killduhbatman
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Jun 15, 2025 4:32 PM
killduhbatman
26846
423
21
Monkeynutsjoe
*sigh* If Tom was Eru and was protecting the Shire, then how did Saruman scour it?
evilspock
JRR was pretty explicit that he wasn't going to explain Bombadil, and meant for him to be a mystery. I suspect he wasn't sure himself, and that suited him just fine.
My pet theory that I haven't seen anyone suggest is that Tom is the personification of the Song that Eru and his helpers sung. So - not Eru, Not Valar etc - just Tom. But it explains why he knows so much,and why he isn't about to fuck with things on a large scale.
tooomanystevesgotbanned
He's just some guy, ya know.
Goatfer
The Hobbits emigrated westward over the Misty Mountains to The Shire following the rise of Angmar and Dol Guldur. They were not created in The Shire.
RyanMcFlyin
Bombadil was just his son’s doll that he wrote into the story for him :)
spooktree
iananimated
Mr K Dilkington!
makesense
Hobbits were known about by plenty of people. They had contact with Men for thousands of years. They just kept to themselves and rarely were affected by world events going on more to their east.
TheAccursedHamster
Okay but this shit is exactly why I hate fan theorists.
SimSimSimsalabim
Bombadil is just a wee toy doll owned by one of his kids. He is so alien to Arda, that he is immune to the power of the One Ring. The Ring literally doesn't know how to try and seduce him.
As for the origin of Hobbits, I concluded that they are an offspring of a male Elves and female Dwarves. Dwarves of Blue Mountains were so ashamed that their women were seduced by Elves that they hid their women and turned other Dwarven houses against them. Hobbits were kept hidden near Moria 1/2
SimSimSimsalabim
first to keep them out of sight and then so that Dwarves from Blue Mountains could watch over them, they were still their kin after all. Later they let them go their own way and face their own destiny. That's the reason why Hobbits could easily befriend both Elves and Dwarves and live quite happily among both races. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
ChelVanin
A very erudite argument
turbodog
Tom is not Eru Illuvatar. He is the physical manifestation of the Secret Fire of Arda. He basically *is* Arda.
T0go
Tom Bombadil was first in Arda, but that doesn't mean he's God. He was just here before the Valar. He was literally present for the first rain-drops because he arrived before the Valar started building the world. All of the works of the Valar and Maiar and the Elves and Men etc. have no sway over him, because he had dominion of his little patch of Earth long before they were conceived.
FoxPesdassi
Tom must be either Eru, or Vala, or Maia, or Tolkien himself, because those are literally the only possibilities, no other beings existed at the time--unless you count the vague "Nameless Things" mentioned in the Unfinished Tales. My theory is that he was either simply the first of the Ainur to *enter* Arda, or it was sung into being *around* him.
markc22
Wasn’t the first interaction with the wraiths and hobbits still in the shire? Where they had to hide near the road in the crux of a tree… was that just Tom’s day off or something?
squillis
ToolPackinMama
johnblood616
If he is protecting the Shire then he sure shit the bed when Sharkey showed up...
Andunistar
As a rabid tolkien fan "hate the movies. Not starting beef, just context on who you are dealing with" this triggerd me a bit in smart ways. He's not eru. He's more like a platonic form representing middle earth's lost promise and a bit as a correcting force to the corruption that marred that promise. If anything He's the one rings fun house mirror thematically.
TravisTee34
There was one fan theory that suggested Tom Bombadill was actually the Witch-King of Angmar.
No, it made no sense and no, I won't bore you with the details.
Escapist83
Tolkien writes that he does not think Tom is improved by philosophizing; he included the character "because I had already 'invented' him independently" (in The Oxford Magazine) "and wanted an 'adventure' on the way".
zhasylB
Tom bombadil is a tulpa
rbudrick
What is an adventure on the way? Is that a britishism?
