Tom Bombadil

[Brian G Turner]

What was the point of Tom Bombadil?

I see this character as from a time when Tolkien was going to write Lord of the Rings as an extension of The Hobbit - essentially, still a children's book (okay, Young Adult fiction ) in nature.

So this mystical, magical, character is created, perhaps as a mirror to the role of the changling Beorn in the Hobbit - a person with magical powers "of the earth".

What really surprises me, though, is that the character was ever left in the final story - Tom Bombadil plays no real role in Lord of the Rings, and when he appears at the end, he's just another name running about with a sword.

From discussions of people who know the history of Middle-Earth better than me, Tom Bombadil is apparently connected via the background writings (I presume dated later than the Hobbit), and is revealed to be an exceptionally powerful entity, who could wield the One Ring without any fear of harm or twising of purpose - yet shies from ever doing so, effectively because he "can't be bothered" (my paraphrase).

From that perception, Tom Bombadil comes across as an editorial left-over that should have been quite removed from the books - surely there is simply no excuse for creating "demi-god" characters, only to then completely shy from utilising their demi-god nature in the story itself?

OR - have I desperately confused the meaning and purpose of Tom Bombadil?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Tom Bombadil, if I remember correctly, was the hero of a whole cycle of stories that Tolkien told to his children, predating LOTR. He does seem to have been shoe-horned into the tale of the Ring, at a time when Tolkien was still trying to figure out what it was all going to be about. Or maybe because the character had some great personal meaning for the professor, one that he never wholly articulated.

Some people think that Tom was one of the maia (there may be hints to that effect somewhere in the HOME books, or Tolkien's letters). As with many of his other characters, Tolkien's ideas about Bombadil probably continued to develop after he wrote LOTR. For instance, right up until he died, he was still rewriting Galadriel's early history. (!!)

And so, to answer your question about confusing the meaning and purpose of Tom Bombadil: Maybe, but then again maybe not.

 

[Lacedaemonian]

I suppose you have to address what Tolkien was trying to achieve, which was to recreate a new history of Albion. As to 'What was the point of Tom
Bombadil?', well for me he introduced the Hobbits and the readers to the sheer magic that awaited 'us' outside of the Shire. And for me this was another safe haven, in a land swamped in hellish danger. A big psychological factor when considering how few santuaries there are throughout the book, just Rivendell and Loth'lorien. I concede that this entry was potentially to satisfy personal interests and would probably not survive many editors knives in todays market, but hey it adds to the magic, mystique and beautiful wonder of this amazing literary achievement.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, not exactly a new history, but a new mythology, to replace (or uncover) some of the mythology of Britian that he felt had been lost.

And mythologies, unlike novels, are pretty fluid things. What they say and what they mean can change over time.

Tolkien did, according to Tom Shippey, try to construct (or reconstruct) parts of that mythology by analyzing various obscure linguist puzzles. Other things seem to have been drawn from Tolkien's personal life and experience. (He even said as much about certain aspects of the Beren and Luthien story.)

 

[Lacedaemonian]

History/mythology? Both touch on a perceived truth.

 

[polymorphikos]

Well, without the Old Forest and the Barrow Wights it would have been a straight-jump to Bree, which would have been quite dull since those are two of my favourite parts. And without Tom Bombadil, then the hobbits would have been eaten by a tree, or had their throats cut by wights. He serves the story as an incidental character, and shows how the Ring, for all of its terror, is still only a little thing in the scheme of it all. He also provides a way of seeing how, for all the horrors of the world, it is only a passing phase that, across history, is merely the bat of an eye. I don't think there is any concrete reason, but Bombadil is interesting enough to justify his existance, and if you were going to write a book that big and make every little aspect strictly relevant to the greater plot, it would be a very linear and dull experience.

Plus the whimsy. So much delightful whimsy. And who doesn't love whimsy?

 

[rune]

Personally I wouldnt have missed the scenes with Tom Bombadil and feel the story didnt need the distraction. For me there was too much distraction to the actually story in LOTR's and Tom Bombadil was definately one of them.

 

[Lacedaemonian]

Thomas, they clearly do not comprehend the joys of whimsy. Strange that people question Thomas Bombadil, when all the people I know who have read the book love this chapter. Not only that but they get very upset when losers bridge over the chapter.

For me I just love the pure enigma of the man, as well as harbouring sexual desires for an imagined Goldberry who always plays the female lead in all of my scrawlings.

 

[Morning Star]

It was a very surreal part of the book for me. I felt Tom and his beloved to be entirely supernatural entities with physical ties to Middle Earth (as they are documented and known by the elves.)

Sort of like an anomaly, (sp?) a being of supreme power who took it upon himself to aid and observe the travels of the small and more than likely amusing (to him) hobbits. I always felt the placement of the ring upon his finger to be a scene-stopping moment.

 

[Ashen Shugar]

What was the point of Bombadil? Enjoyment! As a kid, I loved the guy. Hey ho, derry oh, ring a ding a dillo and all that! Where's your sense of fun? Stop looking too deep into things. The untimate point of writing is to entertain, not provide subject material for analysis. Hang on, that's what I'm doing now...gotta go.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Hi Ashen Shugar and welcome to the chronicles network.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

For me I just love the pure enigma of the man, as well as harbouring sexual desires for an imagined Goldberry who always plays the female lead in all of my scrawlings.

