What is Tom Bombadil?

One of the greatest mysteries for anyone who has read the books, is an enigmatic figure that saves our Hobbits not just once, but twice! on their way to Rivendell. But who was this ancient being, who had been there before any living thing existed on Arda? And where did he ultimately come from? And most importantly: what was Tom Bombadil?
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[@jbos5107]

I'm 64 years old, and I never even heard the name Tolkien in school. I'm a little mad about that. I haven't read the books, and now with age and terrible eyesight, I don't know if I ever will. I've been watching a lot of videos about the stories and Tolkien's work and I want to say that I really enjoy them and thank you for making them.

[@LP-jc1jw]

You can find the audiobooks for free on KZbin if you would like to listen to them.

[@gonova8412]

Tom Bombadil was Tolkien’s first character,(hence him being the oldest being in middle earth) one he made specifically for his children and I think he included him in LOTR as an homage to that. So, the fact that he is a character from a different story and a different world makes him invulnerable and completely unaffected by anything in middle earth.

[@VidaBlue317]

So Tom Bombadil is Switzerland - no cares save for milking his cows and hiding international drug money?

[@davidbellamy2612]

That's my thought as well. Given that Tolkien treated his inventions as Secondary (and real) worlds and not fantasy then Tom had to stay true to himself. I am sure that challenge was a joy for Tolkien. How could he portray a child-like but omnipotent being who knew nothing of adult evil and treachery? Well. you have him act as a child who literally is untouched by it but also unable to understand it. Tolkien never wrote him as having such knowledge (it wasn't needed in his stories) so he can't grasp it now. A clever touch that proves "stories" are "real"

[@Sagittarius-81]

All, too easy.

[@hugh.g.rection5906]

tom bombabitch was too afraid to be in the main story with the big boys

[@VidaBlue317]

@@hugh.g.rection5906 I don't think he was afraid of anything - he just had no concern for the outside world. I wonder if he realized how dire the situation was. Or maybe he somehow knew it would work out...

[@glennchartrand5411]

Tom Bombadil was a wooden doll the Author's children played with. Tolkien used that doll to tell them stories....stories that eventually grew into Middle Earth. The character is a tribute to how it all started.

[@davidbellamy2612]

But more than just a tribute. Tom was formed before Tolkien knew "choice" and "temptation" was going to be central to his new book, LotR. Logically that meant that Tom could neither be affected by or influence something he did not understand. It was as if Tolkien followed his own creation mythology rules and treated Tom as a real being who was exactly what he created years earlier for his children and that meant he had to be joyful, innocent, yet powerful and have no real understanding of evil. Yes, he was "first" because he had existed before Tolkien had really developed Middle Earth; Tom was more a being that existed when it was a child-like place and so he had to be as he is shown. One could even argue that he was what Eru anticipated/formed before the music became discordant.

[@gonova8412]

YES! I’ve been saying this all over you tube. Tom is the first character Tolkien ever created, hence him being the first and oldest. And bring from another world altogether makes him immune to the magic of middle earth. It’s so obvious.

[@JimmyMFP]

Interesting. This sort of monkey branches to my theory that TB is the narrative representation of JRRT in his own story; a character that can observe the universe internally, without impacting the universe too broadly.

[@Tasarran]

@@JimmyMFP That's always been my take; Tom is JRRT, or JRRT as he would wish to be in Middle Earth.

[@toddkurzbard]

"What is Tom Bombadil?" 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.

[@andrewblack7852]

Tom is literally the core theme of lotr. Nature as goodness and the dark of mans heart set against nature. Evil is against nature. Tom is nature itself. Everything in the story is upholding the goodness of trees, wood, hill, good food and good smoke. We are all hobbits inside.

[@josephvisnovsky1462]

My suspicion is Bombadil is a Father Time deity. Oldest and Fatherless. Time has no father, it has simply always been.

[@josephvisnovsky1462]

Or perhaps Bombadil is the personification of Eä itself. Not merely a nature diety of Arda, which didn't always exist. Eä, the universe is also fatherless.

[@Requiemslove]

@@josephvisnovsky1462 Tom is a fictional character "not of" Arda, not of the world, not of anything that Eru created with the flame. In a purely fictional sense, Tom is an anomaly in everything. The one exception, tolerated by Eru, because it proves the rule. I personally think of what he is, he is a manifestation of wild nature, an "avatar" of what Eru created, which created itself. [outside of Eru's imput] Because Tom can never be "evil" because he can never be "good", will always be neutral, and guided by his own sense of moral convictions, which ultimately align with being nice and decent and kind to all things that do no harm, his anomalous nature is tolerated by the creator.

[@BridgeTROLL777]

@@Requiemslove Beautiful comment and pretty much how i have viewed Tom Bombadil. I see Tom as a consequence of the song of eru and the "opposite" force to Ungoliant. if tom embodies the nature of arda as an avatar, Ungoliant is the embodiment of the discord and darkness that Melkor introduced in the song at the time of creation. Ungoliant inherited the thirst of Melkor who desired something he couldnt have and in the end this will lead to his destruction and purging from the world when Eru Iluvitar remakes the world. In the same way Ungoliants hunger led to his demise as he probably devoured him self, which is so poetic.

[@cejannuzi]

But then he makes a willow back down with force?

[@solidicone]

I always thought Tom was the most interesting entity in the lore because he seems to be almost outside of it. He isn't god, he isn't anything. He just is Tomb Bombadil and somehow in this case, that is enough.

[@punkypinko2965]

Tom Bombadil isn't part of the LOTR pantheon. He just is. Who is Tom Bombadil? He's Tom Bombadil. I think he's a mystery, not meant to be explained or accounted for, kind of like the Nameless Ones -- these creatures expand the LOTR universe to include other beings beyond it, which is why the ring has no effect on Tom when he puts it on his finger. There is no explanation for Tom. That's why he's so interesting -- he's a mystery that cannot be solved. Everyone who tries to classify Bombadil is missing the point. I think that's why Tolkien said people were taking Tom "too seriously." He's not some powerful figure who is to be revealed. He is just Tom Bombadil, nothing more, nothing less.

