[00:00:00] So I am reading Lord of the Rings for the first time, as most of you know. And as I've been reading, I've had lots of questions, but lately I just have one question. Who the fuck is Tom Bombadil? Don't even get me started on Goldberry. I might have to do a whole other essay on her, but please let me know in the comments how the river can have a daughter. What the heck is that?
[00:00:28] I am not a rookie in this lore. The movies are my favorite movies of all time, and I think they're the best movies ever made. I read The Hobbit in high school, and I used to play all the video games and board games and watch all the appendices. So I knew the character of Tom Bombadil, and I knew that he existed. But what the actual heck? I mean, this man puts the ring on. The very ring that Frodo was supposed to destroy, and nothing happens to him. He seems impervious to any evil.
[00:00:58] This is what the book says about that little story. Show me the precious ring, he said suddenly in the midst of the story. And Frodo, to his own astonishment, drew out the chain from his pocket, and unfastening the ring, handed it at once to Tom.
[00:01:14] It seemed to grow larger as it lay for a moment on his big brown skin hand. Then suddenly he put it to his eye and laughed. For a second, the hobbits had a vision, both comical and alarming, of his bright blue eye gleaming through a circle of gold. Then Tom put the ring around the end of his little finger, and held it up to the candlelight. For a moment, the hobbits noticed something strange about this man. They gasped. There was no sign of Tom disappearing.
[00:01:43] Tom laughed again, then he spung the ring in the air and it vanished with a flash. Frodo gave a cry, and Tom leaned forward and handed it back to him with a smile. There's no chance that this would happen with Gandalf. And at this point in the story, Gandalf seems like the most powerful being that ever existed. Again, note that I am only in chapter 7 of Fellowship of the Ring, and haven't read the rest of the text, or any of the other Lord of the Rings lore.
[00:02:08] Also, shameless plug as always, if you want my unorganized thoughts on all these chapters as I'm reading through it, and I'm doing an essay pretty much on every single chapter. Sometimes, you know, two essays, because there's a lot of thoughts on each chapter that I have, so it's hard to just narrow it down to one essay. But anyway, subscribe, because I think you'd like this kind of content, if you like Lord of the Rings. But Gandalf feared the ring. He didn't want it because he knew it would be too powerful, and the darkness would overpower him. At least, that's how I interpreted it.
[00:02:36] If I get things wrong too, please let me know in the comments, but don't give me all the deep, deep spoilers, please. But here is Tom Bombadil, not being offered the ring, but asking Frodo for it. Frodo's just willingly giving it to him too, which is kind of nuts. Then he puts it on, and nothing happens. Is this man the god of Middle-earth? There's an incredible line that Goldberry uses to describe Tom when Frodo asks. Fair lady, said Frodo again after a while.
[00:03:04] Tell me if my asking does not seem foolish, but who is Tom Bombadil? He is, said Goldberry, staying her swift movements and smiling. Yeah, like that answers the dang question. In the books say Frodo does exactly what we all did when we read that line, or at least what I did. It says Frodo looked at her questioningly. Then she responds with, He is as you have seen him, she said in answer to his look. He is the master of wood, water, and hill.
[00:03:34] Then all this strange land belongs to him? No indeed, she answered, and her smile faded. That would indeed be a burden, she added in a low voice, as if to herself. The trees and the grasses and all things growing or living in the land belong each to themselves. Tom Bombadil is the master. No one has ever caught old Tom walking in the forest, wading in the water, leaping on the hilltops under the light and shadow. He has no fear. Tom Bombadil is master.
[00:04:03] So it's not like he created that stuff, but perhaps if you have no fear of it, you are the thing's master. I don't know, that's kind of like a weird thought, and maybe I'll explore it later on in another essay, but I haven't really thought that one too much to write about that at length. But what Goldberry said reminded me of what is in the Hebrew Bible about how Moses asks about the name of God. In it, Moses says,
[00:04:42] That is kind of like the closest thing to the I am line that we get. But it doesn't really fit all that well, because Tom is an enigma. But Frodo, after Tom put the ring on and disappeared, decided to see that if the ring still worked, so he put it on his finger and decided to walk around a little bit to test his luck. Tom actually calls him out. Not only is he impervious to the darkness of the ring, but he also seems to not let its evil make him a victim either. This is what the book says.
