Summoning Bombadil

Evil Dr. Cannon

New Member
I find it interesting that Elrond suggested that maybe he should have summoned Tom Bombadil to their council. It's not like everyone was there by invitation and Bombadil was neglected. No one was invited/summoned, as was pointed out at the beginning of the meeting. Why then would Elrond have the thought to summon him?
 
Good point. Maybe Elrond is thinking that he could have invited Bombadil after other people started showing up and it became apparent that some kind of gathering was brewing?
 
Perhaps a council was already on the agenda. Boromir and Legolas showing up out of the blue ould be unexpected and providential. But, we do not know that Elrond did not, in fact, invite folks like Erestor or some of the other unnamed participants to discuss what to do with the Ring.

Don't know that he did though either...
 
I think that Elrond mentioned summoning Bombadil just to encourage someone to speak up and wonder whether giving the Ring to Bombadil would be a good hiding place. Erestor does just that, and that is what gets the Council back on track towards discussing Gandalf's question.
 
In Frodo's story, Bombadil is unique because he is immune to the Ring. So when Elrond says Frodo's story was strangest to him, it wasn't just because of Frodo's coming through, but also because of what dangers and helpers he met along the way. Bombadil is a logical thought to bring them around to Gandalf's question because of that immunity, and the question follows whether he could hide the Ring. That whole discussion is interesting, but we're not there yet.

I would imagine that after Aragorn and the hobbits arrived and told their story it became clear a council was needed. Legolas, Gloin and Gimli, and Galdor have all shown up with questions or reports that were related, so they were invited The elves from Elrond's household were summoned, I imagine. Boromir shows up just in time, also with a question relevant to the matter, so he is invited too. Elrond summoned some councilors, Gandalf summoned the hobbits and Aragorn, but fate brought the others.
 
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