Gandalf on Tom Bombadil

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Mumriken

So Gandalf is a rolling stone and Tom is a stone with tons of moss on it. Hmmm there are several ways to interpret this. First a stone must be pushed to start rolling, so the valas pushed Gandalf down the hill. Bombadil is a moss gatherer, the big question is what is the moss? Does it just mean he hasn't been rolling or could it mean anything else? Also why isn't Bombadil rolling? Could the valas not make him roll?

My own opinion of that quote is that it merely contrasts the difference between the "watcher", Bombadil, and the "mover", Gandalf.

The latter had a specific task to perform in Middle-earth. Bombadil, however, seems to have no obvious goals or mission, and was content to sit on the sidelines and do his own thing.

The questions of Bombadil, his nature and his purpose, are much older than this forum. I know there are many who don't want to pigeonhole Tom into fitting into Arda's structure, but I think he was an Ainu who came out of the Void separately from the Valar, and did not participate in their activities. There is precedence for it, as Ungoliant seems to have been of the same sort. It was said that she was believed to have come "from the darkness that lies about Arda" (the Void). She answered to no one in Arda, and just did as she pleased. Seems very similar to Bombadil.

Perhaps both did have their own purpose in the thought of Ilúvatar, but what that might have been is barest conjecture.