[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?