Re: LOTR

> 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

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