One of the mysteries of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is the character of Tom Bombadil. Who is this odd hill leaping, silly song singing, farmer in the dell? Is this cavorting yellow booted bumpkin a darling that Tolkien could not kill, a rustic mechanical who simply had to have a part in the great saga? Was Bombadil no more than a deus ex machina plot device, or does this ancient tree enchanter have a more important function?
Tom Bombadil first sprang from Tolkien’s imagination in the form of light hearted poems for children. Inspired by his children’s Dutch doll, Tolkien’s Bombadil became a kind of English nature spirit. In the 1934 poem The Adventures of Tom Bombadil he is a “merry fellow” who lives near the Withywindle river and interacts with the woodland creatures and the River daughter Goldberry. He encounters and defeats the barrow wight and Old Man Willow and finally marries Goldberry. In another poem, Bombadil Goes Boating, Tom is more firmly rooted in the geography of Middle Earth. He knows about hobbits, visits Farmer Maggot and touches on other characters and events from Lord of the Rings.
Fans have been eager to explain Tom Bombadil and place him in Tolkien’s cosmology. Bombadil is mysteriously described by Gandalf as “the eldest and fatherless” while the dwarves refer to him as “the ancient” or “belonging to the ancient past.” Bombadil…