Tom Bombadil

"I shan't call it the end, till we've cleared up the mess." — Sam This article or section needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality.

"Eldest, that's what I am... Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn... he knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from Outside."

― The Fellowship of the Ring, In the House of Tom Bombadil.

File:Brothers Hildebrandt - Tom Bombadil.jpg

Tom Bombadil by Brothers Hildebrandt.

Tom Bombadil is an enigma in The Lord of the Rings and the Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

History

In the first book of Tolkien's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, Frodo and his company meet Bombadil in the Old Forest. He is a quite mysterious figure living far from any settlement with his wife, Goldberry, "Daughter of the River". He speaks in stress-timed metre. His appearance is brief, but behind Bombadil's simple façade there are hints of great knowledge – he can see the Ring-bearer when invisible and is unaffected by wearing the Ring himself. Gandalf later says that this is because the Ring has no power over him.

As to the nature of Bombadil, Tolkien himself said that some things should remain mysterious in any mythology, hidden even to its inventor. He placed the fate of the Entwives in this category, as well as the Cats of Queen Berúthiel, although hints of the latter story have emerged in posthumously released materials.

It is clear, though, that Bombadil was not in Tolkien's conception part of Middle-earth from the start; he was invented in honour of a Dutch doll belonging to his children, to whom Tolkien told stories about Tom Bombadil. These predate the writing of film and radio adaptations of the story, in which Bombadil is conspicuous by his absence, possibly because nobody knows quite what to do with him.

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, a book of verse published in 1966, purported to contain a selection of The Hobbit poems, two of which were about Tom Bombadil.

See also: The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, with special reference to Letters 144 and 153.

Tom Bombadil's Nature

Tom Bombadil by John Howe.

Tom Bombadil's mythological origins in the cosmology of Middle-earth have puzzled even erudite fans. Speculative ideas about his true nature range from simply a wise Elven hermit to an angelic being (a Maia or Vala), to the creator, that is, God, who is called Eru Ilúvatar in J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology. Tolkien explicitly denied this last possibility.

Tom seems to have unlimited power inside the boundaries that he set for himself. The most common theory is that Bombadil is a Maia, and perhaps the reason of why he has such powers might be the fact that he set himself limits in which he is master. "Eldest, that's what I am... Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn... He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from Outside." The Dark Lord that Bombadil refers to is probably Melkor and not Sauron. But in that case, Tom was already there even before the Valar entered the world, dismissing the theory that he is a Maia. Bombadil could be part of the Music of the Ainur and that would explain why he was there in the beginning, but if he was indeed part of the music, it is not said why he exists.

Other possibilities (compatible with the above theory) are that he is an abstract, a concept; possibly the embodiment of Arda itself, a "Father Nature" if you will, or some kind of 'spirit' which (unlike the Maiar) was of non-divine nature. Not only does the Ring have no effect on him, Tom himself seems unable to affect the Ring in return which shows that Tom was outside the divine plan and struggle and had no position in it. When Goldberry was asked by Frodo Baggins who he was, she simply said "He is". This is echoed by the following excerpt from Tom's songs:

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:
His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.

Other Names

Gandalf calls Tom Bombadil the eldest being in existence; this is also evident by his Sindarin name Iarwain Ben-adar ("Eldest and Fatherless"). Dwarves called him Forn, Men Orald. All these names apparently mean "Eldest". However, Fangorn is also called the eldest inhabitant of Middle-earth. If Tom Bombadil is indeed not a normal being but rather a supernatural being or "concept" this is, however, not necessarily a contradiction.

And, for still another description, here is a note from J.R.R. Tolkien himself. In a letter to one of his admirers, he wrote: "Even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."

In keeping with this last characterization, Tom is never easily pinned down -- not even in Professor Tolkien's own writings. He has appeared in different ways in very different books. He has been presented in The Lord of the Rings of course, and in the poems in his own small book, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. But he has also appeared elsewhere: there are interesting passages pertaining to Tom in some of the professor's letters, as is shown above, and fascinating bits of poetry or narrative that were abandoned for one reason or another over the years. Tolkien's biographer, Humphrey Carpenter, relates that Tom was inspired by a Dutch doll that belonged to the professor's eldest son Michael. This doll was said to have looked very splendid (it had a real feather in its hat!) but Michael's brother John did not like it and one day stuffed it down the lavatory. The doll was rescued, and survived to become one of the heroes of the spontaneous stories that were told to the children at bedtime.

