Anke Eissmann – In the House of Tom Bombadill

In the Books:
The Tom Bombadil sequence is a long and rather involved one, providing the reader with a lot of interesting (if unecessary) back information.
After the Hobbits’ trip through the Old Forest and their unsucccessful cross-country jaunt, it is late afternoon in late summer.
The Hobbits encounter Tom Bombadil after Old Man Willow attempts to drown Frodo and traps Merry and Pippin.
Bombadil rescues Merry and Pippin, and leads the four friends back to his house for supper. Talking in half rhymes and apparent nonsensical singsong, the hobbits are not sure what to make of this strange being.
In Bombadil’s house, the hobbits are introduced to his wife Goldberry, whom Tom introduces as the River-daughter. The hobbits enjoy supper there, and spend the night.
While asleep, three of the Hobbits- Frodo, Merry, and Pippin- foreshadow later events in the dreams each has: Frodo dreams of a dark tower surrounded by a ring of mountains. Fell voices cry below, and an eagle swoops down and bears away a man standing atop the tower. Pippin dreams of again being trapped inside Old Man Willow. Water fills Merry’s dreams, pouring into the house and rising all around him till he fears drowning.
The following morning dawns without a shadow of the night’s dreams upon the world, but the day brings heavy rains, making it impossible for the hobbits to start out, so they spend the day with Bombadil and Goldberry. Tom “then told them many remarkable stories”, some nonsensical, some old tales dealing with the noble and sad history of the region.
The following day dawns fair, and Tom sees them off with a warning to mind the Barrowdowns, and teaches the four a song to sing if they should ever need his aid within his borders.

That same day brings fog to the Barrow-downs, and by way of an unplanned afternoon nap the Hobbits get dangerously behind schedule, for with the fog and the coming night they get lost. Frodo becomes separated from the others, who are taken by a barrow-wight into a barrow. Trying desperately to find his companions, Frodo is rendered unconscious by a wight, and taken into the same barrow as his friends. Threatened with becoming a wight himself, Frodo calls Tom Bombadil with the song he had taught the Hobbits. Bombadil appears, casts the wight out of the barrow, and helps Frodo bring the other three out of the mound. After leaving the treasures of the mound on the hill for any to take, Tom gives the Hobbits each a sword from the collection.
From there Bombadil rides with the hobbits until they “came back to the Road after many unexpected adventures.” Here Bombadil leaves them, and the Hobbits ride down along the road to Bree.

 

Ted Nasmith – Beyond the Old Forest

In the Movies:
Omitted.

Why the omission?
Like many other sequences in Book I before Rivendell, this was most likely left for time constraints. Even avid fans of Bombadil admit that it adds little to the movement of the story, though it an interesting sequence and certainly one of my favorites. Tolkien himself has said that this sequence was written before he himself had a clear idea of where the story was going. It is reminiscent of any sequence in The Hobbit, and reflects the innocent tone that begins The Lord of the Rings- a little danger swiftly resolved, good food, lots of stories, and interesting characters.

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Related Information
Interesting Links
A summary of Lord Of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring can be found in Elrond's Library.

Some articles that are related to this chapter:
You can find some of Tom's poems and songs in the Middle-earth section of Elrond's Library, in the Songs from Tom Bombadil sub-section.

Forum threads related to this sequence:
- Who Is Tom Bombadil? in the Books Forum, and Tom Bombadil in the Book Club discuss the 'enigma' called Bombadil.
- The BIGGEST Blunder? in the Movies Forum deals with the matter of putting Tom in the movies - or no?

Take a look at how some artists interpreted this chapter:
- Old Man Willow with Tom, by Ted Nasmith
- Tom Bombadil by Aleksandr Kortich
- Tom saves Hobbits by Roger Garland
- Beyond the Old Forest by Ted Nasmith
- Tom Bombadil by Hildebrandt
- Tom Bombadil by Michael Green
- Tom Bombadil by Ivan Allen
- Tom Bombadill by Cimatoribus

Not pleased with the book or the movie, take a look here: