In the House of Tom Bombadil

by C.R. Wiley

You could say that we’re more like hobbits lost in the Old Forest than we are like Tom Bombadil. As we travel along we see beautiful things, but also dark things—things full of malice for those “that go on two legs.”22 We’re bewildered, over-matched, constantly opposed by obstacles, and our going is easy in only one direction: down, down, down to the last river; and we must cross it. And in the end we are surrounded by fog, the light goes out, and we’re done. But is that it? Is that the end? Not if Someone very like Tom has something to say about it. There will be a day—a great getting-up morning—and a loud rumbling sound, as of stones rolling, and falling, and suddenly light will stream in, the Real Light of Day, and a Final Day will begin that will never end. And we will run free upon the grass of a world that will never fade.