TOM BOMBADIL
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'Tom Bombadil' is a supporting character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in Tolkien's fantasy epic ''The Lord of the Rings'', published in 1954 and 1955. In the first volume, ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', Frodo Baggins and company meet Bombadil in the Old Forest. He also appears in ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'', a book of verse first published in 1962, purported to contain a selection of Hobbit poems, two of which were about him.
Tolkien invented Tom Bombadil in honour of his children's Dutch doll, and wrote light-hearted children's poems about him, imagining him as a nature-spirit evocative of the English countryside, which in Tolkien's time had begun to disappear.
Tolkien's 1934 poem "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" depicts Bombadil as a "merry fellow" living in a dingle close to the Withywindle river, where he wanders, exploring nature at his leisure. Several of the dingle's mysterious residents, including the River-spirit Goldberry, the malevolent tree-spirit Old Man Willow, the Badger-folk and a Barrow-wight all attempt to capture Bombadil for their own ends, but quail at the power of Tom's voice, which defeats their enchantments and commands them to return to their natural existence. At the end of the poem, Bombadil captures Goldberry, and the two are married. Throughout the poem, Bombadil is unconcerned by the attempts to capture him and brushes them off with an inherent power in his words.
The later poem "Bombadil Goes Boating" anchors Bombadil in Middle-Earth, featuring a journey down the Withywindle to the Brandywine river, where Hobbits ("Little Folk I know there") live at Hays-End. Bombadil is challenged by various river-residents on his journey, including birds, otters and hobbits, but cows them all with his voice, ending his journey at the farm of Farmer Maggot, where he drinks ale and dances with the family. At the end of the poem, the cowed birds and otters work together to bring Bombadil's boat home. The poem includes a reference to the Norse lay of Ótr, when Bombadil threatens to give the hide of a disrespectful otter to the Barrow-Wights, who he says will cover it with gold apart from a single whisker. The poem mentions a number of Middle-Earth locations, including Hays-End, Bree and the Tower Hills, and hints at the events of the end of the Third Age, speaking of "Tall Watchers by the Ford, Shadows on the Marches".
The poems were published in the collections "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and later in "Tales from the Perilous Realm".
Within ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tom Bombadil is a mysterious figure. He and his wife Goldberry, the "Daughter of the River," still live in their house on the Withywindle, and some of the characters and situations from the original poem are recycled directly into story-elements for the ''Lord of the Rings''. In the book, he is described as "Master of wood, water and hill," and nearly always speaks or sings in stress-timed metre: 7-beat lines broken into groups of 4 and 3. He appears in three chapters, "The Old Forest," "In the House of Tom Bombadil," and "Fog on the Barrow-Downs." Behind Bombadil's simple façade are hints of great knowledge and power, though limited to his own domain.
Tom first appears within the story after Merry and Pippin are trapped by Old Man Willow and Frodo cries for help. Tom commands Old Man Willow to release them, singing him to sleep, and shelters the hobbits in his house for a while. Here it is revealed that the One Ring has no power over him. He can see Frodo even when the hobbit wears the Ring, and Tom does not turn invisible when he wears the Ring himself. He even tosses the Ring in the air and makes it disappear, but then produces it from his other hand and returns it to Frodo. While this indicates a certain power over the Ring, this idea is dismissed within Book Two's second chapter, "The Council of Elrond." Gandalf says, rather, that "the ring has no power over him", and believes that Tom's carefree attitude could cause him to misplace the Ring, proving disastrous for the opponents of Sauron, the story's antagonist.
Before sending the hobbits on their way, Tom teaches them a rhyme to summon him if they fall into danger inside his borders again. This proves fortunate, as the four encounter Barrow-wights during "Fog on the Barrow-downs," the eighth chapter of ''The Fellowship of the Ring''. After saving them from the Barrow-wights, Tom gives each hobbit a long dagger taken from the treasure in the barrows. As the hobbits leave the Old Forest, he refuses to pass the borders of his own land, but before he goes he directs them to ''The Prancing Pony'' inn at Bree.
