In one of my discussion groups, one of my friends said that the translation of Arda (i'm not sure if Q or S) means "it is" and conjectured that since Goldberry said to Frodo that "He is" when he asked who Tom Bombadil was, that Tom is the spirit of Arda. Ideas anyone?

Quite right Aulë. Eä means, roughly, 'that which is'. It includes Arda, the Heavens and the Void, Arda being Earth.

Hey I cant tell you how much I like to read all your opinions, very interesting. Personaly I like the vision that Tom = Arda Spirit best. But I cant realy talk over this, I am to bad in the thema of Tom and so........

But I have something new for you, I think ;-)


In another forum a fwe people discust the same thema [Tom what are you ;-)] and mostly they have the same things in her minde as you....But one user postet this:
http://www.cas.unt.edu/~hargrove/bombadil.html

and I dont want that you miss this.

Dont blame me OKAY I only show it to you ;-) Bey

Thanks for that link Nessa. A pretty strong argument in favour of Tom being Aule, although I still prefer to think of him as a Maiar myself.

I hope to wake up this thread a little, the last post was in April.

First of all, I always pictured Tom as a lumberjack type of guy. Red plaid flannel, boots and beard...and ALL!

Second, I really regret that they didn't cover Tom in the movies. I wondered how the screen would suit him.

Third, I don't know and I am not really consumed by what Tom is or is not. Not saying it's unworthy of discussion or a silly topic? But nothing I care about personally one way or the other (and that is SO rare.)

Now having said all that, I'm not crazy about Tom. I keep wondering why Tom with all those masterly traits about him, and he does remind most of us some of having a divinity about him, WHY it is so unthinkable that he should have taken the Ring and thrown it into the Crack of Doom at Mordor. It is powerless with him, or so we can assume by him dealing with it so flippantly, unless we can say that he kept out of it because he had the potential to be powerful and evil...to have his mastery turned against him. If we look at the Ring's ability to magnify, pervert, and twist people's intentions, what would it have done to Tom? My guess is much less than anyone else. And I think it was rather crummy of Tom to just bow out and say "Nope! ring a ding a dillo, not my problem-o!" He cared enough to show compassion for getting the hobbits out of the tree (? been a while, is that right?) , and the barrow wights so it's not completely unreasonable to think that Tom knew the peril of these guys just by how hung up they were on the first leg of their trip, hundreds of miles from Mordor! He should have known to be a little more concerned and even more helpful. He was a person who was not the least bit interest in controlling or owning anything, he was IMO a steward of nature. SOOO. It seems like the Ring would not have the ability to instill the desire for power or control in Tom. What would the Ring have done to Tom that could have possibly been more disastrous than if Gandalf had it, or involving more suffering than the hobbits having it? It seems like he would have been the very least affected by this Ring and he was the very most non-chalant about the whole thing...and it's not like a lot of people were not involved who had no interest in the fate of ME, even the Elves who were wrapping it up there, were involved more. So why is it so apparent to everyone else that Tom did NOT qualify to do it, or so unthinkable that Tom be the one to deliver the Ring?

By the way, someone mentioned that Tom is a ringbearer. Please explain? Is this by virtue of the fact that he touched it/held it in his hand? or was there another ring...or another time when he had it that I haven't read about. (TH and LOTR only here folks)

I wish I had a better opinion of Tom, but that's kind of why I don't and I'm certainly open to being set straight about the guy.

Finally someone who thinks somewhat in the way that I do about Tom!

Arwen Evenstar said:


I also think that Tom Bombadil is the spirit of the Earth. I think HE is Eä, in a personified form. Therefore he WAS Eldest. I think Eä was able to show itself in Tom.
But even if this isn't true, I don't think he was a Maia.
Here is some information that was cut from LotR: It was in an earlier version; as found in the Treason of Isengard.



This was later cut from the Treebeard chapter.

That's very interesting Arcormacolindóva, thanks.

It could mean the first term of bondage with the valar. As outside could mean outside of Endor, as the dark under the stars was only in Endor. Also he was kept in teh halls of Mandos, surely that is a different plane.

That could be a reason the ring doesn't affect him. Although I don't belive he is in the wraith plane. I think he's nature personified. But I could be wrong.

Naw, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil contain only about 18 pages of poetry concerning Tom. You will get more information by reading Chapters 6, 7 and 8 of FotR Book I. Of course that poetry is fun too, but it has little bearing on the overall story.