[@Cander617]

Wrong he is the main character of the new book dum dum

[@cjansenATL]

Ea is filled with categories, Tom Bombadil was deliberately made to be the lone exception.

[@supercoffeemug1921]

Tom is a special part of the Lord of the rings. I wish he had more of part in the books, but although it wasn’t that much of a part of the books he made an impression on each of the people who have read the books. Tom is completely the most influential mystery of the books. We all can speculate who he is.

[@calebowen2006]

I think that's a boring way to look at the world though. Personally I think it's more fun to search for explanations, even if they'll never come, than to just say it is what it is

[@TheSiladhiel]

This is actually not correct in my opinion. There is a purpose to Tom. And Goldberry. Tom was there before everything. But not everyone. Before Tom there was illuvatar. And all things that exist come from the secret fire which resides in iluvatar. The reason Tom is enigmatic and mysterious is because he was created by Iluvatar before Arda. There was Iluvatar, and the Ainur...and Tom. Tom was the test subject and original caretaker of Arda. He was created by ONLY iluvatar. there is NO discord in him. That is why the ring cannot affect him. He was created from, the pure un discorded sacred fire to care for Arda until the children of iluvatar (Elves and men) awoke. And the purpose of Tom was to shape and car for Arda. It was the Ainur (inlcuding melkor) who begged Iluvatar to allow them to enter arda and to help to shape and care for Arda as it was wondrous and beautiful to behold. Who is tom? A demi god created before the world to care for the world. Not the people in it. This is why he has no interest in the ring, the affairs of men.. and only intervenes with those or that which interferes with the natural order. But he was not made to fight. His power is not meant to destroy. He has no concept of battle etc. That was not his purpose. It was for the Ainur to make battle etc. And ultimately for the children of Iluvatar to face their ultimate test and cast off evil themselves. The entirety of the story is a life lesson to the Ainur. Do not fuck with iluvatar. When melkor sowed his discord he was told by iluvatar that though he is mighty, he too is of iluvatar and nothing more then an agent of his will and no matter the discord he sowed he would be shown that his discord...is nothing but a tool used to test the children of Iluvatar. Tom is just a shepard that proves that when he created the Ainur, and Melkor... he foresaw what would happen. All of it...even the ring... was Eru';s will. And Tom was his will literally manifest, like everything else. And through Tom we saw the only direct intervention of Eru in the lifecycle or Arda,a nd it came before the world was ever made.

[@negativezero3107]

Tolkien made sure he wasn't any of the assumptions, def NOT a Maia, he is something other, he went out of his way to make it unknown for specific reasons, this has been done by many in many stories, it leaves open exactly what has been happening, speculation and wonder, and this is a tool by many writers, there is a need to want something explained otherwise it is left up to you and your imagination can create things far more complex than words on paper, this is a gift Tolkien left by NOT explaining it, you see this with many great writers, and even movie makers not showing you the "monster". Also it makes it more personal, Tom is what YOU think he is, and I have had a thought before Tom is not Tolkien or God, Tom is YOU! You are the master, you were there before you opened the book with your bright blue eyes staring through the golden ring, the story. That has always been my take, Tom is the reader and some of his snarky quotes tell you this, rewatch under that mindset.

[@joels5150]

I think Tom is basically the embodiment of Arda. He manifested during its creation. He’s not Eru Iluvatar, nor any of the Valar. He’s THE spirit of the Earth.

[@MegaMadmechanic]

"for a second the hobbits had a vision, both comical AND alarming, of his bright blue eyes gleaming through a circle of gold" that sentence always intrigued me.... now it makes more sense, the hobbits couldn't understand exactly the power the ring had on Tom... but they sensed something! Also being in both worlds at once, Tom saw "invisible" Frodo heading for the door!

[@radicalcartoons2766]

You mean, the power the ring DIDN'T have over Tom.

[@MegaMadmechanic]

@@radicalcartoons2766 sort of... In that tolkien letter, he said something to the effect the ring has some kind of power over all, but with tom, it was so slight, the hobbits,(or anyone else), couldn't perceive it, but that one little line, kinda makes me wonder!

[@SeanRCope]

No,I think it’s Tolkien himself. His imagination was so deep he created a character to interact with the other characters he created if that were possible, Why not? He did it before. Wraps up the mystery nicely for me.

[@TheJhtlag]

He's probably one of the Ents, which I see as sort of satire of professors at Oxford of which he was one.

[@robmyers4512]

Love the way you tell the stories of tolkin bet youd do a brilliant audio book

[@jdspencer60]

I think it's more likely that he's the avatar of Aule. I'd love to hear what Gandalf talked to Tom about for 2 years after the LOTR events.

[@JoaoMariaNunes]

or an avatar from Eru itself, after all that existed was part of him, since he couldn't make his full presence known, what still gets me puzzled is the fact he had a wife after all Eru is a single entity, no gender, but then we have the fatherless thing, only Eru has no father....

[@JoaoMariaNunes]

remember Tolkien was a master of words, so words have a precise meaning, the fact Tom isn't Eru can be understood as my fingernail isn't me, but part of me, Tom can be a part of Eru, but not Eru...

