Tom Bombadil

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

See my post above.

The Downs has gone deep into the detail of Bombadil's nature, possibility of Maiardom included. I believe the consensus is: no, he was not a Maia.

[Khazad-dûm]

The last time I read that chapter I pictured a big brown bearded, big biceped grizzly lumberjack man skipping around in the forest singing to himself. wearing a tunic and tights kinda like Link in N64's Ocarina of Time but different colours and different hat kinda like Gandalfs but not as big and a huge feather sticking out higher then the tip of his hat. I laughed to myself a lot during that chapter lol.

[Pitchwife]

Originally Posted by Khazad-dûm

The last time I read that chapter I pictured a big brown bearded, big biceped grizzly lumberjack man skipping around in the forest singing to himself.

You don't want to know what image that conjured up in my head! (But then again, it isn't that hard to guess...)

And welcome to the Downs, by the way, as we haven't met yet!

[Bom Tombadillo]

To get back on-topic from all the "nature of Bombadil" stuff . . .

My good twin? Well, I always envision him with a sharp object or three stuck in him (downright nauseatingly cheery, that one is).

More seriously, I think of him as . . . well, a semi-paternal figure. Wise and clearly old, but so active and cheerful that you don't really notice that. The sort of person who always knows what to do and has seen it all, and knows better than to be too serious. This is a bit more of a character description than a physical one of course, but that's how I see people - I probably couldn't describe my own parents to you in any detail, but I could tell you all about them.

[leapofberen]

I mostly imagine Tom as being mostly earthy...careless and unconcerned like the books say, with higher things which reminds me more of nature spirits, fairys, etc, but seemingly kinder; perhaps not any less mischievous. In "Letters" Tolkien refers to Tom as "the spirit of the (vanishing) Oxford and Berkshire countryside." He ponders if Tom could be made into the hero of a story (when he is pondering a sequel to "The Hobbit"), "or is he, as I suspect, fully enshrined in the enclosed verses?"

I think (simply my opinion/interpretation) that Tom represents just that for Tolkien, the embodiment of the "vanishing" of the passing of the old world that Tolkien mourns throughout his life which seems to bleed through in his writings. To me, when I first read "Fellowship," the hobbits encounter of Tom is a welcome and wonderful diversion. I think I was really sad when they left and had to get back to the "real world" of battle, good versus evil, etc. (Still sad he was not portrayed in the movies!)

Gandalf announces at the end of LOTR (paraphrase) that he is going to see Tom; that while he has been a rolling stone, Tom has been one who has more or less lain still for ages, gathering moss. Tom's power seems to be more "descent" based (earthy) rather than "ascent" based (like many of the elves, the Valar, even the dark lord.) He is limited in the range of his power, yet possesses a refreshing carelessness, an almost omnipotent kind of existence which is outside of the events of ME. He seems unconcerned with power, victory, defeat, the world of up and down, right or wrong. And yet, he is naturally pure and good...but perhaps not logical. I have to agree with the assertions that he is an anomaly, but a completely necessary one as he may be a character that very clearly reveals the heart and desire of the author moreso than many others.

All that to say...yes, something like a chubby elf, a sort of Santa, worn (not in a tired way though) and earthy yet young and refreshing. With a long beard. Always imagined him with a long beard. Can't remember if that is in the books or not right now.

[Legolas]

I think you really nailed it there, leapofberen. Especially with your assessment of Bombadil's power, much the way Tolkien put in the letter quoted below.

To use your word - refreshing - he is a refreshing departure from all else going on in Middle-earth with his total indifference to things outside his occupation with the forest. I love Gandalf's comments about Tom and his odd nature:

...if he were given the Ring, he would soon forget it, or most likely throw it away. Such things have no hold on his mind.

I am going to have a long talk with Bombadil: such a talk as I have not had in all my time. He is a moss-gatherer, and I have been a stone doomed to rolling. But my rolling days are ending, and now we shall have much to say to one another.

They halted and Frodo looked south wistfully. 'I should dearly like to see the old fellow again,' he said. 'I wonder how he is getting on?'
'As well as ever, you may be sure,' said Gandalf. 'Quite untroubled; and I should guess, not much interested in anything that we have done or seen, unless perhaps in our visits to the Ents.'

I wish we could've listened in on Gandalf's later conversation with Tom!

When I read Tolkien's similar assessment, I thought it really articulated the sort of character I received him as, and why I was so glad he had a place in the books.

...and he represents something that I feel important, though I would not be prepared to analyze the feeling precisely. I would not, however, have left him in, if he did not have some kind of function. I might put it this way. The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power, and so on; but both sides in some degree, conservative or destructive, want a measure of control. But if you have, as it were taken ‘a vow of poverty’, renounced control, and take your delight in things for themselves without reference to yourself, watching, observing, and to some extent knowing, then the question of the rights and wrongs of power and control might become utterly meaningless to you, and the means of power quite valueless. It is a natural pacifist view, which arises in the mind when there is a war. But the view in Rivendell seems to be that it is an excellent thing to have represented, but that there are in fact things with which it cannot cope; and upon which its existence nonetheless depends. Ultimately only the victory of the West will allow Bombadil to continue, or even to survive. Nothing would be left for him in the world of Sauron. (Letter 144)