, we have a clear statement that Tom is 'external' to the world of Middle-earth, & that Tolkien specifically avoided the temptation to integrate him into the Legendarium. So, the short answer is that Tom 'is' - he is himself: not Eru, or one of the Valar, or an Elf, or anything else.

I did search him. 20 pages came up and I went through about 8 of them and found no thread specifically about Bombadil.

I see. Since Tom is supposed to be external from the world that probably means he is some sort of God like figure in another world. The power he has in middle earth is like a fraction of his real power. That is my guess, it does not make sense that he is just some regular human.

Radagastly the second quote you put there, helps back up what I said. He has been there since the start of Arda is what it sounds like. To have the power to enter Arda, must mean he is something like Eru's equal in another world or he is some extremely powerful being that has only a fraction of his power in Middle Earth.

I don't think it necessarily implies any kind of 'divinity'. It certainly means that either Tom & Goldberry are in some sense 'external', are 'intruders' into Middle-earth - or it means that in some way their world (Tom's Country) is in some sense one of the 'different planes of reality' which touch/interconnect in the sense Tolkien mentions in the letter - in which case it would be the four Hobbits who are intruders into Tom's world.

Of course, 'Tom's world' existed long before LotR was written & its usually assumed that he & Goldberry, Old Man Willow & the Barrow Wight were introduced into LotR to provide an 'adventure'. But given Tolkien's words in the letter -about 'chinks in the scenery which give glimpses of another different world outside' & 'something left over that demands a different or longer construction to "explain" it' it seems that Tolkien is experimenting with concepts of multiple realities & interconnected & separate but interdependent dimensions. In some sense 'Tom's Country' is not Middle-earth, & different rules apply there. Tom 'is' - within the world of Middle-earth he cannot be explained - Tolkien deliberately chose not to fit him in. In that sense all those critics who claim he doesn't 'belong', that he is out of place, are absolutely correct. It could be argued from what Tolkien writes in that letter that not only does he not 'fit', he was not meant to fit. In some way the Hobbits cross into a different time/place, another 'reality', & do not re-enter Middle-earth till they step onto the road near Bree. It is very much a dream world in a sense, & dreams play a prominent part in the whole episode for that reason. In Tom's Country it is the Hobbits who are out of place.

The trick is to search by thread titles. Here are many previous Bombadil threads.

Wow. A lot more thread than I thought and they go back a while. The oldest one I saw was from 2001.

trust me when I say everything that CAN be discussed about LOTR HAS been discussed from Tom Bombadil to the most obscure things like whether nor not ents lay eggs.... or seeds or birth...

but there are really some good bombadil threads out there. obviously you'll never find the True answer...probably... but you will certainly find a theory you like!

At least we now all know that ents lay eggs.

fine laugh if you will but here it is:

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=13206

so there!:p

Mr. Bliss' license plate?
 

Today's Honku

Or not so good... like Ole Tom is actually Captain James T. Kirk. ;)

No, silly! Everyone knows Tom is actually Martin Bormann.

One of the best lotr jokes ever.

Well, on a more topic-related note, the CbC thread on his chapter is very interesting. I think I should have searched for one of the many Tom Bombadil threads before posting this there.