[@zane4575]

​@@JoaoMariaNunes An avatar of nature. There's enough hints in the books as to what Tom may be

[@Eye_Exist]

The best explanation to me is that he is the avatar of Tolkien himself. 1. He doesn't fit into the description of any of the great beings created by Iluvatar. Tolkien was very specific about who and what kind of beings Iluvatar created and what kinds they were like. 2. He is described as the eldest, which the creator who created even Iluvatar, e.q. Tolkien himself literally is. 3. He portrays the aspects in life that Tolkien cherished the most: song, laughter, joy, kindness, silliness, nature, etc. 4. He is immune to the One Ring, which only the truest creator of the ring, Tolkien himself, obviously would be. 5. His appearance doesn't fit into the middle age fantasy world in any way at all. It is so truly bizarre, that there is very little reason to write any such type of creature in the world, if not written as the personal character of the writer, using the ultimate writer's freedom to be literally anything one wants to be. 6. He doesn't want to involve in the guest of the ring, even though he could either take the ring to himself for safe or take the ring to Mordor or accompany the hobbits. Any other type of being would eventually be destroyed by Sauron if he had won, so even the neutral beings had the motive to destroy Sauron and his ring for self defense. The only logical reason to not get involved would be to let the story happen, and there would be no good story to tell if invulnerable being would safeguard the protagonist to the victory. But he still wanted to meet the hobbits personally and lend them his aid, so he wrote himself to aid them in two moments of despair at the beginning and then send them forward without involving in the story any further. 7. Even though he explained to greatest detail everything in the world, he never gave a good explanation to him, despite of being bombed with questions about him. Secrecy about his true being makes perfect sense, because if his avatar, it would be very, very intimate to him. It wouldn't matter if people guessed that he is him, but openly telling that this is me would probably feel like taking all his clothes off in front of his readers. It is important to understand that Tolkien didn't just write few cool books - he literally spend his life in the world he created. the emotional connection to the world would be something so immense a mere reader couldn't ever understand. so it would only make sense for him to write himself an avatar to the world - a form in which he could safely travel through the dangers of the world unharmed and witness everything he wanted in first person physical form.

[@yggdrasild755]

What if Tom Bombadil is the reader him/herself as we are all a part of God ?

[@elijahgrimm8052]

was just about to say that.

[@Mettle_DAD]

4. I don't know that Tolkien would be so bold to hold himself unswayed by the one ring. Few are. But love your post It makes one think.

[@Meshifuari]

The second point kinda doesnt work as Tolkien has stated that Eru has even greater power of Middle Earth universe than he has.

[@Eye_Exist]

@@Meshifuari how is that a problem?

[@jerrymylove1754]

I used to work at a restaurant that called Tom bombadills in Hawaii. This was during the nineties. Not even sure if it’s still there. Had pretty good food and all the menu items were named after characters or things in the books.

[@matthewkopp2391]

Did the make Somoan Crab and call it boiled Shelob? I suppose at least they had crispy lembas bread.

[@Enerdhil]

This video is very impressive. I can't remember ever seeing any Tolkien KZbinrs use so many passages from the Letters of JRR Tolkien. Very well researched and presented. A+😁👍👍

[@radicalcartoons2766]

The Broken Sword ???🤫

[@Enerdhil]

@@radicalcartoons2766 🤣😂😆 Jake and James don't count because they probably stole that content from someone. The boys were flying high on the History of the Ages channel until KZbin shut that channel down for their many content violations. They never told us they had plagiarized Steven of The Red Book when he was posting content on Reddit. Thankfully, that got him to start his wonderful channel. Those guys never fessed up. Nor did they apologize to the artists and content writers whose work they just stole. Maybe they are paying someone to make content for them but they are frauds.

[@jamesnoe7378]

Maybe Tom is really Tolkien... He was happy in his world. great video

[@raydavison4288]

Although Tolkien may not have intended it to be so, the theory that Tom was an avatar of Eru IS the best explanation, imo. Sometimes a story can evolve beyond it's creator's intention. 😉

[@raydavison4288]

@alexadao8852: When did you learn to read and write? I am gonna say it was last year. 🙂

[@differous01]

"The sprit that desires knowledge... unconcerned with 'doing' anything with the knowledge" [9:25], was how Tolkien came to make the weird doll, Tom Bombadil (ostensibly for the kids, who found it disturbing), and how his love of languages led to creating artificial languages, preceding the intent to create a world to set them in. The Valar were unaware what their Song created, but it began with a Heydol !

[@jeffreytroublefield4265]

I think it's the greatest self insert, its Tolkien himself. He just wanted to go middle earth. That's why he sings his magic. And his power can literally chance the story.

[@robintropper660]

WHAT a lesson for LIFE! …. Thank you so much!

[@jettsom]

I always envisioned this part in the books like a dream passage lived by the hobbits. Of what Tolkien really think of the afterlife. free of any power, temptation, malice and material things (the ring). To just be at peace with yourself, others and our surrounding (nature).

[@radicalcartoons2766]

In the Council of Elrond they discussed sending the Ring back to Tom for safe-keeping. Gandalf says of him "Last, as he was First", implying that Tom was around since primordial times. Tom hints at this himself. Presumably the whole concept of Tom was thought of as too complex for the movie audiences.

[@MisanthropicOcellus]

I always liked the idea that eru encountered the essence that was bombadil alone in the voide then made a whole world for him

[@richardjames6947]

My thoughts on Tom Bombadil were partially influenced by my imagination, personal experiences and religious classes as a child while reading LotR. Eru Ilúvatar (God) reveals to the Ainur his great vision of the world through musical themes. Music changes many Ainur, creating Valar and Maiar. who assist with finetuning the world's creation. Gandalf is generally recognized as a Maiar and does tend to acknowledge Tom as superior in age, power and many other ways (including the One Ring having no power over him), which puts him into one of two categories, Eru Ilúvatar or Ainur/Valar. Tom's use and love of music may indicate the continuing creation of the world and finetuning through his music. Tom's aloofness to good and evil does not equal uncaring as his interactions with the world show caring. Tom teaches the Hobbits a rhyme (prayer?) to summon him if they fall into danger again within his borders. Tom's aloofness can best be explained by omniscience/omnipotence and that he either knows the future or is still creating it. I believe (IMHO) Tom Bombadil is an incarnation of Eru Ilúvatar (God) on Middle Earth.

[@enevitableparadox3735]

I think he is JR Tolkien himself, a way for the author to be in his own world.

