New words about Bombadil

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

So Tom was mainly a passive outsider with a penchant for remaining out of general knowledge, but the fact that he did take action when required to me means that he was indeed part of the world.

Hmmm...I don't know. Was Eru part of the world? He did act on occasion and the implication is that he was always working in the background.

(I'm not equating Tom with Eru, just using it as an example.)

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Hmmm...I don't know. Was Eru part of the world? He did act on occasion and the implication is that he was always working in the background.

(I'm not equating Tom with Eru, just using it as an example.)

All Arda, and everything it contained, was the "offspring" of the mind and spirit of Eru. Did it have an objective existence apart from him, ie if he somehow ceased to exist, would Arda die also? My answer would be yes. If that is the case, then I think Eru would indeed be a part of the physical world he had made.

[Zigûr]

When Professor Tolkien says that Bombadil is "outside" the story, he means outside the narrative of the Ring, does he not? Not outside the "narrative of Arda" (ie history) in general.

At the same time perhaps he's being a little disingenuous because surely, by virtue of rescuing the hobbits from Willow-Man and the Barrow Wights, Tom can at least dip into the narrative on occasion, while at the same time apparently recognise that there is a lot more to Eä than just this particular struggle against evil at this time in Middle-earth.