Occasionally, Professor Tolkien would record the stories that he made up for his children, although they were often left unfinished. Among these early stories is a tale about Tom Bombadil, set in "the days of King Bonhedig:"

As the years went by, Tolkien himself began to have interesting conversations with many fans who were curious about Tom -- conversations that took place through the mail. The Lord of the Rings had become, of course, a huge success. Tolkien received letters from readers all over the world. But unlike some famous authors, he took time to answer each letter personally, and sometimes at great length.

In one of these letters, he described Tom's role in The Lord of the Rings and how he fit with the rest of the story:

"Tom Bombadil is not an important person -- to the narrative. I suppose he has some importance as a 'comment.' I mean, I do not really write like that: he is just an invention (who first appeared in The Oxford Magazine about 1933), and he represents something that I feel important, though I would not be prepared to analyze the feeling precisely. I would not, however, have left him in, if he did not have some kind of function."

Having shared this much, however, it seems that Tolkien could not resist analyzing the matter just a little more. He continued:

"I might put it this way. The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power, and so on; but both sides in some degree, conservative or destructive, want a measure of control. But if you have, as it were, taken 'a vow of poverty', renounced control, and take your delight in things for themselves without reference to yourself, watching, observing, and to some extent knowing, then the questions of the rights and wrongs of power and control might become utterly meaningless to you, and the means of power quite valueless...

"It is a natural pacifist view, which always arises in the mind when there is a war... the view of Rivendell seems to be that it is an excellent thing to have represented, but that there are in fact things with which it cannot cope; and upon which its existence nonetheless depends. Ultimately only the victory of the West will allow Bombadil to continue, or even to survive. Nothing would be left for him in the world of Sauron."

Later in the same letter, he adds a comparison of Tom to the Ents, along the same lines of the discussion between Treebeard and Pippin: "He is in a way the answer to them in the sense that he is almost the opposite, being say, Botany and Zoology (as sciences) and Poetry as opposed to Cattle-breeding and Agriculture and practicality."

In another letter, Professor Tolkien wrote to a reader offended by what he thought were religious overtones to Tom's characterization. Since Tom is described as "Master," he asked, and "Eldest", and "Fatherless," and seems to be possessed of great knowledge and power, wasn't Tolkien implying that Tom Bombadil is God? He responded:

"As for Tom Bombadil, I really do think you are being too serious, besides missing the point... He is master in a peculiar way: he has no fear, and no desire of possession or domination at all. He merely knows and understands about such things as concern him in his natural little realm. He hardly even judges, and as far as can be seen makes no effort to reform or remove even the Willow."

In this second letter, he again wrote that he did not like to examine Tom too closely:

"I don't think Tom needs philosophizing about, and is not improved by it. But many have found him an odd or indeed discordant ingredient. In historical fact I put him in because I had already 'invented' him independently... and he wanted an adventure on the way. But I kept him in, and as he was, because he represents certain things otherwise left out.

"I do not mean him to be an allegory -- or I should not have given him so particular, individual, and ridiculous a name... [he is meant as] a particular embodying of pure (real) natural science: the spirit that desires knowledge of other things, their history and nature, because they are 'other' and wholly independent of the inquiring mind, a spirit coeval with the rational mind, and entirely unconcerned with `doing' anything with the knowledge...

"Also Tom Bombadil exhibits another point in his attitude to the Ring, and its failure to affect him. You must concentrate on some part, probably relatively small, of the World (Universe), whether to tell a tale, however long, or to learn anything however fundamental -- and therefore much will from that 'point of view' be left out, distorted on the circumference, or seem a discordant oddity. The power of the Ring over all concerned, even the Wizards or Emissaries, is not a delusion -- but it is not the whole picture, even of the then state and content of that part of the Universe."

