Gandalf on Tom Bombadil

[blantyr]

Originally Posted by Mumriken

This suggests to me that Tom and Gandalf are not of the same kind. Tom must be a greater spirit. I agree with Inziladun, it's likely that Tom is a void creature not that different from Ungoliant yet maybe older. He is definitely up there with the great valas in terms of power. However if this is true one still needs to ask oneself why Tom was put into Arda in the first place.

He seems to care for the trees and for the earth. Maybe one could think of him as a gardener in Arda. Someone to keep the weeds and forest fires away? He probably took the shape of a larger fat hobbit in order to remain mossy and hidden.

Well, the obvious point is that no one put Tom anywhere. No one is his master. That's the major point. He went there cause he felt like it, Ilúvatar didn't object, and no one else could object.

I've also been amused to consider whether Tom is an aspect or avatar of Ilúvatar, in which case Middle Earth was created so Tom could shack up with Goldberry.

There is a fairly great spread of personalities among the Valar and Ainur. I'm not sure that distinctly different personalities is grounds for placing entities in different orders. There is certainly a greater divergence in personality between Tom and Ungoliant than Tom and Gandalf.

I see his purpose more as living than being a caretaker. From the perspective of elves and men, the Valar are masters of various aspects. One might be the hunter, another the mistress of nature. Among the wizards, Gandalf does fire while Radagast does beasts. Tom might call himself master, but he would be master of all and nothing. He orders things somewhat within the territory he sets for himself, but not in an organized structured way.

Specifically, he is not a lord, not a ruler. The wizards were forbidden from confronting Sauron with force or fear, and excepting Saruman didn't rule large numbers of others, setting themselves up as heads of state. Tom took this to an even greater extent. With the possible exception of Goldberry, no one reports to or takes orders from Tom. He will solve little problems as he stumbles into them, but he is by no means dedicating his life to making things better for others.

Where Gandalf is.

Another thing of note, however strong Tom is, however often he says he is his own master, he seems to be subject to 'chance meetings'. In Middle Earth, the plans of the Valar or Ilúvatar are sometimes moved along by semi-random coincidence. Gandalf just happening to meet Thorin Oakenshield in Bree might be the classic example, triggering the events of The Hobbit. Certain people just happened to show up at Rivendell for Elrond's council. Very convenient, this subtle aspect of Middle Earth Magic, as one can do deus ex machina plot advances, implausible stuff happening, and blame it on the gods. But, anyway, just by coincidence, Tom wandered by just as Frodo needed him.

Random stuff. Some of the above might have been thought through by Tolkien, some of it not. It's hard to guess which.