Quote:
Originally Posted by Belegorn
What or who he is I do not know, "He is a strange creature." [The Council of Elrond] I think, personally, he is some incarnate spirit of Arda.
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I always agreed with this theory the most, he and Golberry seem akin to me in the "spirits form far away" that became the Ents at Yavanna's wish or the rock giants in the Hobbit.
As much as Tolkien later tried to purge the fairy/pixie element from Middle Earth, it snuck back in here and there. Perhaps his own creation rebelled a little bit against him?
The is of course two schools of thought how to tackle this, and other Middle Earth questions. The in-universe and the real world explanation.
From an in-universe perspective it, the way many people wish it to be answered, it is moot wether Tolkien intended Tom to be just an "in-joke" he exist in Middle Earth. And since Tolkien strove so hard to categorize and explain the rest of his universe it is understandable that people wish more explanation to the identity of these characters.
However I quite like the idea that Tom and Golberry just "are" that in such a well explained world like Middle Earth, there can still be mysteries which (as Tolkien himself wrote) are often more interesting than the answer provided by the author.
It opens the door for all sorts of things, like if Tom, Goldberry and the Riverwoman are the only ones of their kind or if there is more of those Genii Loci around or maybe were in the Elder Days.
Would have been interesting if Tolkien had chosen to validate by making Melian a "kinswoman" to them, the spirit of the woods of Beleriand and returning her o her faery character as Gwendeling.
With them, the numerous talking animals and Beorn's shape shifting a of Fairy Tale and "magic" elements are provided which Middle Earth sometimes lacks.
Maybe there were unicorns in Aman, maybe Melian was what we would today call a faery spirit. Middle Earth, for all its sobriety is still fantasy.
Once I had the theory that Goldberry, Old Man Willow,t eh Riverwoman and the Barrow Wights were some of those "lingering' Elf spirits mentioned by Tolkien. The souls of dead Elves that ignored the Call of Mandos and chose to remain in Middle Earth inhabiting and "haunting" natural places of great beauty and which the dark powers often used for Necromancy (hence Sauron's title of the Necromancer)
With Goldberry I no lnger hold this theory, as it begs the question of where her body came from if that was the case (and she definitely had one, just as much Bombadil)
But with Old Man Willow I still hold this theory and with the Barrow Wights I'm almost certain.