Tom is not merely a silly character. As we have seen, Tom is so powerful that the Ring of the Dark Lord has no effect on him. And yet this power does not define him, either. He receives a number of surprises and set-backs from not only the Barrow-wights and Old Man Willow, but even from a family of badgers! Whenever and wherever Tom appears, he displays many such incongruities.

This is certainly a part of his charm, and it may be part of his secret, too. As I noted above, Tom can embody certain aspects of humanity, such as silliness. In this way, of course, he is like any character in any story or poem. But there is even more to it than that, I think, because of the very fact that he embodies so many qualities that are incongruous and contradictory. If there is really a secret to be found in all this, or a message to be discerned, it may have to do with this abundance of contradictions. I suspect, finally, that the paradoxes of his character echo the paradoxes of being human, and that is why Tom Bombadil can be so intriguing. We are all of us, at times, powerful, and victimized; clumsy, and graceful; wise, and forgetful; troubled, and full of joy.

Perhaps this also further clarifies Tolkien's distrust of analysis. The complexity that Tom presents cannot be analyzed or defined, because after all it is related to the very nature of the human spirit -- mysterious territory, indeed! This territory can be explored, certainly, and pondered -- but misdirected "philosophizing" will lead only to a dead end. Tom himself presents us with the one of the best ways of approaching any mystery: happily, and with great interest, and with a sense of celebration.

Professor Tolkien wrote that some of his readers found Tom to be "an odd or indeed discordant ingredient" in The Lord of the Rings. He even wrote this of himself: "I mean, I do not really write like that: he is just an invention." Now, of course, he did in fact "write like that" time and again, throughout almost forty years as a writer. Otherwise there would never have been a Tom Bombadil for us to consider! But this is another side of what Tom presents: even Professor Tolkien could be uncomfortable with him at times.

Here is a final description of Tom from the hobbit Sam Gamgee: "He's a caution and no mistake. I reckon we may go a good deal further and see naught better, nor queerer." Although this observation is expressed in the typically comic language of hobbits, it is meant, I think, as the highest kind of praise.

Portrayal in Adaptions

One of the few things known about the 1956 radio series of The Lord of the Rings is that Norman Shelley voiced him, and Tolkien thought his portrayal "dreadful". Goldberry was portrayed as his daughter, rather than his wife.

In Mind's Eye's 1979 radio series of The Lord of the Rings, Bernard Mayes voiced Tom Bombadil.

He was deleted from the 1981 radio series, Ralph Bakshi's movie and Peter Jackson's movies. He contributed little to the storyline. The obtaining of the Barrow-blades is omitted or retold in all. Brian Sibley deeply regretted cutting him from the radio series[1], and included the "deleted scenes" as the episode "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" in the 1992 Tales from the Perilous Realm radio series. He is voiced by Ian Hogg.

In the 2001 video game The Fellowship of the Ring by Vivendi, Tom Bombadil was voiced by Daran Norris.

In the Recorded Books Inc recorded book that Rob Inglis narrated, he sang Tom's songs in a rollicking Scottish style.

Inspiration

Tom Bombadil may have been inspired by the character Väinämöinen (spelt 'Wainamoinen' in English) in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, or Father Francis Xavier Morgan at the Birmingham Oratory:

"...… Father Francis Xavier Morgan, then aged forty-three, who shortly after the Tolkiens moved into the district [Edgbaston] took over the duties of parish priest and came to call. In him Mabel soon found not only a sympathetic priest but a valuable friend. Half Welsh and half Anglo-Spanish (his mother’s family were prominent in the sherry trade), Francis Morgan was not a man of great intellect, but he had an immense fund of kindness and humour and a flamboyance that was often attributed to his Spanish connections. Indeed he was a very noisy man, loud and affectionate, embarrassing to small children at first but hugely lovable when they got to know him."

― J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography

See also

• Images of Tom Bombadil

External Links

• Entry in the Encyclopedia of Arda (a concise overview of the discussion)
• What is Tom Bombadil? by Steuard Jensen (a detailed explanation)
• Who is Tom Bombadil? by Gene Hargrove (a somewhat unorthodox but well-presented essay)
• Count, Count, Weigh, Divide discusses Tom Bombadil's moral aspects at length