Transcript: CCT#4

Coming at you live from the middle of the Barrow-Downs, this is Crystal Clear Tolkien.

This is Silime. Welcome to Crystal Clear Tolkien. A listener named Justin sent me an email asking that I do a podcast about the elusive and troubling character Tom Bombadil. This was actually a really difficult request, and unfortunately, there is no easy answer. But, there are several points I can raise that I hope will inspire you to draw your own conclusions based on what little we do know.

The question of Bombadil is one that has been addressed by a number of scholars over the years since the publication of Lord of the Rings. There have been many suppositions as to his nature. The difficulty in identifying the proper one is that it was Tolkien's intent to leave Tom an enigma, an unanswered question(1). He says as much explicitly in one of his letters. He is unwilling to elaborate on Tom much beyond Goldberry's answer to Frodo's question 'Who is Tom Bombadil?' She replies simply 'He is'(2).

Some scholars have noted the obvious similarity between that statement and the Biblical statement of God identifying himself only as 'I am', or 'I am that I am'(3). Now, none of these scholars have supposed that Bombadil is Eru. Even they recognize the inherent contradiction in that. Tolkien, in another one of his letters, dealt with exactly this issue. He points out that Goldberry's statement was intended only as a reference to the 'mystery of names'(4).

There is a very important thing to note here. Frodo asked 'Who is Tom Bombadil', not 'What is Tom Bombadil'. Goldberry answered the question that was asked, not the question that was implied. To see the difference, try and answer the question 'Who are you' without including any unasked for information.

'I am a student.' No, that is what you are.

'I am a mother.' No, again, that is what you are, not who you are.

It's a difficult question to answer in terms of itself without defining yourself in terms of a group you belong to, which is a more accurate answer to what you are, not who. In the end, the only wholly accurate answer to 'Who are you?' is 'I am me.' You simply are.

As is Tom Bombadil.

It comes down to Tolkien's first love, which is language. You will hear me say this time and again: the world of Middle-earth exists because of language. Tolkien created the Elvish language first, out of his deep-seated love of language and his vocation as a linguist. It was only after that he created the world of Middle-earth as a sandbox or a playground in which to use and explore that language. Because of that background, it is always worth exploring the choice of words that he made in any situation. Who versus what, in this instance.

But, getting back to the focus, there have been numerous suppositions regarding Tom Bombadil. The most popular seem to be that he is a Vala, a Maia, or some form of unidentified nature spirit.

As to the first, I'm referring specifically to an essay I was directed to on the internet called 'Who Is Tom Bombadil' by Gene Hargrove. I'll include a link in the show transcript on the podcast's blog. Hargrove's ultimate conclusion, if you want to skip the reading, is that Tom Bombadil is most likely to be the Vala Aulë and that Goldberry is Yavanna(5). This doesn't work for me for a couple of major reasons. First of all, we have no reason to believe that any of the Valar ever left Aman after the First Age. Secondly, Aulë was a smith concerned with the fire and the forge. These are things in which Tom shows no interest. Additionally, Tom is stated to be known as 'Forn' to the Dwarves, whereas Aulë was called Mahal by them. Thirdly, in 'The Council of Elrond' scene, when Tom Bombadil is discussed, Glorfindel and Gandalf note that they have passing knowledge of Tom, but give no real indication that he could be anything as powerful as a Vala. And this from two characters who had lived in Aman and walked with the Valar.

Finally, there's the statement made in that same scene that if the rest of Middle-earth were to fall, Tom would fall as well 'Last as he was First'. This gives further weight to contradicting the Tom-As-Aulë theory, for if Tom were a Vala and he were the first, then he would necessarily have to be Melkor, not Aulë, since Melkor was the first of the Ainur to be created in Eru's thoughts.

So it's unlikely he's a Vala. But what about a Maia?

You still have the problem here of the 'Last as he was First' statement. Unless the claim is that he was the first Maia created. But since the Maiar are just lesser Ainur, it's a fine distinction, finer than I think is implied by the choice of language. Gandalf, too, is a Maia; all the Wizards are. But again, there's no sense from Gandalf that this is a creature with power relative to his own. The idea of Tom being a member of the race of the Ainur seems, to me, to be a reach, especially given what we know of him and, more importantly, what we don't know and who doesn't know it.

Possibly the most popular theory regarding Tom Bombadil is that of him as some sort of nature spirit. Personally, and this is my opinion and I'll tell you why, this doesn't jive well with me. We're given no indication anywhere else in Tolkien's works -- Lord of the Rings to The Hobbit to The Silmarillion to twelve volumes of The Histories of Middle-earth -- of any other such spiritual creatures. The only creatures of spirit in Tolkien's world that we're ever introduced to are those of the race of the Ainur, whether Ainu, Vala, or Maia. At this point, we're presupposing an entire race of creatures never mentioned anywhere. I just... don't like doing that.

Now that we've talked about what Tom Bombadil isn't, let's talk a little about what thing we know Tom Bombadil is.

We know Tom Bombadil existed in Tolkien's mind long before Lord of the Rings was written. He actually began as a doll for one of Tolkien's children. Tolkien wrote him into poems. The concept of Tom Bombadil predates Middle-earth. By that reason alone, trying to fit him into the hierarchy of races becomes difficult if not impossible. In Tolkien's letters, he notes that he only put Tom in The Lord of the Rings because he existed already and he wanted him to have 'an adventure on the way'(6). If he has to represent something, Tolkien goes on, it is to embody the pure sciences, those concerned wholly with knowledge and 'unconcerned with doing anything with the knowledge'.