[@mipammoudry5118]

I agree, here is my reasoning : 1. Tolkien states that the oldest LIVING thing in middle-earth is treebeard -> Tom Bombadil is therefore not alive -> Which means he is a spirit. 2. His wife is a river-spirit, it's safe to assume that Tom and Goldberry's natures are similar. He is therefore a spirit of something, like her. 3. He is not an Ainu like the Maiar or Valar. Rather, like his wife, he is a product of the music of creation. Therefore his free will is limited unlike most of the Ainur. He acts according to his nature only. 4. He is simple-minded and primordial in a way. Therefore we can conclude that he represents nature, purity and all that is good in Ea. 5. If Sauron had won, in the end, Bombadil would also fall, like all pure nature in middle-earth, consumed by the fires of industry and the dominion of the orc.

[@Requiemslove]

A sound hypothesis but it has one fundamental issue. Tolkien himself alluded that Tom Bombadil was "inserted" into the fiction of LOTR and from that, we must presume by transcendence of ownership, the Silmarillian, the "tome" that lay's out Tolkien's fictional world. If Tom is outside the fiction, how can he be of Eru's will, a creation of the flame imperishable? [Because he's outside of all that, not a part of it] I believe in a purely fictional term, he is a spirit, of a sort, a wild one that manifested as an avatar of wild nature, a product of self creation that exists outside of Eru's influence. Yet is also deeply concerned with progressing said influence and ultimately, stopping things that would erode it, such as the discord. His will is thus, naturally aligned with Eru's, and is why Eru can tolerate and accept one thing that he DIDN'T create. Tom Bombadil is not of Arda, but he is a spirit avatar of it's inherent nature, created from it. As far as Eru is concerned, a happy surprise, a thing tat came to be he didn't know was there, or could be, but is very happy with it's being.

[@CJ-111]

Great video. I find Tom fascinating

[@HVYMTL55]

In Arda J. R. R. Tolkien is Beren (see his headstone), Illuvatar couldn't enter Middle Earth without a trove of followers, Ainur are accounted for, Tom is a Maia. Excellent video.

[@NeuroD369]

Nailed it, brother. Thank you.

[@Mario-R-3232]

In a letter to Stanley Unwin, Tolkien called Tom Bombadil the spirit of the vanishing landscapes of Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

[@c.j.nyssen6987]

I think Bombadil sounds like a kind of landvættir, in Norse mythology a spirit of the land that cares for and protects the land where it lives. If the land is defiled, the landvættir weakens or dies. Tolkien would have been familiar with this concept, and surmises in the Council of Elrond that Bombadil would perish with his lands, "Last as he was First."... "Power to defy our Enemy is not in him, unless such power is in the earth itself. And yet we see that Sauron can torture and destroy the very hills."

[@riffwerk7070]

Fiddler´s Green, Embodiment & Soul of Nature.

[@mystuff8602]

I always thought of Tom Bombadil as the Melody of the Ainulindalë.

[@UrbanAnywhere]

He's a manifestation of Tolkien's storytelling. He represents the unknown, mystery and unexplainable enigmas. I can see why the one ring wouldn't have an affect on him. I can also see why he wouldn't care and misplace the ring. He's suppose to be unexplainable. Tolkien stated that it is intentional. Also that he isn't the Creator. Tolkien said "...And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally).""

[@bradgillette3325]

Tom was Illuvatar playing with itself, just for fun. That's what I'd do, just for joy.

[@sulaco1156]

I thoroughly enjoyed the video. While we know certain things about Tom, I am curious about what we do not know. Perhaps he is simply an observer in that world, similar to the Watchers in the Marvel Universe.

[@bayanimanansala5220]

Magic the Gathering recently collaborated with Lord of the Rings for a set of Magic cards. Part of the set is Tom Bombadil, which is a creature card in the set. A creature have creature types. For example, Gandalf is a Wizard Avatar. Tom Bombadil has a creature type of God Bard. This is a licensed product and it was approved that Tom Bombadil is a God. I dont know if this sways people’s opinion of what Tom Bombadil is, but this is a published product that had consultations with the franchise itself.

[@allenwood4771]

I look at Tom as a counterpoint to Melkor in the sense that Melkor was the principle of the discordant music. By the time of the Hobbits and the LOTR stories, discord was the majority song, but there must always be a presence of harmony or the song dissolves into chaos. Tom is that harmonious presence.

[@lhadzyan7300]

