Eldest, thats what I am... Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn... he knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from Outside.Tom Bombadil was an enigmatic figure that lived throughout the history of Arda. Living in the depths of the Old Forest, he seemed to possess unequaled power in the land around his dwelling. Although seemingly benevolent, he took no stance against the Dark Lords.



Appearance and traits

Tom looks like a male figure, with a red ripe face, with many laughing wrinkles, sporting a long brown beard. His eyes are bright blue. He wears a blue coat and an old tall hat with a long blue feather. His thick legs wear big yellow boots. 

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow;Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.

He lived in a little house in the Dingle of the Old Forest by the river Withywindle, together with his lovely wife Goldberry.The Bucklanders had little understanding of his powers and nature. They saw him as a mysterious, unpredictable, but benevolent and comic person; more or less as the Shire-folk thought of Gandalf.



Origins

The origins and nature of Tom Bombadil are unknown; however, he already existed when the Dark Lord came to Arda, signifying he was alive even before the coming of the Valar.He was on Arda before the river and the trees, before the first rain and made paths before the Great March of the Eldar and later of the Middle Men and their tombs. He also witnessed the Changing of the World, the arrival of the Exiles of Númenor and the Barrow-wights, but his role and nature in the Elder Days and later is unknown. He also witnessed the reducing of the great forests that covered all Middle-earth, and perhaps of his powers.The level of his interactions with the outside world is also unclear; however, he seemed to have names among many peoples and perhaps became a folkloric figure in the traditions and legends of Elves, Dwarves, Men. Elrond knew of him when he ventured in his lands.During the Third Age, he had contact with the Bucklanders and Farmer Maggot, and perhaps it was this to which he owed his jolly and whimsical attitude


War of the Ring

On 26 September, T.A. 3018, he encountered four hobbits while he was searching for water-lilies for his wife. Two of those Hobbits, Merry and Pippin, had been captured by Old Man Willow. Tom, who was the master of the Old Forest, rescued them, and took all four of them to his house.




The four hobbits stayed two nights, and he told them many tales and songs. With cunning questions, he made Frodo tell him of the Ring. When Tom tried it on, nothing happened, but he then took it off and flipped it in the air and made the ring itself disappear, showing that indeed within his realm Tom was master. However, when Frodo put the ring on, Tom could still see him. He bade the Hobbit to come back and sit down; his hand was fairer without the ring.The following morning, Tom warned his guests of the Barrow-downs, and advised them to pass any barrow on the western side. He also taught them a song, should they come to peril.

Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!
By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow,
By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!
Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!


And they did come to peril. Tom chased off a wight with song, and broke the spells on the barrow in which the four hobbits were captured. While he sent the Hobbits to calm down, he went for provisions. He also brought the ponies that had belonged to Merry. After that, he broke the spells of the barrow. From the barrows mighty hoard, he took a blue-jewelled brooch for Goldberry (probably belonging to the spouse of the last prince of Cardolan he seemingly met long ago), and gave a dagger to each of the hobbits. He then advised them to make for The Prancing Pony in Bree.



The peril of the hobbits was not over; an attack on their lives was carried out, and their ponies were set loose. The ponies apparently remembered the care they were given in the house of Tom Bombadil, and returned to stay beside Toms own pony, Fatty Lumpkin. He returned them to Barliman Butterbur, the proprietor of The Prancing Pony. Since he had paid eighteen pence as compensation for the loss, he was now the owner of five fine ponies.As he was merry and benevolent, some of the Free Peoples considered him a potential ally against Sauron during the War of the Ring. Elrond and Erestor considered that he should be present at the Council of Elrond. However, according to Gandalf, Tom Bombadil was perhaps not fully aware of the struggle of Light and Darkness and could not prove useful to their causes.Eventually the defeat of Sauron in the end of the War, and the victory of the West allowed Tom to continue and survive in the following Ages.

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!
Ring a dong! hop along!
Fal lal the willow!
Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!


Inspiration

Tom Bombadil was inspired primarily from a dutch doll Tolkiens child(ren) toyed with. The doll had a feathered hat. One time they found it in the lavatory, being stuffed there by little John Tolkien, who perhaps didnt like it much.Probably in the 1920s he began writing a story entitled Tom Bombadil set during the reign of King Bonhedig in the British prehistory, far before any recorded events or invasions. The protagonist Tombombadil is mentioned as one of the oldest inhabitants of Bonhedigs kingdom, that spanned many miles on either side of the Thames. Only the 3 opening paragraphs survive of the shortly-abandoned, story, and the fragment ends at the deion of Tombombadil who wore a tall hat with a blue feather; his jacket was blue, and his boots were yellow.Around the 1930s or earlier Tolkien wrote a poem about some Tom Bombadil rowing down a River, a poem which Tolkien later identified as his germ of Tom Bombadil. Later in 1934 he put him into a poem, again described according to the appearance of the aforementioned doll (something that he did with other toys of his children, like Rover). At one time he described him as a spirit of the (vanishing) Oxford and Berkshire countrysideWhen asked to make a sequel for The Hobbit, Tolkien briefly considered if he would base it around that figure of his poem. Although it didnt happen, he eventually appeared in the narrative as a supporting character. Tolkien wrote Bombadil as a direct contrast to the artistry and subcreative force of the Elves; whereas they seek to create, devise, alter and control, Bombadil only observes and contemplates the world outside him and takes joy in it. He is the fearless theoretical study of the world, and history.Justin Noetzel in his paper Beorn and Tom Bombadil: Mythology, Narrative, and The Most (Non) Essential Characters in Middle-earth, suggests an association of Tom Bombadil with the Celtic Otherworld and tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann.David Elton Gay compares Tom to the demigod Väinämöinen from the Kalevala: both are extremely old and powerful immortal figures who express their power in rhymes, and both have control over their small forested country.