Tom Bombadil

[Hakon]

Originally Posted by davem

Over on another forum (LotR Plaza) there's a long discussion on TB (currently 12 pages long). The recently auctioned letter which contains the following

has been discussed & Charles Noad (Tolkien expert who proof read most of HoM-e for Christopher Tolkien) who got to see the whole letter at the auction passed on the following report:



So, direct from the horse's mouth, as 'twere, we have a clear statement that Tom is 'external' to the world of Middle-earth, & that Tolkien specifically avoided the temptation to integrate him into the Legendarium. So, the short answer is that Tom 'is' - he is himself: not Eru, or one of the Valar, or an Elf, or anything else.

I see. Since Tom is supposed to be external from the world that probably means he is some sort of God like figure in another world. The power he has in middle earth is like a fraction of his real power. That is my guess, it does not make sense that he is just some regular human.

Radagastly the second quote you put there, helps back up what I said. He has been there since the start of Arda is what it sounds like. To have the power to enter Arda, must mean he is something like Eru's equal in another world or he is some extremely powerful being that has only a fraction of his power in Middle Earth.