Tom Bombadil
Songs and stories are what Tom does best:“He told them many remarkable
stories, sometimes half as if speaking to himself, sometimes looking at them
suddenly with a bright blue eye under his deep brows. Often his voice wold turn
to song, and he would get out of his chair and dance about. He told them tales
of bees and flowers, the ways of trees, and the strange creatures of the Forest,
about evil things and good things, things friendly and things unfriendly, cruel
things and king things, and secrets hidden under brambles.
“When they caught
his words again they found that he had now wandered into strange regions beyond
their memory and beyond their waking thought, into times when the world was
wider, and the seas flowed straight to the western Shore; and still on back Tom
went singing out into ancient starlight, when only the Elf-sires were awake.
Then suddenly he stopped, and they saw that he nodded as if he was falling
asleep. The hobbits sat still before him, enchanted; and it seemed as if, under
the spell of his words, the wind had gone, and the clouds had dried up, and the
day had been withdrawn, and darkness had come from East and West, and all the
sky was filled with the light of white stars.”
It is just as well Tom cares
little for material things - such as the truckloads of cash that were squeezed
from Professor Tolkien’s legendarium. Tom is outside the concerns of those who
covet the “one ring”. His Sindarin name is Iarwain Ben-adar (Eldest and
Fatherless) while the dwarves called him Forn (Scandinavian, meaning
“Ancient”).
“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.”
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posted by slÖ at 1:53 PM
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