Regardless of Tolkien´s explaining on what is Tom Bombadil to his fan´s letter, it seemed to me that he couldn´t allow himself to openly dare to accept that actually Tom is a type of avatar of Eru Illuvatar himself within his creation to enjoy himself of it while getting a bit of closer direct survilleance on how things are going on there anyway, if needing a furtherly greater intervention as he did on Numenor´s sinking or on Gandalf´s return with higher powers (and so might explain whatever he and Tom got to speak about the very last time before leading Frodo into the Grey Havens) but usually just relying to acknowledge that was still a lot of good people in the world, of many kinds (elves, humans, dwarves and ents among others) so whatever evil lurking around might not be a big deal lasting a lot after all. However this view clashes a bit on the way how he wanted Eru to be as the Biblical deity of his personal religious beliefs, because kinda sets Illuvatar into a more type of divine being as the Valar or Maiar were too, which is inspired into the other non-Christian beliefs, so he couldn´t allow to have openly stating on that Eru Illuvatar might have had a lightier and trivial human-like side on himself fancying on material and temporal things into a very small pack of ground on the world. So he couldn´t afford to openly change or made him into a complex multilayer character, as it got against his personal beliefs deeply engrained as dogmatic restrictions on what he could made his world or not at the very foundations of it. So pretty much as he didn´t explained furtherly about Ungoliant´s true nature or about telling more of the Nameless Things of the deepest chasms of Moria, because might set up variations as if Melkor wasn´t the only one great evil deal to worry on the world and that actually a mightier third party might have come from OUTSIDE and was actually the true nature behind Melkor´s own corruption - which still doesn´t make sense in all to suddenly happen just because of his own free-will and well that kinda contradicts Eru Illuvatar´s intentions or made his more complex as doing an utilitarian contrasting purpose to make Good TO STAND OUT of its own against something opposite of it: a usual philosophical POV regarding Evil´s nature meaning as the proper reason why to make Good being appreciated furtherlymore than if there wasn´t any trouble or obstacle to overcome and learn/grown-up after it, which is a GREATER purpose after all, and well Illuvatar´s statement against Melkor´s irruption seems to explain that OR to think faster and readapt himself into unexpected irruptions from something OUTSIDE his planing to rearrange order once more! But of course if something else actually meddle on a little after causing Melkor´s corruption, and then the creation and intrusion of things as Ungoliant and the Nameless Things of Moria, this might imply Eru Illuvatar isn´t the only one alone outside of his creation or the Halls of Creation where he stands alongside the remaining Ainur which didn´t entered into Ea, and something within or behind the Void happens to be there, though Eru´s power allows to make some kind of barrier which makes unnoticeable whatever lies behind the darkness of the outer endless Void - and kinda seemed to me that Melkor got tricked as if he wen´t traveling endlessly into that Void when looking in vain for the Unperishable Flame of Creation which was only within Illuvatar himself, though he later shared a bit to Varda the Queen of Valars, and well all she did after it got that influence including the Silmarils henceforth their very special mighttiest ultimate power,, and well he maybe just was going on circles like a very little fish withing a huge crystal globe container so he actually never went out of the barrier of Eru´s protective space - and also made his own creation unnoticeable of whatever lies outside behind the invisible barrier within the Void. However it seemed to me that someone or something did noticed Melkor´s explorations outside on the borders, and something happened an leaked within afecting him and well more after it. Whatever caused this infiltration didn´t pushed on furtherly to explore, as got lost interest on it, or the barrier got restrenghtened after that failure and repelled the intrusion, and well since it didn´t wanted to get messed on the source of that mysterious repelling force in the Void, just went away but already infiltrating a bit of its own nature opposite of Eru´s goodness within that world mainly through Melkor himself. Besides why Eru Illuvatar kinda suddenly starts over to creating the Ainur and then the Universe later on into some time secuence after all, and hadn´t gotten up the idea earlier or later on? The state before the Ainur creation or even later on before the Ainulindale song happened to create the Universe, seems as it Eru was either meditating, thinking or actually even RECOVERING after something that could easily might have happened before, so he could easily have made his creation several times before - and might even be able to do it in the future - and was rethinking into made his creation better than before as he had done each time, hoping on to avoid it gets ruined either from within by Evil rising up without control, or by an outer attack from outside, because anyway regarless if even Eru isn´t the only one outside his creation restraining and there is actually a lot more into a macroverse type beyond him and his limits, he still might be the ONLY GOOD ONE, and well he manages to keep existing as whatever lies behind - pretty much as Lovecraftian lore-type of cosmic deities - is either AMORAL or plain wicked-evil, so he is the only one exception for that, and so... all the justifications of usual Christian lore of the Only One keeps standing on as linked on the purpose of Goodness standing out alone against everything else and thus being WORTHIEST than ever if were different, being pretty much the same as allowing the existence of the corrupted Melkor within the creation anyway. But well these ideas might have not been known on Tolkien´s lifetime and neither he was interested on them after his dogmatic views and beliefs so he couldn´t allow to have Eru became a more complex character than he was both on the lightier and mundane avatar version of Tom Bombadill enjoying his creation in direct way, neither wanted to delve deeper on Ungoliant´s origins and true nature or about the Nameless Things of Moria, because maybe explaining more will lead into some ideas as if a third evil party messed on Eru´s creation even causing Melkor´s corruption in part, and implyied an outer and even higher power opposite to Illuvatar, thus making kinda apparently weaker or meaningless in first glance about the Godness importance or creation itself in that way, if everything was against it, instead of rethinking better the relevance of that situation, but... it seemed to me that the idea for rethinking that wasn´t very much known then, so Tolkien didn´t wanted to be messing out the posibilities and left the mysteries standing alone as thrilling unexplained anomalies to enrichened his world but he didn´t wanted to delve better on that, and thus... when someone asked about it, he just said whatever other ideas got in mind about it avoiding to acknowledge those times when he actually might have switched into deeper and complex ways of thinking but got stuck into the restrainings of his dogmatic religious beliefs and well... it was just a dead-end anomaly after all that will be ever left on mystery causing people to speculate of it and get into at odds of each other, between the people who thinks outside-the-box of it and the ones which are very much stuck into Tolkien´s lore as dogmatic on its own too.

[@jasonfuentz4282]

🥱🙄

[@rorymorgan594]

Beautiful

[@oisinm332]

My idea is that he is a personification of nature itself.

[@seanconnolly5968]

I know what Tom Bombadil is! He is……. A merry fellow.

[@Rekaert]

The real-world origins of the character aside, I've always taken the view that creatures like Tom, Goldberry, Ungoliant and so forth are unintended consequences of Melkor's discord in the Ainulindale, or perhaps just unforeseen consequences regardless of what Melkor did.

[@ossianx8752]

Bombadil is an anagram of ‘ mad bilbo’ - this helps explain how he fits in and what he is.

[@neil999ish]

I think that Tom is a 'Maire' that didn't go to Valinor. He had control over 'Nature' in areas. Whilst powerful and wasn't affected by the one ring, during the Council of Elrond it was suggested that the ring be given into his keeping. Gandalf argued that 1. They could not get the ring to him safely. 2. That he would not see the need to gaurd the ring safely and overtime forget about it. 3. That even he couldn't withstand the forces of Mordor 'He would the last as he was first!' (Words to that effect).

[@cybersean3000]

If one puts the clues together, an answer forms. The simple answer is Tom Bombadil is the author himself, Tolkein. Both Tolkein and Tom were there at the creation of Middle Earth. Both control and have immunity of what happens in Middle Earth. The comparisons ate compelling.