[00:05:09] He got up and crept quietly away from the fireside toward the outer door. Hey there, cried Tom, glancing toward him with a most seeing look in his shining eyes. Hey, come Frodo, there. Where be you a-going? Old Tom Bombadil's not as blind as that yet. Take off your golden ring, your hand's far more fair without it. Come back. Leave your game and sit down beside me. We must talk a while more. And think about the morning. Tom must teach the right road. And keep your feet from wandering.
[00:05:40] So, he is wholly unaffected by the ring, which blows my mind. And besides the propensity for singing, which, to be honest, got a bit annoying, I have to say, if I was impervious to any darkness, I'd probably be singing every single minute as well. But besides that, the chapter describes him strangely vague and strangely specific. I don't fully understand it and I cannot fully get a grasp on it. When Frodo finally asks him who he is, this is what Tom's own response is.
[00:06:09] Also note how he refers to himself in the third person too. Quirky but weird. Who are you, master? He asked. What? Said Tom, sitting up and his eyes glinting in the gloom. Don't you know my name yet? That's the only answer. Tell me, who are you? Alone, yourself, and nameless? But you are young and I am old. Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friend.
[00:06:38] Tom was here before the rivers and the trees. Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the big people and saw the little people arriving. He was here before the kings and the graves and the barrow whites. When the elves passed westward, Tom was here already. Before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless. Before the dark lord came from outside.
[00:07:10] So, he's the first being, it seems, to have been in Middle Earth. Before Middle Earth was even Middle Earth. And now he just holes up in the forest, in the old forest particularly, and takes some river daughters home to hang out with. He's also an insanely good man too with the love that he shows for Goldberry. He picks her flowers and they both in tandem just seem like a great duo. Very cult-like too. Because the first part of the chapter, I could have sworn that the mushrooms that Farmer Maggot
[00:07:37] gave them were not the typical mushrooms that you'd eat and were some psychedelic mushrooms. Because this was the description in the very beginning of the chapter. The four hobbits stepped over the wide stone threshold and stood still blinking. They were in a long, low room, filled with the light of lamps swinging from the beams of the roof. And on the table of dark polished wood stood many candles, tall and yellow, burning brightly. In a chair at the far side of the room facing the outer door sat a woman.
[00:08:07] Her long yellow hair rippled down her shoulders. Her gown was green, green as young reeds, shot with silver beads like beads of dew. And her belt was of gold, shaped like a chain of flag lilies set with the pale blue eyes of forget-me-nots. About her feet and wide vessels of green and brown earthenware, white water lilies were floating, so that she seemed to be enthroned in the midst of a pool. Enter good guests, she said.
[00:08:35] And as she spoke, they knew that it was her clear voice that they heard singing. They came a few timid steps further into the room and began to bow low, feeling strangely surprised and awkward. Like folk that, knocking at a cottage door to beg for a drink of water, have been answered by a fair young elf queen, clad in living flowers. But before they could say anything, she sprang lightly up over the lily bowls and ran laughing toward them.
[00:09:00] And as she ran, her gown rustled softly like the wind in the flowering borders of a river. Come, dear folks, she said, taking Frodo by the hand. Laugh and be merry. I am Goldberry, daughter of the river. I mean, if that's not a trippy dream, I don't know what is. Tom then talks about this rivalry he has between him and the old man Willow, which he doesn't get into that much in this chapter.