In most film and radio adaptations of the story, Bombadil is notable by his absence (an exception are the Mind's Eye recordings). Both Ralph Bakshi and Peter Jackson have stated that the reason the character was omitted from their films was because, in their view, he does little to advance the story, and would make the movies unnecessarily long. Some of Bombadil's dialogue, as well as the scene in which the hobbits meet Old Man Willow, are transplanted into the scenes that Merry and Pippin share with Treebeard in Jackson's adaptation, included in the extended edition DVD.
During the Fan Credits' Audio Commentary on the extended edition DVD of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', Elijah Wood pays a small homage to Tom Bombadil, by giving a "shout out" to him. Elijah then also takes note of his absence.
Although Tom Bombadil was not portrayed in Peter Jackson's film trilogy of ''The Lord of the Rings'', The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game, by Decipher, Inc. (which had full use of Weta Workshop props and costumes), does contain a Tom Bombadil card. The model portraying Bombadil on this card is Harry Wellerchew.[1]
Bombadil has also appeared in a number of other adaptations, including the Mind's Eye radio adaptation. He was played by Norman Shelley in the 1955–6 BBC radio adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings''.
Although the character does not actually appear in the musical adaptation, towards the end of the show Gandalf explains to Frodo that on his journey back to the Shire he will spend some time in Bombadil's company.
Tom Bombadil is an NPC in the MMORPG game Lord of the Rings Online. He serves as a main character in Book 1 of the Epic-Quests, helping players cleanse the Great Barrow.
Of note, Tom Bombadil makes an appearance in EA Games' '' as a summonable hero for the forces of light (excepting the dwarves).
Tom Bombadil is a spry fellow, with a quick, playful wit. He has a jolly, carefree attitude, and very little seems to concern him. He certainly does not seem to share the same concerns as everybody else about the One Ring, even though he seems to know at least as much as the hobbits about its connections and possible consequences. Indeed, this aspect of his personality seems quite perplexing: the discussions of those at the council of Elrond at Rivendell, and especially those of Gandalf, seem to indicate that Bombadil would not be immune to the actions of a rejuvenated Sauron; however, he seems to be wholly unconcerned with this fact and immune to the power of the Ring. In fact, the closest thing to an adversary Bombadil has, in the loosest sense of that word, is possibly Old Man Willow, who occupies and holds dominion over the trees in miles of Tom's "country"; although Bombadil does seem to demonstrate at least some control over him.
Tom Bombadil's origins in the cosmology of Middle-earth are unknown; he does not neatly fit into the categories of beings Tolkien created. Speculative ideas about his true nature range from simply a wise Elven hermit (though his physical description is rather un-Elf-like) to an angelic being (a Maia or Vala), to the creator, who is called Eru Ilúvatar in Tolkien's legendarium. Tolkien himself did not state if any of these were correct, but when a reader confronted him with the theory that Bombadil is Eru, Tolkien said that he was not.[2]
At the Council of Elrond, Tom Bombadil is referred to by Galdor as being unable to deal with the ring "unless such power is in the earth itself", implying that the character is a manifestation of Middle-earth's inherent properties. This connection explains Bombadil's seeming obliviousness to the transient concerns of mortals, as evidenced in Gandalf's concern that Tom would not understand the importance of the ring, and hence lose it, if it were entrusted to him. The idea that Tom's songs are always "stronger", as he proclaims in his rhyme, as well as his title of Master, further suggest Bombadil is the warden of nearly invincible aspects of the planet itself.
He appears in an unrelated Tolkien poem entitled "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil."[3] Written but not published prior to ''The Hobbit'', this 1934 poem significantly predates the appearance of Bombadil in ''The Lord of the Rings''.