ThanatosElNyx
Side Quest.
sadurdaynight
Tom is tolkeins first character write through, but got too mary sue. So rewrote it all. But wanted to hint that Tom could have done the whole thing himself, but it wouldn't have been a good story. "Tom was given the ring. He walked it to mordor. The orcs were confused by him. He wedgies sauron. Then stood outside mordor and threw the ring into the TOP of the volcano yelling 'frim three point land' and walked off bored."
cocainemonster
I agree that Tom is Eru, I always thought he was walking around middle earth singing because he wanted to change the song the song that created the world
Qualtagh
Tom Bombadil is just a silly guy. The ring doesn't affect him because he's too silly.
Sayagain
Idk if this is an appropriate question, but what would happen if Helan Keller put on the One Ring?
Qualtagh
She'd still turn invisible, but IDK if seeing the weird shadow realm of the ring happens physically or mentally. Maybe she'd just feel cold.
MerriMod
Luxomancer
I love all the weird Tom B theories.
smegheadenergy
There’s only one man’s opinion I respect when it comes to LOTR https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlOW5zdDk5ZWk2YW05c2g4ZzA3NnVsZ2h0cXYxdWc1N3NtbzhzMWtrMSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/LzduAv0Sq8GYSly7OE/giphy.mp4
Flomb
So… what does he have to say about Tom?
smegheadenergy
If you can find it, watch his interview from The Colbert Report with Neil Gaiman. He asks Gaiman which Tolkien character is favorite, and Gaiman says anyone but Tom Bombadil. Colbert becomes indignant, and straight off the cuff says,
"What do you have against Tom Bombadil?! Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow. None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master: Tom's songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster!"
ICampOntheFirstDate
The whole point of Bombadil is a god without empathy. Your concerns are not on his radar. He doesn't wish you harm, but he also doesn't care about your world. It foils against Gandalf, who chooses to meddle in mortal affairs.
EaNasirsExcellentHighGradeCopper
I feel like him teaching the hobbits the rhyme to summon him (within his borders) and arriving to save them from the barrow-wights kind of
EaNasirsExcellentHighGradeCopper
negates that point, to a degree.
memeseeks
Classic format. Nice
friendsofsandwiches
This is exactly the sort of energy that LotR fans have when they get into this.
theThousandHells
When I originally read LotR I assumed those Tom and Goldberry were Aule and Yavanna. It seemed to fit them. But then the internet became a thing and I learned that was not correct
TinaEveFox
I have a hot take. I don't think Goldsberry is there on her own accord. Tom found her down at the river one day, and then married her and took her to his house to live with only him for eternity. Where did she come from? Did she have a family? Do they miss her? Does she remember them? In the Silmarillion, Eöl enchants Aredhel so that she can’t leave his forest and approaches his house, that he “took her to wife”, so it's happened before.
MeowWoof
Hot take: Gandalf only cared about the safety of the hobbits because they grew the best weed.
RyanMcFlyin
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlYnYyZjFhNHFqMm9jcTAwYjBucTFqbmZmY3NvMDNzYWx2cDFidTl4aSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/ly3tQYHmXMsCI/giphy.mp4
Kittynomnoms
Tobacco.
MeowWoof
"Probably". Did Gandalf and Bilbo seem like nicotine tweekers to you?
Kittynomnoms
It then proceeds to call it tobacco. Straight up there, written by Tolkien himself. Then again, your original take was lukewarm and just sort of dumb, so I guess I shouldn't expect all that much.
TheGhostOfFutureDisappointments
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Ventilators
wherewehavebeen
Lame.
HiddenSanity
My hot take is that it's because he Fathered, in whole or in part, the Took line... it's why they're taller and he keeps showing up and taking them on trips every century or so.
TheGhostOfFutureDisappointments
Source?
HiddenSanity
I have 0 proof, mostly just vibes and 'you can't prove he didn't'... That's what makes it a hot take rather than a sound argument.
