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Tolkien on Tom in Letter 144: I might put it this way. The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny aga

Tolkien on Tom in Letter 144: I might put it this way. The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power, and so on; but both sides in some degree, conservative or destructive, want a measure of control. but if you have, as it were taken 'a vow of poverty', renounced control, and take your delight in things for themselves without reference to yourself, watching, observing, and to some extent knowing, then the question of the rights and wrongs of power and control might become utterly meaningless to you, and the means of power quite valueless. It is a natural pacifist view, which always arises in the mind when there is a war. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 144: To Naomi Mitchison. April 1954

bo1024 4y ago
Wow!
hacknat 4y ago
This has always been my understanding of Bombadil as well. The most popular/accepted view of who he is among Tolkien-dom that I've heard is that he represents the lands of the West themselves (or perhaps all of Middle-Earth?). In the Tolkien legendarium power comes from knowing the right names for things and the right words to say to them. Tom Bombadil is the most powerful being in Middle-Earth because he is so old that he knows the proper name for everything and how to address them (he chastises Old Man Willow to release the Hobbits like he is a child). I do want to credit the author of this post with the observation that the rulers of lands in Tolkien's legendarium have influence over how those lands express themselves, but I think this letter is the answer to that. Tom is the exception; he eschews power. One of Gandalf's reasons for saying that they wouldn't want to give the ring to Tom is that he would probably lose the ring, not thinking it very important. Tom only cares of eating and drinking and making merry. In that regard he is a Dionysian figure. If you read the Adventures of Tom Bombadil (which this author surprisingly doesn't reference) he is clearly modeled on the Dionysus cycle of myths.
- mrex 4y ago
  Tom Bombadil is quite clearly what Tolkein referred to as a "subcreation echo" of biblical Adam. Oldest, fatherless, unaffected by original sin and thus not tempted or influenced in the least by the ring, literally living his life as uncontested master of a lush garden. He is Adam, if Adam had contented himself with a Gold Berry instead of that apple...
  - thehappypm 4y ago
    That doesn’t explain why nobody has heard of him for thousands and thousands of years, and yet the Hobbits stray right into his path Willy-nilly
    - vmilner 4y ago
      "He appeared already to know much about them and all their families, and indeed to know much of all the history and doings of the Shire down from days hardly remembered among the hobbits themselves. It no longer surprised them; but he made no secret that he owed his recent knowledge largely to Farmer Maggot, whom he seemed to regard as a person of more importance than they had imagined. ‘There’s earth under his old feet, and clay on his fingers; wisdom in his bones, and both his eyes are open,’ said Tom. It was also clear that Tom had dealings with the Elves, and it seemed that in some fashion, news had reached him from Gildor concerning the flight of Frodo."
      - thehappypm 4y ago
        Tom maybe knew Farmer Maggot and Gildor, but is there any evidence that Maggot or Gildor knew Tom?
        WJW 4y ago
        I like to think so, after all: > there's wisdom in his bones, and both his eyes are open No proof whatsoever, of course, but just the existence of Tom Bombadil reminds us that there are people in the world (perhaps even the majority) who actually care very little about this whole "Ring" business and just go about living their lives.