[@brucemirbella2215]

I think that Bombadil represents the contemplative, monastic life. Tolkien was Catholic, and Catholicism recognises a way of living that dissociates one from the world and it’s pursuits in order to embrace the contemplative life in an authentic community. Bombadil is no monk (I agree with this author’s analysis), but he fills that space in the legendarium. It’s telling that Gandalf intends to visit with Bombadil for a good period of time at story’s end; he is “making a retreat” in Bombadil’s “monastery”.

[@graphixkillzzz]

i thought that Tom was the embodiment of satisfied contentment; individually, satisfaction and contentment allow us to continue on with life, but together they give us the ability to continue on past life. one who is both satisfied and content can never be manipulated, will never feel the need to change, and thus exists outside of the natural order of evolution.

[@pioneerspiritPS]

Tom is the Universe embodied.

[@MichaelClark-uw7ex]

I think he's an "aspect" of Eru Illuvatar existing in Middle Earth the enjoy his creation. When asked who Tom was , Goldberry only replied "he is"

[@marcusdupree3517]

ALL THE VIDEOS I'VE SEEN OF TOM AND NOT ONE EVER MADE ME THINK LIKE THIS OR GAVE ME THE INFO YOU HAVE GAVE ME LIKE ALL HIS NAMES... I LOVE THIS SHIT...

[@MysteriesOfWesternesse]

Thank you! 😂

[@KootFloris]

The real question should be: Why is Tom Bombadil? (in the story). Because the ring has no power over him, he shows we can be truly free of attachment. This is hope and help for Frodo on the way. The more serious we take stuff and it's assumed properties the more we are prisoners of it. (This product makes you free, this one beautiful, this ideology or religion saves you, etc). Hence Tom is a message for all of us.

[@radicalcartoons2766]

Probably why they cut him out of the movies - the concept that some creatures on Middle Earth could be immune to the power of the Ring(s) was too complicated for the movie audiences.

[@KootFloris]

@@radicalcartoons2766 Yes, and one more soft scene so early might feel too much. But yes, I fully agree. But I think because of this: The Ring Is Very Serious, we miss the message that staying free from addiction to power is the best way to deal with power. ;)

[@gerbenhoutman9348]

I see all other spiritual beings of Tolkien's universe, beginning with the Valar, to be incomplete in and of themselves. This leaves them vulnerable to the seduction of power because there are things out of their control. Bombadil, on the other hand, if complete, will not feel the will to power. I remember, at the end of the Ainulindalë, Eru laughs for much the reason that Bombadil laughs and is unconcerned. Eru is complete, Bombadil is complete. Regarding Tom's tiny domain, he still receives news from round about and can thus enjoy his creation as it unfolds. Interestingly the Shire remains unknown to the forces of evil. Almost as if it were hidden like Gondolin. Saruman appears to be ignorant of Bombadil on his borders during the scouring of the Shire.

[@chriscrane1541]

He is simply Tom Bombadil an "easter egg" for tolkiens real life children!

[@Araanor]

As a Faroese it surprized me that he's called Forn to the dwarves, as that literally means ancient in Faroese.

[@MysteriesOfWesternesse]

This is mainly due to the inspirations Tolkien took. As it concerns the name "Forn", Tolkien took this from the word in Old Norse. I'm happily surprised to see that word survive unaltered in both shape and meaning into present-day Føroyskt

[@voxorox]

If he were a Maiar, he would have been affected by the ring. But it was a useless trinket to him. He was beyond its influence. I stand by my headcanon that he existed before the Valar, before the song, probably part of an earlier creation of Iluvatar (I believe the same of Ungoliant and the nameless things). He just entered Arda when it was created, and made it his home.

[@IamGrief887]

He's Keith Richards. Tom Bombadil is Keith Richards.

[@yodieyuh6077]

Good ups. I take a non lore approach. The shire is our youth. The Ring is adult responsibilities. The trek to Mordor is youth being forced to grow up and face hardships. Tom is the youth that never grew up.

[@jerrydeem8845]

Subbed. Father time/mother nature, Tom, Goldberry? That's kind of been my take on things.

[@kuanged]

He was the hero of bedtime stories Tolkein used to tell his children. He's a transplant from another story board. That doesn't make him a god, it makes him meta.

[@rossreynolds5153]

Tom is just a great guy.

[@danszymanski1633]

Eru Illùvatar is Tom Bombidill in a certain regard. Notice the same letters are in each name. Tolkien said he was his first character. So in a way it may even be a stand in for Tolkien.

[@Requiemslove]

Tom Bombadil was before any of the fiction, a plaything, a doll for Tolkien's children, which eventually became his first character. That is why Tom is "oldest". He is the prototype character, the first fictional being Tolkien envisioned. As for "what" he is in so far as the fiction is concerned? I don't think he is a Maya. Because they are like the Valar, actually, because we KNOW their names. There was not an endless amount of them, with new ones just cropping up, their numbers were finite, as they were all connected with the Valar, lesser beings, subordinates of the great spirits. In the fiction, I actually believe that Bombadil is a manifestation of wild nature. He exists outside of the constraints of the Valar of nature [I forget her name] and came to be as the world began, he just "began" as he is, was and has always been. Insofar as the ring, it can have no affect on Tom Bombadil. He is "like" a Maya but not quite, and since he is as I stated, a manifestation of wild nature, rings of power have no concern to him. Although even Tom admits that should all other things fail, he too would be overcome by the darkness, which is exactly what would happen to wild nature if the Dark Lord got his way, and brought all things under his control. [which is Suarons plan, and the plan of his ancient master, Melkor]

[@caleschley]

I don't think we should spend too much time trying to explain Tom Bombadil. I think he's just a crossover character, tossed in for fun, without any deeper consideration.

[@MrJohnnyj424]

He is a manifestation of the spirit of the world.