Gandalf calls Tom Bombadil the eldest being in existence; this is also evidenced by his Sindarin name '''Iarwain Ben-adar''' (Eldest and Fatherless). Dwarves called him '''Forn''' (Scandinavian, meaning "Ancient" or "Belonging to the distant past"), Men '''Orald'''. All these names apparently mean "'Eldest'." Treebeard calls himself the eldest living being of Middle-earth and that he was there before anyone else. However, Tolkien remarked:
"Treebeard is a character in my story, not me; and though he has a great memory and some earthy wisdom, he is not one of the Wise, and there is quite a lot he does not know or understand."[1]
In reference to Bombadil, Tolkien himself said that some things should remain mysterious in any narrative, hidden even to its inventor. Tom Bombadil is not the only being whose nature is unexplained, however. While passing the Caradhras in Book II of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' Gandalf mentions beings more ancient even than Sauron. In Book III of ''The Two Towers'', when describing his fall in the pits of Moria, he also mentions dark creatures who gnaw the world. In addition, Tolkien placed the fate of the Entwives in this enigmatic category, as well as the Cats of Queen Berúthiel.
Tolkien invented Tom Bombadil in honour of his children's Dutch doll. These predate the writing of ''The Lord of the Rings''. Tom Bombadil was, however, part of ''The Lord of the Rings'' from the earliest drafts.
In response to a letter Tolkien received from one of his readers, he described Tom's role in ''The Lord of the Rings'':
Tolkien did go on to analyse the character's role further :
Tolkien even seems to justify Tom Bombadil's presence:
: "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''
: "Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!/ Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow!/ Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!" — ''The Fellowship of the Ring''
: "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." - ''The Fellowship of the Ring''
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, with special reference to Letters 144 and 153.
1.
2. ''The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien'', No. 153
3. "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil," ''Oxford Magazine,'' 1934.
4.
5.
6. (''The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien'', No. 144.)
★ Entry in the Encyclopedia of Arda
★ ''What is Tom Bombadil?'' by Steuard Jensen
★ ''Who is Tom Bombadil?'' by Gene Hargrove
★ ''The Truth About Tom Bombadil'', a humorous theory about Tom's true identity (originally posted in rec.arts.books.tolkien).
★ ''Bombadil Discovered'' by Barb Beier
Appearances
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
Tolkien invented Tom Bombadil in honour of his children's Dutch doll, and wrote light-hearted children's poems about him, imagining him as a nature-spirit evocative of the English countryside, which in Tolkien's time had begun to disappear.
Tolkien's 1934 poem "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" depicts Bombadil as a "merry fellow" living in a dingle close to the Withywindle river, where he wanders, exploring nature at his leisure. Several of the dingle's mysterious residents, including the River-spirit Goldberry, the malevolent tree-spirit Old Man Willow, the Badger-folk and a Barrow-wight all attempt to capture Bombadil for their own ends, but quail at the power of Tom's voice, which defeats their enchantments and commands them to return to their natural existence. At the end of the poem, Bombadil captures Goldberry, and the two are married. Throughout the poem, Bombadil is unconcerned by the attempts to capture him and brushes them off with an inherent power in his words.
The later poem "Bombadil Goes Boating" anchors Bombadil in Middle-Earth, featuring a journey down the Withywindle to the Brandywine river, where Hobbits ("Little Folk I know there") live at Hays-End. Bombadil is challenged by various river-residents on his journey, including birds, otters and hobbits, but cows them all with his voice, ending his journey at the farm of Farmer Maggot, where he drinks ale and dances with the family. At the end of the poem, the cowed birds and otters work together to bring Bombadil's boat home. The poem includes a reference to the Norse lay of Ótr, when Bombadil threatens to give the hide of a disrespectful otter to the Barrow-Wights, who he says will cover it with gold apart from a single whisker. The poem mentions a number of Middle-Earth locations, including Hays-End, Bree and the Tower Hills, and hints at the events of the end of the Third Age, speaking of "Tall Watchers by the Ford, Shadows on the Marches".
The poems were published in the collections "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and later in "Tales from the Perilous Realm".
