Tom Bombadil Cameos

Another option is, if we are showing the journey of the green elves into Beleriand, is to have Tom appear to them then.
 
That is true. In the elder days the old forest and toms domain are supposed to have been far larger and wider than in the late third age.


I love the idea of dan watching a strange guy having his boat accident so much!
 
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That is true. In the elder days the old forest and toms domain are supposed to have been far larger and wider than in the late third age.
This is interesting. How large was his domain at this time? If it was very large, and even including Ossiriand, we can easily give him a cameo... His domain could also end at the borders of Beleriand, and then we could see him in the background when Denethor and his people cross into Beleriand. But since Tom is basically a really good guy, and not without power, I wonder why the Lindi would leave those lands and feeling so desperate?
Ok I think that the Lindi must have lived where we left them, east of the Misty Mts., and passed through Tom's lands to Beleraind, and he just let them pass. He doesn't interfere, that's not his way.
 
We don't know where exactly the eriadorian lindi lived... I suppose lake evendim, but they may easily have lived in toms forests
 
Time to revisit this question!

Where do we want our Season 3 Tom Bombadil cameo?

Some possible options:

  • An encounter with the Ents wandering through Beleriand. This would almost certainly put Tom outside 'his' lands, but...how early did he restrict himself geographically? Perhaps this is okay?
  • Tom Bombadil is shown in a reaction shot to the rising of the Moon or the rising of the Sun or the hiding of Valinor. All of these scenes will be montages, and so he can be added to one disjointedly easily enough without specifying where he is. The Sun and Moon rise on Eriador, too.
  • Tom Bombadil is seen in the Frame, during the attack of the wargs on the Shire.
  • Or...?
As a warning, we spend very little screen time with the wolves. We've barely managed to work the hobbits of the Shire into the Frame. So, making Tom Bombadil fit or make sense won't be easy. It would also 'give away' that he lives throughout all the Ages, and while we'll certainly give that away at some point, it would be better to hold off for awhile.


I want to make our Tom Bombadil as endearing as the unlucky cabbage seller of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Because all that guy does is show up in random locations to have his cabbage cart overturned by the antics of the heroes, and yet he's an easily recognized character. Our Tom Bombadil will have an extremely distinctive costume, but we haven't given him much to do yet, and so....we haven't really earned the audience caring about him. We just need to show that he's *there*, so that, eventually the audience will be looking for him and anticipating his appearance, not even knowing who he is. So....we're going for 'Peter Jackson eating a carrot in Bree' type of scenes at the moment, I think?
 
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The only reappearing super minor character like this we have so far is Tom Bombadil, who gets a completely unexplained cameo once per season.
Have we come up with Tom Bombadil's Season 4 cameo yet?

What were his previous cameos? Has he been given a geographic "territory" so to speak, such as East Beleriand + Eriador ?
 
I'm not sure what was decided. I'm embarrassed to see that I volunteered to make a list at some point (which it seems I didn't).

As I recall, there was talk of Tom getting rain on his face in season 1. In season two, the migrating elves passed him on their way to the West. In season 3, I believe that a shot of him smiling in the light of the first sunrise was the choice that was made.

So yes, I think he has been given a territory. This gives us a problem this season, since the only idea that has come up is MithLuin's suggestion that Finrod sees him when mindreading the men in Ossiriand, but that has been pushed to the next season.
 
I don't recall if he was worked into the Season 3 script outlines at any point. Are we supposed to add his cameos to the outlines retroactively as we think them up?

I like the idea that his territory used to be much larger. It could be all of Eriador, Enedwaith, Minhiriath, Ossiriand, and most or all of southern Beleriand (Taur-im-Duinath, the lower Sirion, etc.).

About endearing him to the audience, instead of just having him appear in the background we could have him (briefly) singing nonsense, or gathering flowers, or talking to random animals. Or even show scenes out of "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and "Bombadil Goes Boating".

In Season 5 we could show the Hadorians or Folk of Haleth in Ossiriand (before meeting the Noldor). They could catch sight of him singing in the background and somebody could exclaim "Look, it's that crazy man again!"
 
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I don't know about the scripts but that's easily done, I guess.

Do you think parts of Beleriand should have been his lands? I find that a bit problematic, I think he should keep east of the Ered Luin. But I could be wrong. Ossiriand is special, and seems blessed in a mysterious way that could imply Tom's presence, or influence.
 
I understand not feeling like he belongs west of Eryd Luin. The reason I like stretching him into part of Beleriand is then we could show him in the First Age as well as the Third Age frame, showing that he hasn't changed in all these millennia.
 
The Season 3 Tom Bombadil Cameo was included in the Script Outlines as part of the reactions to the rising of the Sun in the Season Finale:

"Tom Bombadil looks up and sees the sunlight. He reaches down and plucks a water-lily from the river."


The Hosts have requested that one of the cameos be his meeting with Goldberry when she pulls him into the River.


For Season 4, we may show Sauron travelling into the East to spy on Morgoth's work with the Men of Hildorien. If so, we can show him passing by Tom Bombadil's land on his way there or back, if we'd like.
 
Does the season 4 scripts include a Tom Bombadil scene?
How can we include him in season 5? The frame is located far to the south of his area (in Harad/Gondor), so he probably can't show up there, and in the main story men have already passed through that area on their way to Beleriand. Maybe someone could talk about their journey and say that they have met him? Or maybe we could have Bëor talk to Finrod about their migration and we show some scenes from it and in one scene Tom Bombadil is in the background?
 
Does the season 4 scripts include a Tom Bombadil scene?
How can we include him in season 5? The frame is located far to the south of his area (in Harad/Gondor), so he probably can't show up there, and in the main story men have already passed through that area on their way to Beleriand. Maybe someone could talk about their journey and say that they have met him? Or maybe we could have Bëor talk to Finrod about their migration and we show some scenes from it and in one scene Tom Bombadil is in the background?
In the Season 4 scripts, Tom Bombadil appears during a montage of people viewing the eclipse at the end of Episode 6.

I agree that Tom Bombadil could appear in a flashback when Men discuss their journey to Beleriand. Another possibility would be to show him watching Bereg’s people go east.
 
The Season 6 Tom Bombadil cameo is a tapestry of Tom and Goldberry in the Halls of Mandos seen by Beren and Lúthien in Episode 13:

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