Scraperboard illustration by Alexander Korotich, 1981 Tom Bombadil frees the Hobbits from Old Man Willow. ![]() The Fellowship of the Ring, book 1, ch. In his hand he carried on a large leaf as on a tray a small pile of white water-lilies. He had a blue coat and a long brown beard his eyes were blue and bright, and his face was red as a ripe apple, but creased into a hundred wrinkles of laughter. At any rate he was too large and heavy for a hobbit, if not quite tall enough for one of the Big People, though he made noise enough for one, stumping along with great yellow boots on his thick legs, and charging through grass and rushes like a cow going down to drink. With another hop and a bound there came into view a man, or so it seemed. There was another burst of song, and then suddenly, hopping and dancing along the path, there appeared above the reeds an old battered hat with a tall crown and a long blue feather stuck in the band. The poem mentions Middle-earth locations including Hays-end, Bree and the Tower Hills, and speaks of "Tall Watchers by the Ford, Shadows on the Marches". The poem includes a reference to the Norse lay of Ótr, when Bombadil threatens to give the hide of a disrespectful otter to the Barrow-wights, who he says will cover it with gold apart from a single whisker. At the end of the poem, the charmed birds and otters work together to bring Bombadil's boat home. Bombadil is challenged by various river-residents on his journey, including birds, otters and hobbits, but charms them all with his voice, ending his journey at the farm of Farmer Maggot, where he drinks ale and dances with the family. The later poem "Bombadil Goes Boating" anchors Bombadil in Middle-earth, featuring a journey down the Withywindle to the Brandywine river, where hobbits ("Little Folk I know there") live at Hays-end. Rateliff suggests that, at least in terms of Tolkien's early mythology, she should be seen as one of the fays, spirits, and elementals (including the Maia): "Thus Melian is a 'fay', (as, in all probability, are Goldberry and Bombadil the one a nymph, the other a genius loci)". ![]() īombadil makes it clear that he found Goldberry in the Withywindle river, calling her "River-woman's daughter". Throughout the poem, he is unconcerned by the attempts to capture him and brushes them off with the power in his words. At the end of the poem, Bombadil captures and marries Goldberry. Several of the valley's mysterious residents, including the "River-woman's daughter" Goldberry, the malevolent tree-spirit Old Man Willow, the Badger-folk and a Barrow-wight, attempt to capture Bombadil for their own ends, but quail at the power of his voice, which defeats their enchantments and commands them to return to their natural existence. The poem depicts Bombadil as a "merry fellow" living in a small valley close to the Withywindle river, where he wanders and explores nature at his leisure. The original version of Tolkien's poem "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" was published in 1934 in The Oxford Magazine. Ran from a grassy well down into the dingle. He lived up under Hill, where the Withywindle He wore in his tall hat a swan-wing feather. Green were his girdle and his breeches all of leather Scholars have stated that he is the spirit of a place, a genius loci.Īppearances "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" īright blue his jacket was and his boots were yellow, A likely source is the demigod Väinämöinen in the 1849 Finnish epic poem Kalevala, with many points of resemblance. Tom Bombadil has been omitted in radio adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, the 1978 animated film, and Peter Jackson's film trilogy, as non-essential to the story.Ĭommentators have debated Bombadil's role and origins. Bombadil is mentioned, but not seen, near the end of The Return of the King, where Gandalf plans to pay him a long visit. The idea for this meeting and the appearances of Old Man Willow and the Barrow-wight can be found in some of Tolkien's earliest notes for a sequel to The Hobbit. In the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins and company meet Bombadil in the Old Forest. ![]() They were not then explicitly part of the older legends that became The Silmarillion, and are not mentioned in The Hobbit.īombadil is best known from his appearance as a supporting character in Tolkien's high fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, published in 19. He first appeared in print in a 1934 poem called " The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", which also included The Lord of the Rings characters Goldberry (his wife), Old Man Willow (an evil tree in his forest) and the Barrow-wight, from whom he rescues the hobbits.
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