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Wandering Noldo
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Post Who is Tom Bombadil
on: February 12, 2017 06:53
Hi, I'd like to hear peoples opinion on Tom Bombadil. So far I've encountered the following theories
1) A maia
2) A vala
3) Some nature spirit
4) Eru Illuvatar
5) Tolkien
Personally I'm in for no. 5. What do you think?
He felt a delight in wood and the touch of it, neither as forester nor as carpenter; it was the delight of the living tree itself.
Gandolorin
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on: February 13, 2017 04:27
Hi, Wandering Noldo,

checked back in the earlier threads of this sub-forum, and found two threads you might want to give a read:

Forum Home » Books Discussion » Discuss the Books » Who is Tom Bombadil?, it's currently at the bottom of page 4, with 122 posts;

Forum Home » Books Discussion » Discuss the Books » Fight, Flight and Tom B. [keep], currently in the second half of page 10, with 28 posts, if not all about TB.
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Wandering Noldo
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on: February 16, 2017 06:40
Thanks
He felt a delight in wood and the touch of it, neither as forester nor as carpenter; it was the delight of the living tree itself.
tarcolan
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on: February 17, 2017 03:18
In a letter to Naomi Mitchison (#144 in 'The Letters')Tolkien explains that he felt it was right to include Tom in the story, even though he had been invented long before even 'The Hobbit' was written. He makes the point that the story is about the battle between good and evil but that both sides desire or at least require power and control. Tom represents a third approach of selfless delight in simply experiencing the world with no wish to wield power over it.

But although Tom seems immune to the forces in the world Tolkien says -
"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."
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Gandolorin
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on: February 18, 2017 03:22
tarcolan said:
"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."


Yes, maybe, tarcolan. But as far as "survival" is concerned, I believe that Bombadil's (and Goldberry's) physical forms were "garments" as were the incarnated forms of all the Valar and Maiar of Arda. I also believe that it would have taken nothing less than the actual presence of Sauron confronting Bombadil to cause Bombadil to retreat from his domain. No servants, no armies of Sauron's would be enough.

And then think about the One Ring (containing very much more than half of Sauron's power) having absolutely no effect at all on Bombadil. Would a Sauron, who had depleted his vastly inferior power in comparison to Melkor / Morgoth, due to his two defeats, really have been able to cow Bombadil? Being German, the vision of West Berlin, fairly far in the east of the GDR, and without any doubt a spike in the side of the Soviet Union's ambition for whatever domination they may have envisioned, comes to mind ...
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Strider5
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on: March 05, 2017 12:09
I believe Tom is something that isn't definable. Maia makes the most sense based of Gandalf's desire to speak with him at the end of Return of the King. Yet I strongly believe that Tom is a part of Tolkien himself. Much like Faramir is Tolkien in the military, Tom is Tolkien at peace in the country. Yet the simplest and most canon would be that he is a Maia of kin to Gandalf and Melian.
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