Tom Bombadil

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by jallanite

It seems to me that Tom could be a Maia, or perhaps better an Ainu, since the name Maia refers to one of the People of the Valar and that doesn’t fit well with Tom.

Nor do we know in what sense Tom was an Enigma. I can imagine Tolkien quite willing to accept Tom as a creature of the Maia type. The Enigma part would come from how Goldberry and River-woman fit it.

But of course Tolkien did not say, seemingly on purpose. Mahgain’s post points out that beings of the Valar and Maia type are not the only spirits in Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

There is a difference between pointing out ways that Tom *could* fit into the universe, and claiming any one of them as the actual answer. I am not sure which of those things denethor is doing, which is why I asked him.