Who or What is Tom Bombadil?

[Essex]

Originally Posted by davem

As usual, Fordim misses the real answer out (I'm beginning to suspect this is a deliberate policy).

The answer to the question 'Who or what is Tom Bombadil' is given in the book:

'He is.'

I love all the debates these two simple words have given. But the answer, surely, is answered if you put the inflection on the word 'He' and imagine goldberry nodding her head towards the sound of Tom's singing.

Anyway, he's the spirit of middle-earth - i.e. Mother Nature, and therefore he helped save the day at the Pellenor Fieldds by making the 'Wind Change'..........