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Re: LOTR

From:The Gray Wizard <dbell@...>
Date:Saturday, November 10, 2001, 13:57
> From: Adam Walker > > I think you have, quite simply, failed to look closely and deeply > enough to > realize who and what Tom Bombadil is. His character appears only briefly, > but that brief moment is essential to understanding the world in which the > Ring-saga can occur.
Well, Tolkien scholars with better credentials than mine have consistently considered Tom something of an enigma. Even JRRT calls him such in one of his letters. To claim him "essential to understanding the world in which the Ring-saga can occur" would be hard to establish, IMHO. Rather than being essential to understanding the Ring-saga world, Tom is in many ways alien to it. His character was clearly imported into the LOTR mythos, coming from earlier work unrelated to the mainline Silmarillion-based mythos. Tom was originally a doll owned by JRRT's son. The doll inspired a story fragment which in turn became the basis for the poem "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil". It has been claimed that Tom's appearance in the early chapters of the book is indicative of JRRT's early vision of the work as a children's book, a sequel to and in the style of The Hobbit. As the work developed, the world of the LOTR began to merge with that of the Silmarillion where Tom seems much more out of place. JRRT did, however, elect to leave him in and thought he had good reasons for doing so. "...I kept him in, and as he was, because he represents certain things otherwise left out." I suppose he is the exception that proves the rule, as it were. While everyone else is involved in the struggles between good and evil, and the lust for power, Tom has renounced control, remained outside and is thus immune to it all. This would be reason enough to leave him in, but my objection is to leaving him in "as he was". JRRT is just simply too good a story teller to have settled for this "Hey dol! Merry dol!" character to represent this idea, IMHO.
> > Adam who won't say another word 'cause it's only satisfying if you find it > yourself
Obviously, this is all much too profound for me! "As a story, I think it is good that there should be a lot of things unexplained (especially if an explanation actually exists)... And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)." - JRRT. Stay curious, David David E. Bell The Gray Wizard i guronar demith ir gonar amis www.graywizard.net Wisdom begins in wonder. elivas en ishron ordelmar cotronian istran yani godran udhelfas

Replies

John Cowan <cowan@...>
Dan Jones <dan@...>