[@radicalcartoons2766]

Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are the reason I have never seen TLoTR movies, because they cut them out. He was essential to the story. Without having this one character in the whole of Middle Earth who was immune to the power of the Ring, you couldn't contrast how everyone else struggled to resist it.

[@kyndramb7050]

He makes the story more interesting, but is like Beorn. A port in the storm. The calm before action. As someone who was not exposed to the story until the films were released, and only read the books last year; it doesn't matter. The films leave many things out, mostly subtext. When I watched it the first time I had no fucking idea what was happening. When Gandalf and Saruman are talking for the first time it only makes sense if you've read the books. I know this now. There are many instances like this. Like Aragorn's whole backstory, his healing people (king's are healers), his un-natural age, etc. I recently re-watched them and found it much more enjoyable in some parts, and far less enjoyable in others-depending on book accuracy/adaptability

[@DailyNihilism]

@@kyndramb7050 i do think they just took him out of the movies because he represents god and they didn't want it too obviously religious.

[@ryantudor9230]

I'm currently going through the books and I just got to Bree, and I wondered if Tom was some kind of god, when he put on the ring and it did nothing to him, to Frodo putting on the ring disappearing and Tom's the only one in the room who can still see him.

[@sirisrex7542]

Tom is a bard from another dimension. A character from a different tale. Tolkein's reality becomes much looser and playful the more you zoom out. What the characters experience as reality is simply a song from Eru and Tom, like the reader, peered in from another place to hear it be sung. I think Tolkein likes to nod at the fact that these are characters in a story, their story is within our story, and that perhaps this keeps going on ad infinitum. Maybe there are Toms within our realm, beings from elsewhere content with witnessing the opera of existence and enjoying creation for creation's sake. Don't you, as a reader, hop around to different worlds tending to your forest of imagination? I like how the universe is a song, and our quantum interpretation describes reality as a function of frequencies. Vibrating strings projecting existence. Dude was ahead of the curve.

[@jw-hy5nq]

I believe he is a being created when the world was sung into being and remembered how to create other things through his own singing. Like the dark being Melkor sang into being so was he but as a counterpoint to them.

[@hillbilly2330]

Father Time and his wife Mother Nature.

[@adamt4214]

From my understanding of this character he's not good or bad he's neutral he balances out all things in the forest

[@johnpalace6481]

I'm not sure now but I think I read in the book Morgoths ring, Tolkien made it clear that Illuvatar could not possibly enter his creation. So that rules out any ideas of Tom being God.

[@The_Gallowglass]

Tom and Goldberry remind me of Adam and Eve if they hadn't been cast out, or if they were allowed back into paradise. They have everything they need.

[@svampen7782]

I think Tom is Eru. Or rather an aspect of him, he is the creator and infinitely complex being so i dont think its too hard to imagine that he made an aspect of himself that walks the earth. Cause i dont think he is just sitting in the timeless halls doing nothing. Multi task is not a difficulty for him id imagine.

[@driftwood9705]

I thought I heard someone tell me that Token wrote himself into the series as Tom ? Don’t know if it’s true, I don’t remember who told me, but someone said some thing like that.

[@user-ov5zm5rz3v]

Tom Bombadil's existence is inevitable. When a baby grows up and thinks and reacts, an ego is created. Tom Bombadil is the theme of the land (Earth) part, that is, the soul, that was born from the Song of Creation created by Baleo under the direction of Iluvatar. The earth is nothing at first, but when the first stream flows from it and the first oak tree grows and drops its acorns, it establishes itself by witnessing them. He remembers all of that because he is the very earth itself and the beginning of everything in the world started with him, who was made of Valya's song. That is why he does not try to force anything and is not bound by anything. This delightful and perhaps imprudent world-soul owes no one to being born as a parent, and is itself a fully-born creature. This incomprehensible mass is incomprehensible even to Maia Gandalf, who witnessed its birth. Of course, that doesn't mean that Tom Bombadil is a perfect immortal being like a god. Just as humans can destroy nature, creatures can also harm Tom. However, the weapons made by the evil creatures, especially the rings, themselves have already come from Tom, so they cannot suppress Tom or seduce him. Therefore, Tom is no one's servant or subordinate. The fact that Strawberry calls her husband, Tom, 'master' is an ambiguous expression that her Tom is her husband and his own master.

[@Freddercheese]

I think I’ve figured it out: Tom knows he’s fictional - along with everything else. he lives in such a specific place because, simply, he wandered the world and stayed at the place he liked best. he would disappear if Sauron won because there wouldn’t be anymore handsome places to live. he would eventually lose the ring because he knows that not a single real life would be lost if Sauron won. as for where he came from… I dunno.

[@negativezero3107]

I cracked your code JRR! and you found it silly nobody knew it outright.

[@TheMrReee]

Tom Bombadil is a combination of Father Time and the Green Man, a male Mother Nature.

[@scratcharmstrong]

I think he is the representation of nature. Unstopable force that can never be controlled.

[@Feuerbach1]

Do we need to know more than: Tom Bombadil is merry fellow, bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow? Well, and that he is Master? A brilliant textual ruin, I don't care what exactly he is!

[@toringepedersen9614]

I always just thought of him as the opposite to Ungoliant. She craves all the light and the world, he does not.

[@StumpkillerCP]

Tom Bombadil is a demi-god. Immortal (so far as far as the Third Age). Not a god or creator - but the equivalent of Lorien from the Babylon 5 series. The last survivor of the first ones/race that were a product of creation. He may be unique. A singularity. Thankfully Tolkien left him as an enigma. We should have such things to exercise our imaginations and explorations.

[@PhotriusPyrelus]

I realize you cannot make a video of infinite length, but I do find it curious your omitted the first bit about Tom in Letter 144: "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" So he's not important to the narrative, but does represent something Tolkien feels is important to himself, but at the same time he doesn't want to analyze that feeling. How very peculiar. I have long wondered about this character; he was inexplicably my favorite character from first reading Fellowship, despite (or perhaps because of) his brief appearance, and it equally inexplicably always upset me that Jackson removed him from the movies. I have told myself Jackson did it because Tom undercuts the - to me - primary theme of LotR: power corrupts, but the older I grow, the more feeble rationalization that seems. After reading through the comments here, I am content to wonder. And it would seem that perhaps Tolkien agrees with me in another omitted segment of a letter your reference (153): "I don't think Tom needs philosophizing about, and is not improved by it." Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow; Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.