Should it worry me that, for once, I find myself in compelte agreement with Peter?

 

[Lacedaemonian]

Hello Ashen Shugar, or are you Thomas?

 

[Ashen Shugar]

Hello Ashen Shugar, or are you Thomas?

Hello back! Depends on the day - today there'll be no despotism so I guess it's Tomas, but tomorrow...they are 2 sides of the same coin after all.

 

[chartreuse]

I always had the impression that Bombadil was supposed to be God, or at least as omnipotent as God. After all, he is "the Eldest." Tom is pure, he is a totally natural being, and the ring has no power over him. In this respect, he's kind of allegorical. He's neither good nor evil--he just exists and takes care of his domain. It really annoyed me that Bombadil, The Old Forest and the Barrow Downs weren't in the movie, and yet they had all the extra Arwen/Aragorn stuff which didn't do much for the plot at all. I suppose they wanted to use Liv Tyler as eye candy, but COME ON, stick with what's important! Hey, and another thing, Arwen didn't save Frodo at the ford!

 

[Ashen Shugar]

What Chartreuse said sums up my feelings precisely. Liv Tyler could just as easily have been eye candy as Goldberry. The Barrow Downs would have looked great on film, and after an encounter with the Old Forest, Fangorn would have meant more later on.
Who would you get to play Bombadil if you were to include him in the movie? I'm having trouble casting the guy in my imagination with an actor.

 

[dwndrgn]

Just to throw my two cents' worth into the pot...

Tom Bombadil may have been a 'throwback' or an inclusion for pure entertainment value or he could have been an example of the mythology Tolkein was going for. For whatever the reason, I found it to be a wonderful part of the book and wouldn't remove it or skip over it for any reason. Without it, part of Frodo's trials and tribulations, his introspectives and reasons for continuing his 'quest' are missing. That's the main reason I was a tad annoyed he was left out of the films. In addition to the fact that he's just fun and mysterious and the kind of thing that makes people enjoy the wonder of life.

Regardless of the arguments to and fro, Tom Bombadil is part of the LOTR 'mythology' and doesn't need a reason to be there.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Although the Aragorn/Arwen subplot may seem very minor and unimportant to the rest of the story (I admit that it seemed so to me for a long time), if you read Tolkien's published letters and some of his notes in the HOME books, you find out that for the professor himself it was vitally important, and central to the whole plot in all sorts of different ways. The marriage of Arwen and Aragorn was the culmination of thousands and thousands of years of Elf and Human history.

Tom Bombadil and Goldberry were also important to him, but not in every one of the same ways. He had been telling stories and writing poems about Tom for a long time. But all his attempts to define Bombadil in terms of the LOTR/Silmarillion mythos and attach some specific meaning to his presence in LOTR were indecisive (even for Tolkien who continually revised his ideas). His importance to Tolkien seems to have been more emotional and personal than literary or mythic. The story of Arwen and Aragorn had all these elements.

I don't totally agree with the way that most of the extra Arwen and Aragorn, Arwen and Elrond, Arwen and (fill in the blank) movie scenes were conceived and written, and I do miss old Tom and Goldberry, but its not on the basis of their comparative significance to the story.

On the question of who could play Tom, if he had been included in the movie: before I learned that they had cut him out of the story, I had already mentally cast Robin Williams in the role.

 

[Neil040]

For whatever the reason, I found it to be a wonderful part of the book and wouldn't remove it or skip over it for any reason. Without it, part of Frodo's trials and tribulations, his introspectives and reasons for continuing his 'quest' are missing. That's the main reason I was a tad annoyed he was left out of the films. In addition to the fact that he's just fun and mysterious and the kind of thing that makes people enjoy the wonder of life.

Regardless of the arguments to and fro, Tom Bombadil is part of the LOTR 'mythology' and doesn't need a reason to be there.

I am on the pro Tom side in this for sure.. its true he played no further significant role but his presence was mysterious and definitely helped to move the story along into the magical and dangerous.. I would miss that part of the book too..

I loved all the woodsy bits too and Tolkien's descriptions of forests and trees always fascinated me.. from the Tom Bombadil section to the woods of Lothlorien.. Fangorn... and so on.. the Ents were a stroke of genius! I have spent a fair bit of time in forests around Shropshire mostly, being in the forestry commission as a young man, and I found a few bits of ancient woodland often deep in the more managed modern forest.. still surviving.. that reminded me of some of those descriptions... One of the old foresters showed me to a massive yew tree once.. very deep and hard to find.. that clearly could be shown the cut points where they had taken staves to turn into long bows... the girth of the tree (yew being the slowest growing of english trees) suggested that it was possibly two thousand years old!

That sends you back a bit in your mind as you sit and contemplate such a tree for a while...

 

[ommigosh]

I never really understood but completely loved the Tom Bombadil episode in the books and was disappointed it didn't make it to the films.

I have often wondered if the Bombadil character represents what Tolkien himself would most like to have been in Middle Earth. Apart from the world, full of songs, a bit of a recluse, completely content, wise, mostly unbothered by the world's troubles and adventures but capable and resourceful if really needed.
And always Goldberry is waiting for him at home....

just a thought