In the House of Tom Bombadil

by C.R. Wiley

“I am not going to do anything with you: not if you mean by that ‘do something to you’ without your leave. We might do some things together.”

first came the languages, then came the stories. First there was the Word, then came the world.

On the surface their meanings are derived from the world itself, but beneath the surface there is the Word—as in the logos—and this is the true source of all meaning, since the Word is what gives the world its form.

Humans possess the power of speech, and in a limited sense, we can actually create meaning. But the meanings we make are derivative. We “subcreate,” as Tolkien put it.

If our spells are good, they’re based on things that are true. If we’re talking about bad magic—or black magic—then the words are woven so as to deceive people and contradict what it true.6 They’re lies.

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

Treebeard implies here that names should reflect the histories of the things they name. Doing so not only tells you about those things; it also in some sense gives you power over them.

In our time, names are not believed to be intimately connected to the things that they name; instead, they’re believed to be arbitrary labels with no real relationship to the things themselves. But Treebeard doesn’t subscribe to this understanding of language—he’s too old for that.

Today nature is believed to be a single, self-contained thing. In antiquity, and the medieval world as well, people spoke of natures plural. For instance, in the old way of thinking you could actually speak of something called, “human nature” as distinct from the natures of other living things.15 Many people today blur distinctions between things in nature, arguing that these distinctions are not really Real, or permanent.

it was once generally believed that the world as a whole, and the natures of things within it, reflected the wisdom of God.

In pre-Christian ways of thinking, the world as we know it is the product of a violent process. Different myths tell different versions of the same story: one set of gods defeated another set of gods, and the world in which we find ourselves now is made up of the rotting corpses of the defeated.

according to Tolkien’s story, Middle Earth wasn’t formed through a violent process. His world was made through creative intelligence from the Outside.

Middle Earth is actually sung into being. Violent domination isn’t the basis of its order; instead, the basis of order, and of being itself, is harmony.

Today many people rely on science to define Reality. According to these folks, if science can’t know something, there’s nothing to know. But science can’t even explain its own story scientifically. On the other hand, and on its own terms, Christianity is the revelation of ultimate Reality. And like Tolkien’s Arda, according to the Christian faith, the world that we live in was made from the Outside. In Christianity, if anything is unnecessary it is the world. But what is necessary is the One who made it.

Bombadil’s singing isn’t nonsensical at all if it in some sense recalls the music of the Ainur. “Eldest, that’s what I am”

when Elrond says someone is old, he’s really old. With these things in mind, a question occurred to me: is Tom old enough to remember the Song of the Ainur? If so, perhaps he knows the songs that gave created things their natures.

We’re told in Genesis that the animals were brought to Adam so that he could name them (Gen. 2:19). But how did he go about that? Did he just make up names arbitrarily, or did he base their names on something? If the latter, it must in some way express the natures of the things named.

someone who is attuned to the music of creation lives in harmony with all things.

‘Elf-magic’ works within given limits, because nature is a given, and in some sense not entirely subject to anyone’s control.

Good magic doesn’t break things to know them, or pulverize them to repurpose them. Instead, it brings out latent goods in given things.

The dominion of the speaker is not a simple “Amen” to things as they are; and nature isn’t merely a tyrant. Instead, creation leaves room for subcreation, and even elaboration—and a consummation of given things.

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.

Tom is master, and his mastery has something to do with what he knows; but what difference does it make in the way he lives? It’s when we’re at home that we are truly ourselves.

Let’s return to the root word we get the word dominion from: domus, Latin for “house.” The title of this chapter is Goldberry’s promise that under the roof of Tom Bombadil—under his dominion, in other words—there is no reason to fear.

Tom’s dominion includes the Old Forest as well as the Barrow-downs. But his house is different. There is a distinction between his domain and his domicile.

it is right on the border of the Old Forest that Tom Bombadil has built his house. And this is an encouraging thought, since we find ourselves in a similar place. We live in a world that is like a wilderness.

perhaps there are some things to learn from Bombadil about living joyfully in our wilderness.