In ''The Lord of the Rings''
Within ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tom Bombadil is a mysterious figure. He and his wife Goldberry, the "Daughter of the River," still live in their house on the Withywindle, and some of the characters and situations from the original poem are recycled directly into story-elements for the ''Lord of the Rings''. In the book, he is described as "Master of wood, water and hill," and nearly always speaks or sings in stress-timed metre: 7-beat lines broken into groups of 4 and 3. He appears in three chapters, "The Old Forest," "In the House of Tom Bombadil," and "Fog on the Barrow-Downs." Behind Bombadil's simple façade are hints of great knowledge and power, though limited to his own domain.
Tom first appears within the story after Merry and Pippin are trapped by Old Man Willow and Frodo cries for help. Tom commands Old Man Willow to release them, singing him to sleep, and shelters the hobbits in his house for a while. Here it is revealed that the One Ring has no power over him. He can see Frodo even when the hobbit wears the Ring, and Tom does not turn invisible when he wears the Ring himself. He even tosses the Ring in the air and makes it disappear, but then produces it from his other hand and returns it to Frodo. While this indicates a certain power over the Ring, this idea is dismissed within Book Two's second chapter, "The Council of Elrond." Gandalf says, rather, that "the ring has no power over him", and believes that Tom's carefree attitude could cause him to misplace the Ring, proving disastrous for the opponents of Sauron, the story's antagonist.
Before sending the hobbits on their way, Tom teaches them a rhyme to summon him if they fall into danger inside his borders again. This proves fortunate, as the four encounter Barrow-wights during "Fog on the Barrow-downs," the eighth chapter of ''The Fellowship of the Ring''. After saving them from the Barrow-wights, Tom gives each hobbit a long dagger taken from the treasure in the barrows. As the hobbits leave the Old Forest, he refuses to pass the borders of his own land, but before he goes he directs them to ''The Prancing Pony'' inn at Bree.
In adaptations
In most film and radio adaptations of the story, Bombadil is notable by his absence (an exception are the Mind's Eye recordings). Both Ralph Bakshi and Peter Jackson have stated that the reason the character was omitted from their films was because, in their view, he does little to advance the story, and would make the movies unnecessarily long. Some of Bombadil's dialogue, as well as the scene in which the hobbits meet Old Man Willow, are transplanted into the scenes that Merry and Pippin share with Treebeard in Jackson's adaptation, included in the extended edition DVD.
During the Fan Credits' Audio Commentary on the extended edition DVD of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', Elijah Wood pays a small homage to Tom Bombadil, by giving a "shout out" to him. Elijah then also takes note of his absence.
Tom Bombadil as depicted in The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game.
Bombadil has also appeared in a number of other adaptations, including the Mind's Eye radio adaptation. He was played by Norman Shelley in the 1955–6 BBC radio adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings''.
Although the character does not actually appear in the musical adaptation, towards the end of the show Gandalf explains to Frodo that on his journey back to the Shire he will spend some time in Bombadil's company.
Tom Bombadil is an NPC in the MMORPG game Lord of the Rings Online. He serves as a main character in Book 1 of the Epic-Quests, helping players cleanse the Great Barrow.
Of note, Tom Bombadil makes an appearance in EA Games' '' as a summonable hero for the forces of light (excepting the dwarves).
Characteristics
Tom Bombadil's Nature
Tom Bombadil is a spry fellow, with a quick, playful wit. He has a jolly, carefree attitude, and very little seems to concern him. He certainly does not seem to share the same concerns as everybody else about the One Ring, even though he seems to know at least as much as the hobbits about its connections and possible consequences. Indeed, this aspect of his personality seems quite perplexing: the discussions of those at the council of Elrond at Rivendell, and especially those of Gandalf, seem to indicate that Bombadil would not be immune to the actions of a rejuvenated Sauron; however, he seems to be wholly unconcerned with this fact and immune to the power of the Ring. In fact, the closest thing to an adversary Bombadil has, in the loosest sense of that word, is possibly Old Man Willow, who occupies and holds dominion over the trees in miles of Tom's "country"; although Bombadil does seem to demonstrate at least some control over him.