This distinction can be seen in an earlier draft of The Two Towers in which Pippin and Treebeard briefly discuss Bombadil. Treebeard makes the observation that 'We were like your Tombombadil when we were young', but that while the Ents were more concerned with herding the trees and doing something with the knowledge they had, Tom sought knowledge merely for its own sake(7). He compares it to walking in a garden versus tending a garden. What we're left with is the idea that Tom and the Ents share a common ancestry perhaps.

Where does this get us? Not much further. It's also worth looking at, though, the various names we find for Tom throughout the Histories of Middle-earth, because, remember, language was the heart of this world. In addition to 'Tom Bombadil' and 'Forn', which we've already discussed, we also can find him referred to as 'Frumbarn', 'Orald', 'Erion', 'Yárë', and 'Iarwain Ben-adar'⁸.

'Forn', as he's known to the Dwarves, is a Scandinavian word that means 'ancient'. 'Frumbarn' and 'Orald', which are names used by Men, are both Old English; 'Frumbarn' means 'first-born' and 'Orald' means 'very old'. The last three names come from Tolkien's Elvish languages. 'Yárë' is Quenya and means 'former days', while 'Erion' and 'Iarwain Ben-adar' are Sindarin. 'Erion' means, roughly, 'son of one', or, with a little literary licence, 'son of the One' (as in Eru). 'Iarwain Ben-adar' as translated by Elrond means 'oldest and fatherless', which seems to contradict 'Erion'. This may be why the latter was stricken from the manuscript.

All of these names have something in common in that they all recognise Tom Bombadil as something ancient. Older than old. Something that goes beyond the knowledge of the Third Age. It's very possible that Elves who existed during the time of the Two Trees in what was known as the Springtime of Arda, might have had more knowledge of a creature such as Tom Bombadil.

There is no reason not to believe that had Frodo asked of Galadriel during his time in Lórien if she knew of Iarwain Ben-adar, as the Elves had named Tom Bombadil, that she might have responded, 'Yeah, I know him. You met him? Tell that sonofabitch he still owes me money.' Okay... maybe not that exactly, but the intent is all the same. She might very well have known more than the Elves at the Council of Elrond simply by virtue of having been around in the Elder Days.

But where does this all leave us? For myself, it leaves me with two final trains of thought. Maybe Tom isn't really that special of a creature. Perhaps he's only unique in that he was the first creature born in Arda. It's a very important distinction to make because the Elves, the Dwarves, and the Men -- the three primary races of Arda -- were all created and awoke at an appointed time. They were not born. There were, of course, Elves, Dwarves, and Men born later, but the initial population was created. Tom being the first born creature could be his only claim to significance. He could be a forerunner to the race of Hobbits. He could be an offshoot of the Dwarves. He could be a rebellious Ent who never paid enough attention to the trees in order for his form to evolve with his kin. He could even be the sole surviving member of a wholly separate race long since wiped out (though this means we're inventing races again).

Or he could be something beyond. Let me elaborate.

We know that Tolkien was great friends with another fantasy novelist who you may have heard of named Clive. Clive Staples Lewis wrote a series of books that took place in a quaint little fantasy world of his own called Narnia. I make this observation because Tolkien and Lewis together founded a literary group at Oxford where they would often meet, share samples of their works in progress, and have scholarly discussions. This kind of interaction doubtless would lead to correlations between contemporary works. In particular, in this case, what I'm referring to is the concept in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe of the difference between the Deep Magic and what Aslan calls the Deeper Magic. It's the idea that there is a level of magic, of spirituality, whatever you want to call it, that the general population of a world is aware of, or at least willing to accept. And then, there is a level beyond. There is magic that only a few know, or are even aware of.

Tom Bombadil could be a part of that, the Deeper Magic of Middle-earth. The Ring has no power over him, it is said, and he would not understand the necessity of keeping it from Sauron. Could it be that this is because he transcends Middle-earth and the problems and perils contained? He is in the world, but not truly of the world. He is simply beyond.

I know this sounds like something of a cop out, but in the final analysis, I really believe it comes closer to the heart of Tolkien's intentions for the character than any of the other theories put forth here. When all is said and done, all we're left with is Goldberry's simple answer.

Who is Tom Bombadil?

He is.

And on that rather existential note, I'll bring this podcast to a close. You can visit the Crystal Clear Tolkien blog for transcripts and citations at http://silime.libsyn.com. Remember, if you have comments or questions about this episode, or if you have a question about Middle-Earth that you'd like me to address on a future episode, then please drop me an email at [e-mail].  That's S-I-L-I-M-E at gmail dot com.

Until next time, I'm Silime and this is Crystal Clear Tolkien.  Namarie.

References

1. The Letters of JRR Tolkien, Letter 144, pg174
2. Lord of the Rings, 1994 ed., The Fellowship of the Ring, In The House of Tom Bombadil, pg122
3. The Bible, Exodus 3:14
4. The Letters of JRR Tolkien, Letter 153, pg191
5. Who Is Tom Bombadil?, http://www.cas.unt.edu/~hargrove/tombomb.html
6. The Letters of JRR Tolkien, Letter 153, pg192
7. History of Middle-Earth: Volume Seven, The Treason Of Isengard, Treebeard, pg416
8. History of Middle-Earth: Volume Seven, The Treason Of Isengard, The Council of Elrond (2), pg152