I thought this was a fun speculative piece. It’s almost an argument for Tom Bombadil being a Lovecraftian Elder God. I wonder if the Entwives fell under his grasp and became the terrible, twisted, hate-filled trees like Old Man Willow we all know and love from the Old Forest.
Oh, that’s inspired. Twisted, bizarre, but inspired.
Very interesting. Now I feel like I have to go back and re-read some stuff.
Me Likey.
Wow. I’ll never be able to read that part of the book again without thinking of this.
I dig the interpretation, though I was a little taken aback at the assertion that Bombadil is “possibly the least liked” character in LotR. I always really liked him.
Yeah, me too. Maybe because I always suspected he had a dark side.
The first time I read LOTR, Tom B. was my favorite character. With each successive reading, I find I like him less and less, and now he’s a major annoyance.
This is incredible. I got chills.
I always wanted to read the story he was supposed to have been in and that he’d been left out of LOtR.
Do you mean this? (from Wiki)
**The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ** Tolkien invented Tom Bombadil in memory of his children’s Dutch doll, and wrote light-hearted children’s poems about him, imagining him as a nature-spirit evocative of the English countryside.
Tolkien’s 1934 poem “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” depicts Bombadil as a “merry fellow” living in a small valley close to the Withywindle river, where he wanders and explores nature at his leisure. Several of the valley’s mysterious residents, including the River-spirit Goldberry (also known as the “River-woman’s daughter”), the malevolent tree-spirit Old Man Willow, the Badger-folk and a Barrow-wight all attempt to capture Bombadil for their own ends, but quail at the power of Tom’s voice, which defeats their enchantments and commands them to return to their natural existence. At the end of the poem, Bombadil captures and marries Goldberry. Throughout the poem, Bombadil is unconcerned by the attempts to capture him and brushes them off with an inherent power in his words.
The later poem “Bombadil Goes Boating” anchors Bombadil in Middle-earth, featuring a journey down the Withywindle to the Brandywine river, where hobbits (“Little Folk I know there”) live at Hays-End. Bombadil is challenged by various river-residents on his journey, including birds, otters, and hobbits, but charms them all with his voice, ending his journey at the farm of Farmer Maggot, where he drinks ale and dances with the family. At the end of the poem, the charmed birds and otters work together to bring Bombadil’s boat home. The poem includes a reference to the Norse lay of Ótr, when Bombadil threatens to give the hide of a disrespectful otter to the Barrow-wights, who he says will cover it with gold apart from a single whisker. The poem mentions a number of Middle-earth locations, including Hays-End, Bree and the Tower Hills, and hints at the events of the end of the Third Age, speaking of “Tall Watchers by the Ford, Shadows on the Marches”.
The poems were published in the collections The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and later in Tales from the Perilous Realm.
Could have used a bit more proof, but excellent essay nevertheless; thanks for sharing it.
If you scroll down through the comments, someone does a capable job of refuting the piece.
This excuse-maker has clearly fallen under the sway of the Mad Piper of the Barrow Downs.
It’s a fun read… maybe it will be an excuse for me to not skip over that section of the Fellowship next time I read it.
But… it’s obviously not the author’s actual belief (he says so) and it only holds up if you make certain assumptions and exaggerations. Almost a shame really, because I’m in the camp of people who think it was a mistake to put Bombadil in the story at all.
I don’t mind that Jackson decided to cut Bombadil from the film, but had he kept him in, I wish he could have been played by Tom Baker.
Lovecraft meets Tolkien… and bests him. Nice.
I never liked Bombadil. I found him annoying, for his songs, dancing and brainless merriment, and frustrating, for his unwillingness or inability to help the Free Peoples in their fight against Sauron, despite hints of his vast and ancient power.
I prefer Tom Benzadril and Hashberry.
The analysis turns somewhat on the notion that Bombadil lives in a dangerous place filled with dangerous, evil things, so he must be eevil too. The counter to this is that Bombadil was so badass cool that he never even notices the dangerous nature of where he lives, because it’s not dangerous at all to him.
The cruel geometry, the eldritch cant:
“Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dadar!
Iar Wain, jolly wain, Iarwain Ben-adar!”
Or Tim Benzedrine.