[@MysteriesOfWesternesse]

We omitted that first part for a reason, as our video concerns things that were, and are, not important to the narrative of the story of the Lord of the Rings. There were many things that Tolkien omitted from there for that reason, like the fact that Sauron was only the lieutenant of Morgoth, or who and what the Valar were. But though those things were not important to the narrative of the LotR story, they can very well be important to their own stories and fables within the wider world of Arda. The reason Tolkien chose to omit that which was not important to the narrative, even though it WAS important to him, is because he understood the sacrifices one must make in order to tell a story, as he later wrote in letter 153, explaining why he left the One Ring's influence on Tom unexplained. As for your final point, you have indubitably a grain of truth in your conclusion. Some mysteries are indeed better when not too deeply investigated. But some would still like to investigate. So we made the choice to explain anyways. Thus we can please those who are still curious, as well as those who simply want to learn the basis about Tom, or just want some nice story to run in the background. But for you, we are very happy that you have found your contentment and that our theory hasn't harmed the mystery that you enjoy 😉 Thank you for your comment. It was a delight to read and contemplate!

[@EdgedShadow]

I always wonder about the circumstances of his meeting dwarves. It seems odd they'd venture into a forest like his.

[@radicalcartoons2766]

But the Old Forest was utilised by the Shire Hobbits. They wouldn't have even thought of it as a route out, if they hadn't used it for generations in the past. Maybe Tom was of an older race of Hobbits. His house was certainly designed exactly to make them feel comfortable.

[@davidmiddleton7958]

Tom Bombadil is of the order known as the Maiar (please forgive the spelling), an order of spirits below Manwe & others.

[@poochersmontgomery8825]

Why have like 30 content creators all done Tom in the past few days?!?!!?!

[@skatemetrix]

Tom Bombadil is an outlier. Someone that was always there in the Void that decided to enter Arda. There is one character / entity that is completely overworldly and very incongruous in Arda: Ungolient, a great sentient spider who devours light. Thus Tom's origins, like Ungolient's, cannot be precisely explained. Just like Ungolient. People talk alot about the mystery of Tom Bombadil, but I see an even bigger mystery: what is Goldberry, the River's Daughter? Goldberry fits even less into the world and defies any categorization.

[@daniellefaure9817]

I suppose that if Tom was Tolkien Goldberry could be Tolkien's wife. A little like a sort of Beren and Luthien out of time. Sorry for my bad english but Tom and Goldberry are the persons I prefer in all the story and the night dreams were very important too.

[@TheJgray17]

He’s the first slave made by Sauron’s people by mix breading several groups that turned out how the breeders wanted, smart enough to do the work, old enough to keep people in check, by being able to pass himself off as ancient one with little quips and quotes, as well as weak enough never to question their motives for fear of torture, rape, death, etc. Therefore everyone is supposed to leave him alone while the Orc armies assimilate, rape and/or kill their way through all of earth to create more people like tom bombadi so the slavers can put themselves in charge of the world’s people and resources. He is also used as a spy by Sauron’s people to gain intelligence on areas they put him in while seemingly arguing with Sauron and the orca make no mistake he is of the same group…

[@Diamonddogusa]

Isn't it obvious? The blue glow from his eyes? He's a Fremen.

[@markgreiser464]

I think he is Illuvator and have said this , on other Forums and Comment Sections.

[@balin1920]

I belive he is the opposite of the nameless things from the depths. They were created from the discord in the song of creation and Tom/Goldberry were instances of perfect harmony in the song. That would fit his power(Balrog was cautious of the nameless things) and his great age.

[@wardka]

I've long thought Tom might be a cameo appearance of the author himself who was clearly present before Middle Earth. But then he seemed to identify with Beren, so I don't know.

[@Camelotsmoon]

Tom Bombadil is the incarnation of the song iluvatar sung itself. He was the first, he is more powerful than the istary yet unaffected by the ring of power itself, and iluvatar himself had no incarnation.

[@concernedhomosapien9807]

Could he be the opposite of nameless things? Like the light/good/just version of them

[@torch_k8110]

Man that’s what I was thinking! I mean it makes sense if they were made by the clashing of the music that at least one part of melkor’s and aule’s songs would harmonize. I do like the videos justificaron by saying that Tom is completely satisfied though, that was something I never thought about

[@NV86thr]

Tom Bombadil is Eru Iluvatar in disguise

[@davidbellamy2612]

Tom Bombadil is "an intellectual challenge" devised by Tolkien for himself. If Tom is going to stay true to himself and his origin then how should he be portrayed if he appears in LotR ? He existed before Tolkien discovered that he was going to write an adult novel where there will be complex choice around evil and treachery. Hence Tom can't grasp such concepts nor can he be influenced by them. He came from a world where that stuff didn't exist so he is untouched by it. The analogy would be the film "Pleasantville" where the characters were completely unaware of sex, color, double beds etc and lived happily but naively/innocently without such things.

[@blackfam972]

Tom Bombidil is JRR Tolkien himself in the afterlife

[@Feverdream7777]

He is the oldest of the living sentient beings in the world. What created the world was the music of the Ainur, and Illuvatar proclaimed it into being....Thematically, and in sequence, the Ainur sang a song of the start, middle. and finish of all Arda in a single piece of music. We know Tom Bombadil is the first of life sentience of Arda. Therefore, I can only conclude that he is the living avatar of the world of middle earth. His being is the representation of the first movements of all the Ainur singing the music for the delight of Iluvatar. He is the embodiment of the idea of Arda complete....before Melkor tried to take over.