Tom Bombadil

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Tar-Jêx

I personally think he was an Ainu, an especially powerful one, but apathetic to all of the political issues going around. I think he's comparable to one of the Ainur, the one of time, who stayed behind with Eru. He is essentially above such issues, and is content with living his life happily and peacefully, knowing that whatever evil may come towards him, he could probably get out of the situation.

I like to put Bombadil in the same boat as Ungoliant. Both were seemingly immortal, 'divine' beings who were truly embodied and bound to Arda of their own volition. Neither seems to have had an interest in overtly fighting in the conflict between the Valar and Morgoth/Sauron, but had their own purpose.

Originally Posted by Tar-Jêx

The ring didn't have any hold over him because he didn't really want to change anything, and, as Zigur said, the ring caters towards an individual's desires, of which Tom had none.

Like Ungoliant's offspring, Shelob. She had no interest in the Ring, only wanting to kill Frodo and Sam.

[Tar-Jêx]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I like to put Bombadil in the same boat as Ungoliant. Both were seemingly immortal, 'divine' beings who were truly embodied and bound to Arda of their own volition. Neither seems to have had an interest in overtly fighting in the conflict between the Valar and Morgoth/Sauron, but had their own purpose.



Like Ungoliant's offspring, Shelob. She had no interest in the Ring, only wanting to kill Frodo and Sam.

For some reason, the mystery around such beings, including the cats of Queen Beruthiel, is so intriguing.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Tar-Jêx

For some reason, the mystery around such beings, including the cats of Queen Beruthiel, is so intriguing.

I agree. Bombadil was an intentional enigma, but that doesn't stop me trying to make him fit in the mythos.

[Marlowe221]

Personally, I subscribe to the theory that Tom is the physical manifestation of the Music of the Ainur.

And although Tolkien might not have used quite the same words, I also think he is the manifestation of the Tao, in a literary sense.

[tom the eldest]

im thinking that tom maybe a rogue maia that contend to live on middle earth.probably get tired/afraid of morgoth and then run to middle earth.maybe immediately after the music finish even.then he isolate himself,and so never knew the conditions of the world outside his little realm

[jallanite]

Cirdan’s essay at http://tolkien.cro.net/else/bbeier.html seems to me to be totally nonsense, typical of the many enthusiastic essays I have read which all provide contradictory explanations of Tom and all of which disagree with one another.

Tolkien himself explains that Tom is intentionally an enigma. Cirdan takes this to mean that Tolkien had an explanation for him, which Tolkien purposely did not state and not one of the many commentators before Cirdan has figured out. Cirdan explains that “an intentional enigma is nothing other than a riddle …” which is not necessarily true.

Cirdan then explains, “Indeed, in this letter he seemed to be hinting that there was an answer to the riddle of Bombadil. Could he have been challenging his readers to find it?” I see no hint at all. Where does Cirdan get this idea from? Where does Cirdan get the idea that Tolkien is challenging the reader to find the answer to a riddle which Tolkien does not state and Cirdan only postulates.

Cirdan provides a series of facts about Tom which supposedly proves his theory that Tom represents the reader, but most of which are not true of most if not all readers. Most readers are not the Master. No reader is old as Tom. Most readers do not know Farmer Maggot. And so on.

Cirdan states,“Treebeard can be the oldest living thing while Tom is truly ‘oldest and fatherless,’ but only if Tom is not alive.” This is quite true of Tom, and Goldberry, but also true of Gandalf, Sauron, Saruman, and Radagast and true of all the Valar and Maiar. There are also the nameless things gnawing away beneath the ground of which Gandalf claims, “Sauron knows them not for they are older than him.”

Cirdan works by asking questions which have, for him, the assumed answer of “yes” but which to a critical reader can be just as well answered “no” or “no answer given”. He has the trick of using the word we, to mean you and I, never considering that this means that he is telling the reader what they think, when perhaps the reader doesn’t think or feel what Cirdan claims.

That Tom was a Maia (which is not Cirdan’s idea) runs afoul of Tolkien’s claim that Tom is an enigma.

That Tom is the physical manifestation of the Music of the Valar doesn’t fit with the idea that the music was corrupted by the interfering music of Sauron and his followers from the beginning.

Tom is a character in fiction written by J. R. R. Tolkien and Tolkien’s clear statement that Tom is an enigma should take priority over anyone’s theories.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by jallanite

Tom is a character in fiction written by J. R. R. Tolkien and Tolkien’s clear statement that Tom is an enigma should take priority over anyone’s theories.

enigma
[uh-nig-muh] Spell Syllables
Synonyms Examples Word Origin
noun, plural enigmas; Chiefly Archaic, enigmata [uh-nig-muh-tuh]

1.a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation

2.a person of puzzling or contradictory character

3.a saying, question, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning; riddle.

4.(initial capital letter) a German-built enciphering machine developed for commercial use in the early 1920s and later adapted and appropriated by German and other Axis powers for military use through World War II.

I read Tolkien's description of Bombadil as an enigma not as a word against any particular explanation of his origin, but simply an affirmation that Tolkien would not reveal what Bombadil was, even if he himself had a clear idea. That should not be a barrier to theorizing about Bombadil's nature, even if one may not agree with a particular idea.