For shame, Birdland! Tom Bombadil's giant batwings were hardly ornamental! Recall how Tom was tragically killed in The First Age, when he flew too close to the light of Telperion, eldest of trees, which melted his batwings and sent him falling into the sea! Of course, he was later sent back after the Fall of Gondolin, eventually taking his rightful place as Ar-Pharazon of Numenor, as recounted in Tolkien's 'Return of the King: The Prequel.' The whole 'living in a cottage in the forest, bringing his wife flowers every day' thing was just an attempt to make up to his wife Goldberry, formerly known as Tar-Míriel, for getting their kingdom destroyed. Legend tells that she eventually forgave him-- I think it was sometime around the end of the Fifth Age, after heart-shaped chocolates had been invented. In fact, I believe Tom Bombadil, in his desperation, may have invented heart-shaped chocolates himself.
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