b3morales 4y ago
Though it has to be said that this aloofness is a lot easier to maintain during a war when you're as immensely powerful as Tom apparently is. Hobbits, for example, did not have the choice to remain neutral and unconcerned; the Scouring came to them.
fmajid 4y ago
The Beornings as well, though far from pacifists.
sn41 4y ago
Reminds me of the (apocryphal?) anecdote about Diogenes the cynic: Diogenes was eating bread and lentils, when Aristippus told him that if he would only be subservient to the king, he would not have to live on bread and lentils. Diogenes replied that if you learn to live on bread and lentils, then you never have to be subservient to the king.
- throwaway_4ever 4y ago
  Stories of Diogenes are always entertaining. 'He destroyed the single wooden bowl he possessed on seeing a peasant boy drink from the hollow of his hands. He then exclaimed: "Fool that I am, to have been carrying superfluous baggage all this time!"' 'while Diogenes was relaxing in the morning sunlight, Alexander the Great, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher, asked if there was any favour he might do for him. Diogenes replied, "Yes, stand out of my sunlight." Alexander then declared, "If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes." "If I were not Diogenes, I would still wish to be Diogenes," Diogenes replied.' 'Some one took him into a magnificent house and warned him not to spit, whereupon having cleared his throat he discharged the phlegm into the man's face, being unable, he said, to find a meaner receptacle.' The dude was a modern lunatic homeless man venerated into legend status for thousands of years.
  - adolph 4y ago
    Interestingly similar to Lao-Zhe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi
    - Terr_ 4y ago
      A later poet Bai Juyi [1], criticizing Lao-Zhe for inconsistency: > Those who speak do not know, those who know are silent, > I heard this saying from the old gentleman. > If the old gentleman was one who knew the way, > Why did he feel able to write five thousand words? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Juyi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Juyi
  - ColanR 4y ago
hcrisp 4y ago
I was amused to read in his review of Fellowship that one of C.S. Lewis' favorite characters was Tom Bombadil: But there is more in the book still. Every now and then, risen from sources we can only conjecture and almost alien (one would think) to the author’s habitual imagination, figures meet us so brimming with life (not human life) that they make our sort of anguish and our sort of exaltation seem unimportant. Such is Tom Bombadil, such the unforgettable Ents. This is surely the utmost reach of invention, when an author produces what seems to be not even his own, much less anyone else’s. Is mythopoeia, after all, not the most, but the least, subjective of activities? https://epistleofdude.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/c-s-lewis-reviews-the-lord-of-the-rings/ https://epistleofdude.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/c-s-lewis-rev...
thehappypm 4y ago
The Tolkien letters, the J.K. Rowling tweets of the ‘50s.
mbrock 4y ago
A Zen teacher I know gave a dharma talk titled “The Absence of Tom Bombadil”, centered around his nonappearance in the movies, interpreting it in terms of how when we dramatize we tend to omit elements that aren’t good or evil, and so beyond Hollywood we also in our minds tend to forget what Zen lore calls “the original mind that you had before your parents were born.”

