LittlemanpoetAs I just pointed out on the "bombadil's influence" thread (and as Lyta alludes to in the visible souls thread), Tom IS Mother Nature itself.

If we see Tom as Mother Nature, then a lot of the Trickster's traits can be applied.

Does Mother Nature seem Good? We exist on a little planet of molten rock and water in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the Galaxy. Look at the biosphere that we're held in. isn't this mother nature's force of Good, to give us all Life on what would otherwise be a god forsaken rock?

Does Mother Nature seem Evil? Of course, look at what happened on Boxing Day last year.......

Then we have the point that the Trickster does not understand the difference between Good and Evil. Maybe 'understand' is the wrong word, but it could be replaced by 'is impartial to'. But then, Tom saves the Hobbits from Old Man Willow and the Barrow Wights. So isn't he taking the side of 'Good' here? I believe this is why Tom will always be an Enigma, inasmuch as he is impossible to clarify, much as Tolkien would of wanted methinks.

PS Off at a tangent, but someone mentioned in this thread that Tom has no real connection with the rest of the story. As always, I refute this, because if the Hobbits had not travelled through the Old forest, on to Tom, and therefore onto the Barrow, then Sauron would have Won. (I've explained why loads of times before on this site, so I won't bore you again!)

It was telling, Essex, that after you made the assertion of one-to-one corrolation between Tom Bombadil and Mother Earth, and described your reasoning, you wound up listing the exceptions that contradict your assertion. Yes, Tom Bombadil is an enigma. I see a lot of Trickster elements in him - and in Gollum. I don't say that Tom Bombadil IS Tolkien's Trickster. Who could really adequately defend any such statement of "Tom Bombadil is....." fill in the blank, except for Goldberry who says that he is the master?

I like what you say about Tom Bombadil indeed having to do with the rest of Middle Earth. If not for his protection, the Hobbits would never have made it out of the Shire (indirect protection in this case), or the Old Forest, or the Barrow Downs.