New words about Bombadil

[PrinceOfTheHalflings]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I like that quote as well.

It's interesting that although the reader is meant to be 'concentrated on the Ring', Tolkien deliberately placed Tom to be an enigma, which was certain to invite speculation over his origin and his place in the mythos. How could he not, when he alone of all the characters in LOTR is completely unaffected by the Ring itself, and what is more is not concerned with it in the slightest.

In early drafts, Bombadil called himself an Aborigine- defined as 'one of the original or earliest known inhabitants of a country or region.' At the same point in the writing, it was conceived that he and Farmer Maggot were in some way related. The latter idea was seemingly abandoned, though there are traces of it in the final text, such as Merry saying that Maggot was especially knowledgeable about 'outside' events for a hobbit, and Tom himself noting that Maggot was 'a person of more importance than [the hobbits] had imagined'.

For Bombadil to truly be 'outside' the story, my thought would be that he would also be unconquerable by Sauron, or any others, who are part of it as active players. Yet he is not, or at least is said by Gandalf, who I've considered to be the nearest voice of Tolkien himself in the text, not to be. Why is he not affected by the Ring, but subject to defeat by Sauron all the same?

A good question. I suppose it is because no one is incapable of being defeated. Sauron himself is defeated, while carrying the Ring.

It seems that Bombadil is immune to the effects of the Ring, but not because of any special Power he possesses. Rather, he is just not interested in the Ring and thus not able to be influenced by it. No doubt some may point to the additional fact that the Ring does not make Bombadil invisible as evidence of some kind of "Power", but then we have to consider why the Ring makes people invisible. Frodo is more visible to the Nazgul when he puts on the Ring - and he can also see them clearly. That is because he is now in the spirit, or wraith, world.

"You were in gravest peril while you wore the Ring, for then you were half in the wraith-world yourself,” Gandalf tells Frodo. He also says,

"A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the dark power that rules the Rings."

Gandalf is talking about mortals of course. Bombadil isn't mortal, so the effects of the Ring on him would be different even if he wasn't already a special case.

However, the real point of Bombadil in the book really seems to be to say that anyone ELSE - Maia, Elf, Dwarf, Man or Hobbit - can be seduced by the Ring. But Tolkien says of Bombadil:

"B. does not want to make, alter, devise, or control anything: just to observe and take joy in the contemplating the things that are not himself."

That's as clear a sign as any that Bombadil is not a Maia (who are just as prone to the tempatation of the Ring as anyone else). Whatever he is, he's not like anyone else. When Tolkien says Bombadil is outside the story, I think he just means the story of the Ring, not the story of Middle Earth.