Tom Bombadil
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Tom Bombadil is a supporting character in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. He first 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.
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Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow! Tom Bom! merry Tom! Tom Bombadillo!
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[edit] In The Lord of the Rings
Within The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil is quite a mysterious figure. He lives a day's journey away from the nearest settlement with his wife Goldberry, known as the "Daughter of the River". Within the book, he is described as being "Master of wood, water and hill." He 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 there are hints of great knowledge and power.
Tom first appears within the story after Merry and Pippin are trapped and squeezed by Old Man Willow and Frodo cries for help. He commands Old Man Willow to release them, singing him to sleep, and he 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 the second chapter of Book Two, "The Council of Elrond." Gandalf believes that Tom's carefree attitude could cause him to misplace the Ring, which could prove disastrous for the opponents of Sauron, the antagonist of the Lord of the Rings.
Before sending the hobbits on their way, Tom teaches them a rhyme to summon him if ever they fall into danger inside his borders again. This proves to be fortunate, as the four encounter Barrow-wights during "Fog in the Barrow-downs," the eighth chapter of the Lord of the Rings. After Tom saves them from the Barrow-wights, he gives each of them a long dagger taken from the treasure in the barrows. As the hobbits finally leave the Old Forest, he takes his leave of them, as he will not pass the borders of his own land, but before he goes he directs them to The Prancing Pony inn at Bree.
[edit] 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.
See also: The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, with special reference to Letters 144 and 153.
[edit] Tom Bombadil's nature
He is a spry fellow, with a quick, playful wit. It seems his only adversary is Old Man Willow, who holds dominion over miles of Tom's "country".
Tom Bombadil's origins in the cosmology of Middle-earth are unknown; he is arguably the only character in Tolkien's entire legendarium who does not neatly fit into any of the categories of beings Tolkien created. Speculative ideas about his true nature range from simply a wise Elven hermit 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 was correct, but when a reader confronted him with the theory that Bombadil is Eru (God) (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No. 153), Tolkien said that he was not.
He appears in an unrelated Tolkien poem, written in 1934.[1]
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 (Scandinavian, meaning "Ancient" or "Belonging to the distant past"), Men Orald. All these names apparently mean "Eldest." However, Treebeard calls himself the eldest living being of Middle-earth and that he was there before anyone else. Bombadil is just called the "eldest." If Tom Bombadil is indeed not a normal being, but rather a supernatural being or "concept" this is not necessarily a contradiction (Treebeard is likely the oldest living being, while Bombadil could be an older supernatural being). Concerning Treebeard, Tolkien remarked: "[Treebeard] is a character in my story and even he does not know everything." It is possible, then, that Treebeard's knowledge omits Bombadil. Whatever the case, Tom Bombadil was almost certainly created to be an enigma.
In reference to Bombadil, Tolkien himself said that some things should remain mysterious in any narrative, hidden even to its inventor. He also 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.
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.
[edit] Letter
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 analyze 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 analyze 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."[2]
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)."[3].
[edit] 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
[edit] Portrayals
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.[4]
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.
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' The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II as a summonable hero for the forces of light.
[edit] Influence
Nickel Creek, an American bluegrass trio, released an acoustic instrumental tune called "House of Tom Bombadil" on their self-titled album in 2000.
Tom Bombadil is a Spanish Celtic folk band from Castellón de la Plana.
[edit] References
- ^ "Tolkien later wrote a poem about him called "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil," published in Oxford Magazine in 1934, long before the writing of the Lord of the Rings began." An Essay by Gene Hargrove
- ^ Editor-Ronald McCloskey. J.R.R Tolkien - Mythos and Modernity in Middle-earth. John Peterson. Retrieved on 2006-07-03.
- ^ (The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, No. 144.)
- ^ Kathy McCracken (July 22, 2004). The Making of the Weta "Book Cards": Casting and Costuming. Decipher Inc. Retrieved on 2006-07-03.
[edit] 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
