Hey dol! Merry dol! Get lost Tom!!!

[Essex]

Mr Bombadil always seems to get a hard time from many readers of lotr.

here's some reasons why I think tom/old forest/barrowdowns should have been included (in the EE perhaps)

1/ Merry gets his sword to help defeat the witch king.
2/ we see that the ring is not ALL powerful. this is important
3/ we can see the forces of Nature at work.
4/ the old forest and old man willow foreshadows fangorn and thus helps build the atmosphere of fangorn when merry and pippin arrive there
5/ the tom episodes show us that the LOTR is only a small PART of the history of middle-earth, and would add more atmosphere to the story.
6/ the adventure in the barrow shows us Frodo the 'Hero'
7/ we could have seen another facet of the witch king in 'waking up' the wights as explained in unfinished tales
8/ helps explain how the hobbits got away from the black riders who were only 20 miles aware via a fast horse. although i suppose in the movie, the buckleberry ferry brings us to Bree. (it was raining on one side of the river and not on the other....)

[Encaitare]

Good points, Essex!

6/ the adventure in the barrow shows us Frodo the 'Hero'

But I have the feeling PJ's Frodo would have screamed about it for a bit and made his eyes go huge and anime-like, before remembering to call for help.

[Boromir88]

Essex, I think another thing to add to your list, of how Tom Bombadil was important. He helped (along with Farmer Maggot who was said to have actually talked to Tom Bombadil) the hobbits see that the world is much bigger then the Shire. Also showed them, their were inhabitants in the Shire before hobbits existance and there will be hobbits after all the hobbits are gone. He gave the hobbits some history and showed them they aren't the only "inhabitants" in the world, the world is much bigger then their little shire. I think PJ should have included the bit with Maggot or either Tom Bombadil, since both give The Hobbits a good lesson.

[Elianna]

6/ the adventure in the barrow shows us Frodo the 'Hero'

I've always thought that even there Frodo isn't very heroic. There's that really cool quote about the seed of courage taking root, but then all he does is sing a song and have Tom save them again.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Actually, Frodo was very courageous in the Barrow. Gandalf said to him ("Many Meetings", FotR):

But you have some strength in you, my dear hobbit! As you showed in the Barrow. That was touch and go: perhaps the most dangerous moment of all.

He showed his courage in not deserting his friends and in using a sword to hack off the hand that was crawling toward them, before remembering to sing the song that summoned Tom Bombadil. For someone who had never used a sword before, that took a good deal of effort and courage!

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

I think, you're right about Frodo showing courage, if you hadn't used a sword before you would be quite apprehensive, but Frodo did it and I think this proves he wasn't a complete coward.

[mark12_30]

It's more than that.

He had, or thought he had, a perfect easy escape in his pocket-- the Ring. All he had to do was put it on, and he was free. He thought of himself running over the grass, grieving for his friends, but free. Too bad for his friends, but "Gandalf would have agreed there was nothing else he could do."

Horrible temptation. And what a horrible thing to live with afterward-- talk about survivor guilt...

What Frodo rejected in the Barrow was his own freedom at the cost of his friends' lives. He decided to stay, and die with them if he could not get them out.

From then on, instead of being consumed by fear, he used his wits. First he thought of using the sword to hack at the hand; then he remembered the song for calling Bombadil.