bo1024 4y ago

Wow!

hacknat 4y ago

This has always been my understanding of Bombadil as well. The most popular/accepted view of who he is among Tolkien-dom that I've heard is that he represents the lands of the West themselves (or perhaps all of Middle-Earth?). In the Tolkien legendarium power comes from knowing the right names for things and the right words to say to them. Tom Bombadil is the most powerful being in Middle-Earth because he is so old that he knows the proper name for everything and how to address them (he chastises Old Man Willow to release the Hobbits like he is a child). I do want to credit the author of this post with the observation that the rulers of lands in Tolkien's legendarium have influence over how those lands express themselves, but I think this letter is the answer to that. Tom is the exception; he eschews power. One of Gandalf's reasons for saying that they wouldn't want to give the ring to Tom is that he would probably lose the ring, not thinking it very important. Tom only cares of eating and drinking and making merry. In that regard he is a Dionysian figure. If you read the Adventures of Tom Bombadil (which this author surprisingly doesn't reference) he is clearly modeled on the Dionysus cycle of myths.

mrex 4y ago
Tom Bombadil is quite clearly what Tolkein referred to as a "subcreation echo" of biblical Adam. Oldest, fatherless, unaffected by original sin and thus not tempted or influenced in the least by the ring, literally living his life as uncontested master of a lush garden. He is Adam, if Adam had contented himself with a Gold Berry instead of that apple...
- thehappypm 4y ago
  That doesn’t explain why nobody has heard of him for thousands and thousands of years, and yet the Hobbits stray right into his path Willy-nilly
  - vmilner 4y ago
    "He appeared already to know much about them and all their families, and indeed to know much of all the history and doings of the Shire down from days hardly remembered among the hobbits themselves. It no longer surprised them; but he made no secret that he owed his recent knowledge largely to Farmer Maggot, whom he seemed to regard as a person of more importance than they had imagined. ‘There’s earth under his old feet, and clay on his fingers; wisdom in his bones, and both his eyes are open,’ said Tom. It was also clear that Tom had dealings with the Elves, and it seemed that in some fashion, news had reached him from Gildor concerning the flight of Frodo."
    - thehappypm 4y ago
      Tom maybe knew Farmer Maggot and Gildor, but is there any evidence that Maggot or Gildor knew Tom?
      - WJW 4y ago
        I like to think so, after all: > there's wisdom in his bones, and both his eyes are open No proof whatsoever, of course, but just the existence of Tom Bombadil reminds us that there are people in the world (perhaps even the majority) who actually care very little about this whole "Ring" business and just go about living their lives.

b3morales 4y ago

Though it has to be said that this aloofness is a lot easier to maintain during a war when you're as immensely powerful as Tom apparently is. Hobbits, for example, did not have the choice to remain neutral and unconcerned; the Scouring came to them.

fmajid 4y ago

The Beornings as well, though far from pacifists.

sn41 4y ago

Reminds me of the (apocryphal?) anecdote about Diogenes the cynic: Diogenes was eating bread and lentils, when Aristippus told him that if he would only be subservient to the king, he would not have to live on bread and lentils. Diogenes replied that if you learn to live on bread and lentils, then you never have to be subservient to the king.

throwaway_4ever 4y ago
Stories of Diogenes are always entertaining. 'He destroyed the single wooden bowl he possessed on seeing a peasant boy drink from the hollow of his hands. He then exclaimed: "Fool that I am, to have been carrying superfluous baggage all this time!"' 'while Diogenes was relaxing in the morning sunlight, Alexander the Great, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher, asked if there was any favour he might do for him. Diogenes replied, "Yes, stand out of my sunlight." Alexander then declared, "If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes." "If I were not Diogenes, I would still wish to be Diogenes," Diogenes replied.' 'Some one took him into a magnificent house and warned him not to spit, whereupon having cleared his throat he discharged the phlegm into the man's face, being unable, he said, to find a meaner receptacle.' The dude was a modern lunatic homeless man venerated into legend status for thousands of years.
- adolph 4y ago
  Interestingly similar to Lao-Zhe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi
  - Terr_ 4y ago
    A later poet Bai Juyi [1], criticizing Lao-Zhe for inconsistency: > Those who speak do not know, those who know are silent, > I heard this saying from the old gentleman. > If the old gentleman was one who knew the way, > Why did he feel able to write five thousand words? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Juyi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Juyi
- ColanR 4y ago

hcrisp 4y ago

I was amused to read in his review of Fellowship that one of C.S. Lewis' favorite characters was Tom Bombadil: But there is more in the book still. Every now and then, risen from sources we can only conjecture and almost alien (one would think) to the author’s habitual imagination, figures meet us so brimming with life (not human life) that they make our sort of anguish and our sort of exaltation seem unimportant. Such is Tom Bombadil, such the unforgettable Ents. This is surely the utmost reach of invention, when an author produces what seems to be not even his own, much less anyone else’s. Is mythopoeia, after all, not the most, but the least, subjective of activities? https://epistleofdude.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/c-s-lewis-reviews-the-lord-of-the-rings/ https://epistleofdude.wordpress.com/2018/11/17/c-s-lewis-rev...

thehappypm 4y ago

The Tolkien letters, the J.K. Rowling tweets of the ‘50s.

mbrock 4y ago

A Zen teacher I know gave a dharma talk titled “The Absence of Tom Bombadil”, centered around his nonappearance in the movies, interpreting it in terms of how when we dramatize we tend to omit elements that aren’t good or evil, and so beyond Hollywood we also in our minds tend to forget what Zen lore calls “the original mind that you had before your parents were born.”