# Who or what is Tom Bombadil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291 "2002-12-22T00:37:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HomeSlice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9d8465/32.png) [@HomeSlice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomeSlice)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/1 "2002-12-22T00:37:52Z")
??? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/2 "2002-12-22T01:06:33Z")
“Real world” answer is that he was a character he used to tell his kids bedtime stories about (also possibly the name of one of their dolls) many years before the Lord of the Rings. Fantasy answer is much more complicated and unclear, try searching the archives, it’s been done here many, many, _many_ times. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/3 "2002-12-22T01:16:57Z")
Meet my chick, she name Hashberry 🙂 Got to go now as rush is coming ohwowowowowowow "£%&%£%%%%%%% ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/4 "2002-12-22T01:18:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TPWombat \* > \*\*"£%&%£%%%%%%% \*\* I mean @£@@$%%&&&^@$$£ ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/5 "2002-12-22T01:26:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HomeSlice \* > \*\*??? \*\* He was a very interesting character in the book Lord of the Rings. He was not included in the movie for some reason. He was interesting because he had a connection with nature, was immortal (or dang close to it), and he could see Frodo when he was invisible. He lived in a forest with his wife (?) and saved Frodo, merry, pippin, and sam’s butts from trees that were trying to devour them. ---
**Author:** ![HomeSlice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9d8465/32.png) [@HomeSlice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomeSlice)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/6 "2002-12-22T01:30:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meatros \* > \*\*He was a very interesting character in the book Lord of the Rings. He was not included in the movie for some reason. > > He was interesting because he had a connection with nature, was immortal (or dang close to it), and he could see Frodo when he was invisible. He lived in a forest with his wife (?) and saved Frodo, merry, pippin, and sam’s butts from trees that were trying to devour them. \*\* I gathered all this from reading the book. Peter Jackson did not include Tom Bombadil in the film because it would of taken way too long without advancing the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/7 "2002-12-22T01:37:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HomeSlice \* > \*\*I gathered all this from reading the book. Peter Jackson did not include Tom Bombadil in the film because it would of taken way too long without advancing the plot. \*\* I see. I think I misinterpreted your question. The answer to your question is: I haven’t the foggiest… ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/8 "2002-12-22T01:40:18Z")
I always thought that Tom Bombadil was a deity of some sort, either a nature deity, or possibly GOD himself. ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/9 "2002-12-22T01:40:50Z")
Leaving Tim Benzadrine out of the movie was a huge mistake… ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/10 "2002-12-22T01:49:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*I always thought that Tom Bombadil was a deity of some sort, either a nature deity, or possibly GOD himself. \*\* I got the feeling too. I don’t think he was God though (if their was only one). Who would his wife have been? I don’t know why, but I always though of Bombadil when I read dragonlance (Fizban). ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/11 "2002-12-22T03:00:11Z")
Tom Bombadil just is. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/12 "2002-12-22T03:18:22Z")
What a neat topic for a thread. I’m really surprised we have never had a thread on this subject before, or even this week. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/13 "2002-12-22T06:27:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HomeSlice \* > \*\*??? \*\* Evidence that someone was in need of a good editor. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Vanyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@Vanyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vanyel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/14 "2002-12-22T07:43:01Z")
Could he be the Tulkas, one of the Valar? > [@](#): > > Greatest in strength and deeds of prowess is Tulkas, who is surnamed Astaldo, the Valiant. He came last to Arda, to aid the Valar in the first battles with Melkor. He delights in wrestling and in contests of strength; and he rides no steed, for he can outrun all things that go on feet, and he is tireless. His hair and beard are golden, and his flesh ruddy; his weapons are his hands. He has little heed for either the past or the future, and is of no avail as a counsellor, but is a hardy friend. His spouse is Nessa, the sister of Oromë, and she also is lithe and fleetfooted. Deer she loves, and they follow her train whenever she goes in the wild; but she can outrun them, swift as an arrow with the wind in her hair. In dancing she delights, and she dances in Valimar on lawns of never-fading green. > Oromë is a mighty lord. If he is less strong than Tulkas, he is more dreadful in anger; whereas Tulkas laughs ever, in sport or in war, and even in the face of Melkor he laughed in battles before the Elves were born. Oromë loved the lands of Middle-earth, and he left them unwillingly and came last to Valinor; and often of old he passed back east over the mountains and returned with his host to the hills and the plains. He is a hunter of monsters and fell beasts, and he delights in horses and in hounds; and all trees he loves, for which reason he is called Aldaron, and by the Sindar Tauron, the Lord of Forests. Nahar is the name of his horse, white in the sun, and shining silver at night. The Valaróma is the name of his great horn, the sound of which is like the upgoing of the Sun in scarlet, or the sheer lightning cleaving the clouds. Above all the horns of his host it was heard in the woods that Yavanna brought forth in Valinor; for there Oromë would train his folk and his beasts for the pursuit of the evil creatures of. Melkor. The spouse of Oromë is Vána, the Ever-young; she is the younger sister of Yavanna. All flowers spring as she passes and open if she glances upon them; and all birds sing at her coming. Sound familiar? ---
**Author:** ![Vanyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@Vanyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vanyel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/15 "2002-12-22T07:50:42Z")
[on second thought…](http://tolkien.slimy.com/essays/Bombadil2Flawed.html) Some good points, but I still think that descriptions sounds pretty close. Maybe some kind of fallen (from power, not from good) valar? ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/16 "2002-12-22T08:07:40Z")
“Within the Tolkien household Tom Bombadil was originally a Dutch doll belonging to one of Tolkien’s children (Carpenter, Tolkien, p. 162; Grotta-Rurska, Tolkien, p. 101). 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. When Tolkien decided to introduce Tom into the trilogy, little needed to be changed about him or his poem except for the feather in his hat - changed from peacock to swan-wing, since peacocks do not live in Middle-earth (Tolkien, Letters, pp. 318-19).” [Full essay here.](http://www.cas.unt.edu/~hargrove/bombadil.html) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/17 "2002-12-22T09:18:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BabaBooey \* > \*\*Leaving Tim Benzadrine out of the movie was a huge mistake… \*\* _Tim, Tim, Benzdrine, Hash, boo, Valvoline, Clean, clean, clean for Gene! First, second, neutral, park, **Hie thee hence** , you leafy narc!_ And his ode to Hashberry is a thing of beauty. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/18 "2002-12-23T00:49:21Z")
I always thought that Tom B was something like the embodiment of song. As such, he both in nature and above/separate from nature. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/19 "2002-12-23T04:15:02Z")
Tom is a riddle without an answer, and every answer is correct. Except [this](http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/theories/bombadil.htm) one. I’ve actually become to lazy to open the book, but he says something to the effect of, “Haven’t you guessed my name? What is your name when you’re alone?” I think Bombadil originated as a private thing between Tolkien and his children but became a way for the author to invite readers to participate in the fantasy. In his letters and other writings, Tolkien spelled out the past and future of many of his characters in obsessive detail, but deliberately left Tom undefined as a challenge to the reader. It worked. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291/20 "2002-12-23T20:00:01Z")
“Hop a hill, pop a pill, for good Tim Benzadrino!” I must admit, I didn’t mind his absence from the film. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-or-what-is-tom-bombadil/144291.md?page=2)