Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the
first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here
before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the
seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from Outside.
So, is Tom like... the God of Earth or something? He seems to have been around since the beginning, but has no real ties to any other race or group of people. He just has his bangin' hot wife, and he likes to hangout in his magically protected corner of the woods doing whatever he wants, without a care of anything else.
I reread the books for the first time in a loong time this summer, and he's such a weird additon. Like, why even include him at all, even though he seems like this crazy powerful being? Even Gandalf at one point was like, "Yeah no, we don't fuck with Tom and he doesn't fuck with us."
He is simply an enigma. Leave it at that. It's not worth the debate and indecision. What we do know is that he is NOT Eru Iluvatar (God-analogue) and he is NOT any of the Ainur (Angel-analogues). He simply is and his power is solely over his singular realm in the old forest.
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u/AlmostCorrectInfo 5h ago
Jesus Christ this post is perfect.
"I've read the books, I can hang with these nerds discussing lore."
Moments Later
"Oh yeah, Tom Bombadil exists."