In July, I posed a question that has long occupied fans of The Lord of the Rings: Who is Tom Bombadil? Inspired by Jeremy Johnston’s review of In the House of Tom Bombadil by C. R. Wiley for Front Porch Republic, I took stock of all we know about the enigmatic figure J. R. R. Tolkien quite deliberately inserted into his work. I concluded about Bombadil that “some things are meant to remain unresolved at a more basic level, testaments to transcendent reality or meaning.”
Recently, I had a chance to read Wiley’s book, getting the full taste of his appraisal of Bombadil. Wiley does not fully attempt to “solve” the mystery, either, though he does run through some of the leading theories. “My hope is that you will come to love Tom for his own sake, and that the mystery of Tom will haunt you for the rest of your life,” Wiley writes.
Wiley does, however, attempt to make sense of Tom’s place in Tolkien’s story. As he sees it, Bombadil is set directly against some of the vices of the fantasy epic’s villains, especially the corrupted wizard Saruman. Bombadil is completely immune to the Ring of Power’s temptations, has a more holistic approach to knowledge, and prefers “dominion” over the natural world, living in harmony with it. He thus stands in direct contrast to Saruman’s lust to “become a Power,” his willingness to “break a thing to find out what it is,” and his preference to subjugate and despoil the natural world.
Though Wiley’s work is short, it ends up touching on some of the major characters, moments, and themes of The Lord of the Rings. That he can do so while never straying from a focus on a character so allegedly inconsequential as Tom Bombadil suggests that Tom might be important after all. Indeed, though Tolkien was famously averse to allegory, the last words Wiley includes in the book — a “postscript to the postscript” (though not supplied by a sub-sub-librarian) — might be of even greater significance: “The first time that Tom saved the hobbits it was at a tree, and the second time that he saved them it was at a tomb. For those pondering what Tom represents, that’s an even more encouraging thought.”
Indeed. Those interested in reading more of what Wiley has to say about Tom Bombadil and related matters should give his book a read. (It is unlikely to include spoilers for The Rings of Power.)