As the hobbits approach Tom’s house, the first thing they notice is a contrast. They step out of a wild, unruly place into a carefully manicured space. The grass is closely trimmed, and even the Forest has been cut back like a hedge. Tom’s...

Tom is there. He is their shelter. If he were not there, would his house be a haven from “tree-shadows” or “untame things” as Goldberry assures them is the case when they are under his roof? He’s indomitable; he’s the Master. What they enjoy at this point in the story is his domicile, a house that suits him and his wife.

Tom regales the hobbits with stories—stories about everything

Goldberry’s washing day serves as the baptism of the hobbits into the grand story of Middle Earth.

‘Why, to think of it, we’re in the same tale still! It’s going on. Don’t the great tales never end?’ ‘No, they never end as tales,’ said Frodo. ‘But the people in them come, and go when their part’s ended. Our part will end later—or sooner.’

I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We’re in one, of course;

here, at the beginning of their story, Rachel thinks that the hobbits receive their catechesis.

the hobbits receive their catechesis.

they seemed to weave a single dance, neither hindering the other, in and out of the room, and round about the table; and with great speed food and vessels and lights were set in order.

Tom and Goldberry’s dance about the table, setting dishes and lighting candles, says something. Their movements are not unreflective and spontaneous—they’re artful, reflecting creative intent. And those actions are set within a world made with creative intent.

We live in a tone-deaf time and we behave as though there’s no natural order to harmonize with; instead, we think that the world should just do what we tell it to do. Naturally, if that is all there is to it, then freedom is nothing more than doing what you want to do, and laws and customs can be boiled down to some people bossing other people around.

Tom and Goldberry—each sings the praise of the other because it is not only singing but listening that makes for harmony.

dominion isn’t arbitrary power, at least not originally. In the Christian faith human dominion is subject to God’s dominion. And it is informed by God’s Law—his moral standard, his holiness. We can’t just do as we please.

Tom can sing the tune of dominion in two keys (rule and cultivation). We must make a place for ourselves in the world, a place where we have ordered things to our liking. But that isn’t everything. And that doesn’t mean we’ve abdicated office when we leave things alone. It can just mean that we rule those things in the interest of those things—to the glory of their Maker.

In the old image the cosmos was large enough to encourage humility, but not so large as to make you feel meaningless.

Maybe the ridiculous fellow in the bright blue jacket and yellow boots can teach us to sing the song of dominion in two keys—the keys of rule and cultivation. Perhaps dominion should be understood to mean ordering some things for our good, and other things for the good of those things in themselves.

his mastery does not amount to ownership—Goldberry belongs to herself, and yet he’s caught her. She is his wife: truths can layer and not displace each other. In a flat world things grow in significance at the expense of other things, but in a vertically ordered world, things can freely be themselves, even when they are subject to others. Mastery does not equal ownership—even when people are subject to you.

17 Rivers nourish life because they water the things that live along their banks, but they can also kill those who fall into them. And then there is the sea, a super-abundance of water, teeming with life, but if it breaches its boundaries it can wash the land clean of life and leave dead things littered everywhere.18 Water must be measured out in the right amount if it is to bring life instead of death.

evil tends “naturally” towards death.

There are things in us that really do deserve to go to Hell. The question is whether or not we will let those things take the rest of us with them.

What’s the nature of the Wight’s fealty? Is it devotion? Is it fear? Is it a common hatred for things with natures not subject to the Darkness? The mystery of ungodliness is great.

The Dark Lord is a “lord”—he exercises a form of authority. And authority is good; it arises from the power of making. (Author and authority have six letters in common for a reason.) Jesus said that even Satan keeps an ordered house (Matt. 12:22–28). But it must ape another rule of order, because evil by definition can’t make anything good; it can only corrupt good things that have been made by someone else.

there’s nothing sacred in Mordor. Yet in some sense Mordor is ordered, like the Devil’s house.