In the House of Tom Bombadil

by C.R. Wiley

“even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally).”

Like the word enigma, mystery comes into English from the outside—through the Old French mistere, but further back, from the Latin mysterium, and ultimately to the Greek mysterion. And at each step in the journey of the word down to our time, a mystery is not a problem; it is a hidden truth. Tom Bombadil is mysterious in this sense.

The Hebrew word that’s translated “dominion” means something like “skilled mastery.” And that’s definitely what we see when we look at Tom. But skilled mastery can be a problem, as we see with the Ring of Power. When we see the Ring in action we see something very different than Tom Bombadil. When it comes to the Ring we see skill is used in a domineering way.

You’ve probably heard the statement attributed to Francis Bacon, “Knowledge is power.” That’s true so far as it goes, and power can be a good thing. But devils can hide in the nooks and crannies of otherwise good things. One of the devilish things about knowledge today is that it has sued for divorce from wisdom. (They’re not even on speaking terms in many minds.)

Some people don’t like reading between the lines because it strikes them as opening the door to all sorts of fanciful nonsense. They prefer plain language, and a direct and literal approach to interpretation. But is reading always so simple? Maybe life is art all the way down. And maybe when the original Artist said, “Let there be light,” He had more than one thing in mind. Perhaps, just perhaps, the world doesn’t read like the manual that came with your washing machine.

The most powerful lies are those that are the most deceptive, those that closely resemble truth but actually conceal evil.

And when it comes to the two branches of classical learning—the word-centered trivium and the number-centered quadrivium—when those branches come together, joining the inner life of the speaking mind to the mathematical harmonies of the given universe, the will of the speaker and the given Reality of creation can be harmonized.

With all of this in mind, perhaps, just perhaps, the reason Tom’s songs seemed like nonsense to readers of The Lord of the Rings (and to the hobbits) is because Tom knows the music of the world, and we do not. And if that’s so, then maybe what we think and say is the real nonsense.