Bruce N H
Active Member
Hi,
Some further thinking on Goldberry's much-debated answer to Frodo's question "Who is Tom Bombadil?" -
One of the main take-homes from the the name of God being "I am that I am" is the total independence of God. He was never born nor created. His existence is not contingent on anything or anyone else, rather everything else's existence is contingent on him. To say that Tom simply "is" emphasizes his complete independence. Not completely, of course, because he's still a creation of Iluvatar, but he's not subject to any king or part of any alliance. Is he even answerable to Manwe, or just directly to Iluvatar? Of course we're never given that. He's a benevolent free agent in much the same way that Ungoliant was a malevolent free agent.
Often we define ourselves by our relationships - our families, our friends, our jobs, our citizenship, etc. In the passage we will presumably get to tonight, Tom encourages Frodo to look beyond that: "Tell me, who are you, alone, yourself, and nameless?" Getting to the core of his character and knowing who he is will be necessary when everything else is ultimately stripped away on the struggle through Mordor. Tom already knows who he is, regardless of anyone else, and he has know himself since before the first acorn.
-Edit (forgot to add this earlier) -
Tom's an independent figure within the world of Middle Earth in that he doesn't fit into any of the kingdoms and alliances. He's also independent within the story. The whole incident with Tom and the Old Forest doesn't really do anything to advance the plot,* and so this is something cut out of both film adaptations. Rather he gives us the readers a chance to pause and learn more about the hobbits, and maybe about ourselves, without being pushed along by the urgencies of "plot".
*Yes, I know, Old Forest leads to Tom leads to the Barrow Downs leads to the sword that wounded the Witch King, so, yes, there is plot relevance, but the specific sword could be explained differently or just ignored, as in the film adaptations.
Bruce
Some further thinking on Goldberry's much-debated answer to Frodo's question "Who is Tom Bombadil?" -
One of the main take-homes from the the name of God being "I am that I am" is the total independence of God. He was never born nor created. His existence is not contingent on anything or anyone else, rather everything else's existence is contingent on him. To say that Tom simply "is" emphasizes his complete independence. Not completely, of course, because he's still a creation of Iluvatar, but he's not subject to any king or part of any alliance. Is he even answerable to Manwe, or just directly to Iluvatar? Of course we're never given that. He's a benevolent free agent in much the same way that Ungoliant was a malevolent free agent.
Often we define ourselves by our relationships - our families, our friends, our jobs, our citizenship, etc. In the passage we will presumably get to tonight, Tom encourages Frodo to look beyond that: "Tell me, who are you, alone, yourself, and nameless?" Getting to the core of his character and knowing who he is will be necessary when everything else is ultimately stripped away on the struggle through Mordor. Tom already knows who he is, regardless of anyone else, and he has know himself since before the first acorn.
-Edit (forgot to add this earlier) -
Tom's an independent figure within the world of Middle Earth in that he doesn't fit into any of the kingdoms and alliances. He's also independent within the story. The whole incident with Tom and the Old Forest doesn't really do anything to advance the plot,* and so this is something cut out of both film adaptations. Rather he gives us the readers a chance to pause and learn more about the hobbits, and maybe about ourselves, without being pushed along by the urgencies of "plot".
*Yes, I know, Old Forest leads to Tom leads to the Barrow Downs leads to the sword that wounded the Witch King, so, yes, there is plot relevance, but the specific sword could be explained differently or just ignored, as in the film adaptations.
Bruce
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