[00:09:25] But suffice it to say that it sounded a lot like the Star Wars idea of this trinity of the force. One on the good side, one on the bad side, and one that holds all things together. It seemed like Tom is on the good side, old Willow is on the bad side. And I don't know, perhaps Frodo is the balance in the force, but Lord of the Rings style? But Tom seems more than just the goodness and purity of all Middle-earth. He seems to control rain and control weather. Because there's a section when some dark clouds start to move over Tom's land,
[00:09:55] and Frodo sees him outside walking and looking like he's waving it off. So the clouds kind of change and revert paths. Then when he comes back inside, he's as dry as there are no signs of wetness except on his boots. So is he even impervious to the rain and the weather? He is the master of them, but sheesh, I have so many questions about this guy. I also love how he just gives them a cool drink of water. And the book says, The drink in their drinking bowl seemed to be clear cold water,
[00:10:22] yet it went to their hearts like wine and set their voices free. The guests became suddenly aware that they were singing merrily, as if it were easier and more natural than talking. It's like this guy is the Lord of the Rings Thoreau, sucking the marrow out of life and getting his guests drunk on actual water. That's untarnished by anything dark. But again, to be honest, this whole section felt slightly creepy and cult-like to me. I know that Tom is good, but if I were reading this completely in the dark about who Tom is,
[00:10:52] I'd have said this was a trap to ensnare them in some way. Everything felt too good, but there were also some ominous threats outside the boundaries, like how Goldberry and Tom kept telling them not to pay attention to any of the nightly noises, as if they're going to hear terrible things and they just have to ignore them. The creepiest section of this came after dinner on the first night, when, the book says, At last, Tom and Goldberry rose and cleared the table swiftly.
[00:11:19] The guests were commanded to sit quiet and were set in chairs, each with a footstool to his tired feet. There was a fire in the wide hearth before them, and it was burning with a sweet smell, as if it were built of applewood. When everything was set in order, all the lights in the room were put out, except one lamp and a pair of candles at each end of the chimney shelf. Then, Goldberry came and stood before them, holding a candle, and she wished them each good night and deep sleep. Have peace now, she said,
[00:11:48] until the morning heed no nightly noises, for nothing passes door and window here save moonlight and starlight, and the wind off the hilltop. Good night. She passed out of the room with a glimmer and a rustle. The sound of her footsteps was like a stream falling gently away downhill over cool stones in the quiet of the night. Like, what the heck is that, Goldberry? That felt so cult-like. But I have to say,
[00:12:15] the one thing that put me at ease a bit was that Tom didn't ignore the darkness, which would have felt a little more like a telltale sign that Tom is shifty. My favorite bit of the whole chapter came when Tom brings up the old willow right before they're about to go to bed. And Tom delivers a line that I think is applicable to everyone in the world today, freaking out about every little thing. This is what the book says. He fell silent again, but Frodo could not help asking one more question, the one he most desired to have answered.
[00:12:44] Tell us, Master, he said, about the willow man. What is he? I have never heard of him before. No, don't, said Merry and Pippin together, sitting upright. Not now, not until the morning. That is right, said the old man. Now is the time for resting. Some things are ill to hear when the world's in shadow. Sleep till the morning light. Rest on the pillow. Heed no nightly noise. Fear no gray willow. And with that, he took down the lamp and blew it out.
[00:13:13] And grasping a candle in either hand, he led them out of the room. Their mattresses and pillows were soft as down, and the blankets were of white wool. They had hardly laid themselves on the deep beds and drawn the light cover over them before they were asleep. I love that. Especially the line, some things are ill to hear when the world's in shadow. Just astute and brilliant stuff from Tom. And this essay is just me rambling
[00:13:41] about my first real experience with Tom Bombadil because he is such a weird dude. And I don't know what he is. And I know Tolkien fans are divided because Tolkien never really said anything about Tom except that he was fashioned after a doll that one of his children had, I think. But I also think that is kind of brilliant writing too. Writing this character that has immense power but is incredibly ambiguous. Tolkien knew we'd be discussing and debating this years later.
[00:14:10] And he's probably looking down with a smile on his face as we debate who the fuck Tom Bombadil is.