Quote:
Originally Posted by Pitchwife
He's only an enigma with hindsight, when we see the big picture of rings and kings and wizards and the struggle for Middle-earth. In these days of the internet and Peter Jackson's movies, I'm afraid many readers may come to the book knowing too much of what lies ahead, and are therefore confused by Tom. But try to imagine reading LotR with no foreknowledge except maybe having read The Hobbit, and Tom is no odder than Gollum or talking Eagles or Beorn with his goats or the Elves of Mirkwood. If he doesn't seem to fit in, maybe it's because we have been spoilt like Saruman by thinking too much in terms of plots and power and caring too little for good food and good cheer and nature's wondrous beauty.
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You know, that's a very good thought. Throughout TH and LOTR, we see things appearing out of nowhere all the time. Boom! Gollum. Boom! Ents. Boom! Friends and foes and magic creatures. The difference, as you allude, is that most of these creatures are later explained, or at least given some sort of history, either in LOTR/TH itself or in the First Age books. But Tom is never explained this way. So reading the book forward, he is no different than anyone else. It's only when we get to the end that we can even think, who the hell
IS Tom Bombadil?
Great point.