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Re: Who do you think Tom Bombadil really was
What or who Tom "is" is an interesting speculation. The thought that he might be Aule is an interesting idea though I think if a comparison is to be made to the Valar, he has more in common with Yavanna than anyone else. However, the Valar are creators and Tom is not (in any overt way). Perhaps another way to look at Tom is to consider not who he "is" but what he "represents".
A very revealing point about Tom is the reference made to him in the last moments of the Lord of the Rings. When Frodo looks out on Aman he recalls the imagery of the dream of rain in the house of Bombadil and likens the vision to the view of the immortal lands before him. Why the house of Bombadil? Why not Elrond's house or a vision in the mirror of Galadriel? This doesn't seem to be a merely convenient arbitrary reference.
Frodo's departure from Middle Earth is an important moment. Not just in the obvious sense of importance to the plot but also in terms of the role of Bombadil. No mortal (except Tuor who was only half mortal) was ever granted passage to Aman. Although it is never said that Frodo actually became immortal, the mere granting of this permission gives him a position unlike all other mortals. Here is the link to Bombadil. Bombadil is presented as a mortal. He looks like a man, he has yellow boots, a big beard, and a comical manner; yet he is obviously not mortal. He is somehow both, possessing an awareness of the rigid spiritual truths of the Valar and Eldar but also of ordinary human life, humor, regret and sadness. Frodo perceived this (though in reference to Goldberry) when he felt something about her "like the elves, yet less keen and lofty, nearer the mortal heart". It is also exemplified in how Tom responds to finding the brooch in the Barrow and notes that "fair was she who wore it long ago" but became silent and would say no more.
The second-born (including hobbits) have not the luxury of the eldar. They feel the shadow of the brevity of life over them. Bombadil is a reconciliation of the ancient disparity between elves and men; a mortal who is also immortal and has thus a more intimate understanding of men than the elves or the Valar which know only everlasting life. For this reason he freely counsels the hobbits which the elves are, at best, reluctant to do.
As an aside, Arwen could be seen as "Bombadil in reverse". She is as one who was immortal but who is no longer. Thus she is brought (tragically) to a similar understanding. Yet for both Bombadil and of Arwen, the outcome is compassion. For if Bombadil's gesture was to bring the hobbits back from death in the Barrow, Arwen's was to say of men before she went to die alone, "as wicked fools I scorned them...but if this is the gift of the one to men then it is indeed bitter to receive."
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