Hello Odola and NotACat,
I take your point that Maiar might well have (indeed, did) exist in Tolkien’s mind at the time he published LOTR. However, we the readers, reading the book for the first time, know almost nothing (perhaps absolutely nothing) about Maiar by the time we encounter Tom Bombadil.
(I would be very interested if either of you can point out references or clues, we might have encountered so far, that could lead us to Maia speculations.)
We have in the LOTR a work of art by Tolkien. It is a work of art which he considered complete enough, finished enough, enough of a masterpiece, to publish and share with an audience.
Now, let’s look at an analogy, or metaphor.
Suppose we are looking at a work of art by Leonardo, “The Last Supper”, for instance.
Leonardo finished this work of art, and it is on public display on the walls of a convent in Milan.
Now, suppose that after Leonardo’s death, a number of sketches which Leonardo had made prior to painting ‘The Last Supper’ were discovered and displayed. What if many of them were sketches of figures and scenes which obviously related to the depictions in ‘The Last Supper’, but which either differed from what ended up in the painting, or, included material which never made it into the painting?
What if we obtained a bunch of letters from Leonardo, both talking about the painting while he was working on it, and musing on it after he had painted it?
Well, these would all be fun, and interesting, but, they should not influence us too much. We should look at the painting. See what the painting says. See what story the painting is trying to tell. The work of art is the work of art. The stuff around it is perhaps connected to the work of art, but not of it.
Now, suppose that the son of Leonardo had in his possession a number of sketches, which seemed linked to the Last Supper. Indeed, they might be a vast frame, that was perhaps intended to surround ‘The Last Supper’ with many other pictures, illustrating other scenes, looking as though these sketches were intending to place the painting of ‘The Last Supper’ within a much larger context?
If the son of Leonardo, placed these sketches in the positions in which he thought they belonged, and filled in what he surmised to be missing bits with his own sketches, and then painted the result, would we have another Leonardo masterpiece called ‘The Frame of the Last Supper’?
No.
Because this painting was not made by Leonardo. We know, from the sketches and drafts that Leonardo made of ‘The Last Supper’ that he often changed his mind and made alterations and additions to his drafts right up until the last minute. So, we cannot take the sketches which he made for ‘The Frame of the Last Supper’ (even if he had completed most of them, and there had been no need for his son to interpret and add much), and call a painting of them Leonardo’s painting of them.
Leonardo’s painting of them would have looked much different both in small and large ways if he had ever been confident enough in his vision to have painted it.
So, we cannot take Leonardo’s son’s painting of ‘The Frame of the Last Supper’ as what Leonardo would have painted had he done so.
We also cannot now reliably make our interpretation of ‘The Last Supper’ as a work of art, by using . much of Leonardo’s Son’s painting of ‘The Frame of the Last Supper’ to influence our interpretation.
As with my fictional Leonardo, so with Tolkien. We know that Tolkien kept altering and amending and changing the LOTR right up until he finally said to himself, ‘That’s it. It is done.’, and sent it off to the publishers. We also know that Tolkien kept altering, amending, and revising, all the stuff that his son was later to piece together as the Silmarillion (and a multitude of other works). However, Tolkien never said, ‘That’s it. It’s done.’ and sent it off to his publisher.
In Tolkien’s mind, it remained sketches, and never satisfied him as a finished work of art.
So, what we have beyond the LOTR is not a finished work of art by J.R.R. Tolkien.
We may have a work of art in the Silmarillion, but it is a work of art by Christopher Tolkien creating something from the sketches of his father.
So, we should look at the LOTR as a work of art on it’s own, and be cautious about using too much of the Christopher Tolkien material in interpreting it.
In The LOTR, when we reach Tom Bombadil’s house, I don’t think we have the faintest idea about Maiar.