The Fellowship of the Ring question

No one really knows, i suppose he is symbolic. The emodiment of mystery, independence and power. I'd say he is one of the most alluring characters in the story.

Tolkien once explained that in every good story there must be a an enigma, a mystery left unresolved at the end. Something to make people wonder and think.

Tolkien then indicated that Tom Bombadil is that enigma in Lord of the Rings. He steadfastly refused to explain Bombadil.

Vast amounts have been written discussing who and what Bombadil really is. From being an ancient Maia, to being an incarnation of Iluvatar, to being the first Ent, to being a nature spirit. etc. etc. the hypothesis are many.

Bombadil is called eldest and fatherless and Gandalf also says at the Council of Elrond that Bombadil limits his power to the boundaries he himself has set. That Bombadil was "first" and would be "last".

In a response to a letter from one of his fans, Tolkien alluded that Bombadil is the ultimate pacifist, one that willing gives up power and is not concerned with it.

Funny thing! Nobody is really sure. The official LOTR only says "It's debated". There's even a whole blog devoted to the question: http://www.whoistombombadil.blogspot....

Apparently a million page of back story is not enough to describe everything.

The only one left.......

Did he betray his people, was he their king, is the shape changing a curse or a blessing.......

As Sic wrote.... noone really knows :)

Kind of agree with Easytarget on that one! I do like the part of the barrows though, so he came in handy there!

Thought I'd put my two cents in. I suppose I'm not alone in finding Tom Bombadil to be a rather unusual and random character. In my opinion, he doesn't really fit in the larger scheme of the book. A friend of mine has suggested this is because the Lord of the Rings was based on stories Tolkien used to tell his children, so in all likelihood Tom is just a vestigial character from some long-forgotten version of the tale. This explanation makes a lot of sense to me--was I the only one who noticed the way his appearance resembled something out of a children's book?

I definitely agree with P. that he's largely a character left over from some tale Tolkien wrote before the book got fleshed out properly, but from what I've understood, Tom Bombadil (as he is only currently named, because apparently he has many names that people know him by) is simply a very ancient bit of nature, similar to the Ents. I think he only appears in human form, much like Goldberry does despite actually being a river being (nymph, whatever you want to call her).
He just seems like an ancient being with power over nature, not to be classed with any other class of humanoid being.
There are some theories that he is one of the blue wizards (originally there were five wizards: Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, and two blue wizards that passed out of memory); this is partly supported by the fact that he wears blue and by his powers. Personally, I don't believe it's true because Gandalf (who has said he doesn't even recall the blue wizards' names) would know it, and because Tom Bombadil does not react to the Ring in the same way as the other wizards; also, Tom Bombadil's power is limited to the forests he inhabits (formerly almost all of the west of Middle Earth, now only the Old Forest on the border of Buckland), while no other wizard's power is limited to certain locations.

I think Tolkein wanted to imply that Middle Earth had other ancient legends on top of the direct characters (Ents, Orcs,etc.) and while Tom Bombardil might have had only a sidebar role- in his forest area he is a considerable power.

The question for me is what was Tolkien's purpose in having him in the story.