Tom Bombadil's origins in the cosmology of Middle-earth are unknown; he does not neatly fit into the categories of beings Tolkien created. Speculative ideas about his true nature range from simply a wise Elven hermit (though his physical description is rather un-Elf-like) to an angelic being (a Maia or Vala), to the creator, who is called Eru Ilúvatar in Tolkien's legendarium. Tolkien himself did not state if any of these were correct, but when a reader confronted him with the theory that Bombadil is Eru, Tolkien said that he was not.[2]
At the Council of Elrond, Tom Bombadil is referred to by Galdor as being unable to deal with the ring "unless such power is in the earth itself", implying that the character is a manifestation of Middle-earth's inherent properties. This connection explains Bombadil's seeming obliviousness to the transient concerns of mortals, as evidenced in Gandalf's concern that Tom would not understand the importance of the ring, and hence lose it, if it were entrusted to him. The idea that Tom's songs are always "stronger", as he proclaims in his rhyme, as well as his title of Master, further suggest Bombadil is the warden of nearly invincible aspects of the planet itself.
He appears in an unrelated Tolkien poem entitled "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil."[3] Written but not published prior to ''The Hobbit'', this 1934 poem significantly predates the appearance of Bombadil in ''The Lord of the Rings''.
Names and Titles
Gandalf calls Tom Bombadil the eldest being in existence; this is also evidenced by his Sindarin name '''Iarwain Ben-adar''' (Eldest and Fatherless). Dwarves called him '''Forn''' (Scandinavian, meaning "Ancient" or "Belonging to the distant past"), Men '''Orald'''. All these names apparently mean "'Eldest'." Treebeard calls himself the eldest living being of Middle-earth and that he was there before anyone else. However, Tolkien remarked:
"Treebeard is a character in my story, not me; and though he has a great memory and some earthy wisdom, he is not one of the Wise, and there is quite a lot he does not know or understand."[1]
In reference to Bombadil, Tolkien himself said that some things should remain mysterious in any narrative, hidden even to its inventor. Tom Bombadil is not the only being whose nature is unexplained, however. While passing the Caradhras in Book II of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' Gandalf mentions beings more ancient even than Sauron. In Book III of ''The Two Towers'', when describing his fall in the pits of Moria, he also mentions dark creatures who gnaw the world. In addition, Tolkien placed the fate of the Entwives in this enigmatic category, as well as the Cats of Queen Berúthiel.
Concept and Creation
Tolkien invented Tom Bombadil in honour of his children's Dutch doll. These predate the writing of ''The Lord of the Rings''. Tom Bombadil was, however, part of ''The Lord of the Rings'' from the earliest drafts.
In response to a letter Tolkien received from one of his readers, he described Tom's role in ''The Lord of the Rings'':
"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 analyse the feeling precisely. I would not, however, have left him in, if he did not have some kind of function."
Tolkien did go on to analyse the character's role further :
"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."[1]
Tolkien even seems to justify Tom Bombadil's presence:
"And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."[6].
Tom Bombadil quotations
: "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''
: "Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!/ Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow!/ Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!" — ''The Fellowship of the Ring''
: "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." - ''The Fellowship of the Ring''
See also
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, with special reference to Letters 144 and 153.
References
1.
2. ''The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien'', No. 153
3. "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil," ''Oxford Magazine,'' 1934.
4.
5.
6. (''The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien'', No. 144.)
External links
★ Entry in the Encyclopedia of Arda
★ ''What is Tom Bombadil?'' by Steuard Jensen
★ ''Who is Tom Bombadil?'' by Gene Hargrove
★ ''The Truth About Tom Bombadil'', a humorous theory about Tom's true identity (originally posted in rec.arts.books.tolkien).
★ ''Bombadil Discovered'' by Barb Beier
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