TheGhostOfFutureDisappointments
Ahhhh. See, to me, it's really just because Gandalf is fond of hobbits. Like, if he wants to chill, he chills with hobbits. They know how to smoke leaf and enjoy an evening's peace, y'know?
ArchMagos
I figured it was because he couldn't take them a day's travel outside of the Shire without one of them stumbling upon some artifact of ancient importance and power.
Bobbobbobobbananafanafobob
After the 5th one "EVERY FUCKING TIME"
After the 8th one "... Time for science."
After the 13th one "... Useful."
After they domesticated weed "(Seth Rogen laugh)"
CaptCrobar
Didn't the shire get burned down, and the hobbits enslaved by Mordor in the books?
TheLesserOfTwoWeevils
Nope. Saruman takes over the Shire and does wreck the place but it's not burnt down and it's liberated when Frodo/Sam/Merry/Pippin return.
CaptCrobar
But the Party tree is ruined.
Vebrandsson
True but Sam does plant a nicer tree in its place.
CaptCrobar
Thats good.
Escapist83
Because Merry and Pippin are swole and huge from ent water.
modus0
And at that point, none of the four were the least bit intimidated by the "shiriff" or any of the other men Saruman had, because they'd all faced significantly worse foes.
FoxPesdassi
The Shirriffs were hobbits, not men, and while *technically* a police force, they spent more of their time rounding up stray livestock than they did stopping what little crime there was in the Shire. When Sharkey's (Saruman's) Men came along, they expanded & militarized the Shirriffs to serve as (largely unwilling) enforcers for them.
modus0
I know. That's why I mentioned the "shiriff" separately than the other's Saurman had working under him. Though I suppose I could have worded it a bit better.
JayDeeDubs
There's a lot of theories about Bombadil. Here's another:
jayman0123
I've always heard that Legolas was the stand in for Tolkien, not Tom.
JayDeeDubs
I have literally never heard that. Can you think of any ways Legolas is meant to be like Tolkien? Bilbo, that I think you can make a strong case
Navrodel
Except the Canon is that Tolkein is Beren, and his wife is Lúthien - it's even on their gravestones.
JayDeeDubs
It's on their gravestones, but nothing about the actual characters meshes with author inserts
xerolf
isnt that like rule number one with self inserts?
astrangehop
Robert E Howard wrote himself into a Conan story with his dog. They were accosted by bandits — he fought hard and died almost instantly. *Reality ensues*
jesuisgur
Very similar to the end of the original Dune Series, when the ship escapes some weird dude (and his wife) with a net. And they go "shit, it's out of our hand now". Couldn't have foreseen better what would become of it under his son's tutelage...
orangeyougladididntsaypoop
Love this idea. Also sad Tommy B was left out of movies
SteveTheEgg
This doesn't even get to the fact that Tolkien had confirmed that he based two of his characters off of real people. He based the Ent Treebread off of his friend CS Lewis, and he based Tom Bombadil's wife after his own wife, because he loved her so much.
k1everest
Oh, I like this theory.
relsky
I hate when people throw out "it's canon" when they mean "it's a random theory."
Qualtagh
it's just a standard hyperbole
Escapist83
Is that just a nicer word than lying?
rshini
god I hate how Tumblr misuse terms, Canon is NOT theory, "Headcanon" doesn't mean "Entire slew of things that directly contradict known facts", Canon is Steve Rogers is Captain America, Headcanon is Steve Rogers had a crush on the Andrew Sisters - Alternative Universe is Steve Rogers fought is a Nixon fanboy
Hazearil
They said cannon, not canon.
relsky
Thus compounding their mistakes.
manwithsevenlivers
pommelguy
kinda reminds me of another story https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1OGZsZXQ4OGdvdzRvdnF0MXFxNG1rdnZ0b2NqZGVqZHk2enowYWlsdCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/NjPEDD7S9Jssw/200w.webp
itsthevoiceman
Too bad that one ended, and there weren't others.
Hevach
The book kept going. It went places that would make the Artek scene cheerful by the end.