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> Possibly the least liked character in The Lord of the Rings. In what universe? Every Tolkien fan I know, including myself, loves Tom Bombadil and sees his om
by _bxg1 8y ago
> Possibly the least liked character in The Lord of the Rings.
In what universe? Every Tolkien fan I know, including myself, loves Tom Bombadil and sees his omission from the movies as their biggest shortcoming.
- rossdavidh 8y agoI think there are (and always have been) a lot of readers of LotR who don't like Bombadil. If you're in it for the epic battle scenes and the dungeon crawl and the nighttime fight with wolves and so on, then the time with Bombadil grates. I, myself, like him just fine. But it is true that a lot of people who liked the more "swords and sorcery" aspects of LotR, did not like Bombadil. And that's a goodly portion of the people who read the books (tho' by no means all).
- _bxg1 8y ago> If you're in it for the epic battle scenes [and not Tom Bombadil because he isn't violent enough] I feel sorry for people with so little capacity for whimsy and magic
- zentropia 8y agoAnd they especially dislike the songs.
- ajmurmann 8y ago> If you're in it for the epic battle scenes and the dungeon crawl and the nighttime fight with wolves and so on, then the time with Bombadil grates. If that's what you are looking for LotR might be one of the worst fantasy books one could pick.
- DougWebb 8y agoI agree; LotR is really a fantasy book for fans of walking places.
- klipt 8y agoA good long hike in book form!
- fhars 8y agoIf you are into long hikes in book form, you may still catch up with Corey Olsen if you hurry: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLasMbZ4s5vIWPwDhtmXRcn1s0q8qONMGz https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLasMbZ4s5vIWPwDhtmXRc...
- DrScump 8y ago"Journeys require endpoints. Otherwise, you're not Frodo, you're just a homeless guy wandering around with stolen jewelry."
- bmurphy1976 8y agoBombadil was the remnants of a children's story left in an adult book. That's why he's a weird character, doesn't really fit anything and is quickly forgotten. He should have been edited out.
- hopler 8y agoWe all have remnants of a children's story in our adult lives. Perhaps we lose something by editing it out.
- empath75 8y agoA lot of people just skip that part.
- OneWordSoln 8y agoWell, you can count myself and my 10yo son in on the Tom Bombadil fan club members, for sure (my son knows from listening to the audiobook version). As far as shortcomings go, I feel that the movie's bastardization of Faramir was the worst travesty because his honor in the face of having the ring in his grasp is one of my favorite parts of the books. Making him drag the ring-bearer back to the city ensured that I will never watch the movies again. As well, that crap with Aragorn getting lost and then fighting back by himself was an utter travesty, and the crap with his fiance was crap, too (except for where they subbed her in for Glorfindel in the race to Rivendell), as much as I understand that they wanted a woman to play a more prominent role. That said, Eowyn's story should have been enough and at least they didn't mangle her. But, yeah, it would've been really cool to have a Patrick Stewart Tom Bombadil.
- hopler 8y agoAll in all, better to make an existing king a queen, or make an existing knight a lady (but with otherwise same plot and dialogue), if you feel it is necessary, than to take one of most carefully researched and written novels in history and just rewrite it. Or make a spin off story that focuses on the role of some overlooked women. Or better, a satire or a separate work that alludes to LotR as commentary.
- _bxg1 8y agoI'm a little biased towards the movies because they were what I experienced first, but I respect the criticisms of them. That said, I personally feel their treatment of Aragorn was the best liberty they took. He felt fairly one-dimensional in the books; his whole character was about his destiny to be king and he reminded everyone he met. In the movie he doesn't want power; he struggles between his fear of it and his desire to help the world. This struggle over the kingship mirrors the struggle over the ring (which both he and Gandalf face, among others) and makes him much more compelling as a character. I also liked the Arwen subplot; she really wasn't a character at all in the books. I thought their relationship was powerful and expanded upon his being pulled between the realms of elves and men (of which his Numenorean heritage was a microcosm).
- 8y ago
- twic 8y agoI found the Tom Bombadil part tedious and irrelevant to the rest of the book. I don't love him. I have a friend who can't stand him - "bloody irritating character and songs" is the phrase i have recorded.
- cheerlessbog 8y agoHe doesn't advance the story and he doesn't develop the characters. He was easy to cut out of the movie because no changes were required elsewhere.
- yoz-y 8y agoI liked LotR and Hobbit books very much and would count myself as a fan. I did not really like the movies but removing Tom Bombadil was one of the better decisions they made when making the movies. If anything, I think they did not cut enough out. I liked the passage as a curiosity because of the (English) language, but story-wise I think it was pretty weak and did not bring much overall.
- _bxg1 8y agoI think he represents an interesting whiff of the much older, deeper beings in the world which are only fully covered in The Silmarillion. The fact that he's such a being and also simple and light-spirited speaks to the underlying purity of goodness in the world that is the underlying theme of The Lord of the Rings, and I think that's beautiful. I do sympathize with the decision to cut him from the movies; his chapter was a large and neatly isolated part of the story, and the movies were strapped for screen time as it was. But it was still a loss.
- DonHopkins 8y agoAt least he and his wife were parodied in Bored of the Rings! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_of_the_Rings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_of_the_Rings BOTR: Tim Benzedrine Allusion: Benzedrine, a stimulant drug popular during the 1950s, and a reference to Timothy Leary. LOTR: Tom Bombadil BOTR: Hashberry, wife of Tim Benzedrine Allusion: "Hashbury", the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, or hash(ish)-berry. LOTR: Goldberry
- Ntrails 8y agoI dont think i have ever met anyone who thought that was the thing the films fucked up. I can totally understand that the scenes are self contained, and length was an issue. I was far more aggravated by replacing Glorfindel with Arwen, as a first example.
- mrec 8y agoWhy did that aggravate you? It's Glorfindel's only appearance in the book, so we're not really losing anything. There were a lot of irritations, but the only really unforgiveable fuckup for me was the complete dog's breakfast they made of the Pelennor Fields.
- telchar 8y agoI agree, Pelennor Fields left me very dissatisfied. And Faramir's character assassination was also a really unnecessary departure from the story.
- jhbadger 8y agoI was annoyed how they made Gimli into a comic relief character, myself.
- Ntrails 8y agoBecause Arwen could not have ridden against the 9, at all. They could have replaced Glorfindel or removed him, i understand, but the powers he had came from having lived over the sea. Arwen was born in Middle Earth and simply could not do what was attributed to her in the films. (It is the earliest lore incompatible change that springs to mind)