So, why didn’t Tom Bombadil just take the Ring?

Near the end of The Fellowship of the Ring is the Council of Elrond. In this famous scene set in Rivendell, the Fellowship of Nine is formed, their mission set to destroy The One Ring. After witnessing Tom’s power a month earlier, our Hobbits bring up the possibility of giving Tom the Ring for safekeeping since he seemed thoroughly unaffected.

Gandalf wisely dismisses this idea. While the Ring has no power over Tom, Gandalf believes that Tom would not have the power to alter or destroy it. Furthermore, Tom is so disconnected from the lives of mortals that he would not understand the threat of the One Ring. He would not understand nor care what they were asking him to do. He would be just as likely to misplace the ring, and Sauron would certainly bend all his forces against Tom to get the Ring back.

Ultimately, this is likely why Tom was left out of Peter Jackson’s films and other adaptations of The Lord of the Rings. While he’s a fascinating character, he does nothing to further Tolkien’s plot. He doesn’t have a profound effect on any other characters, nor does he engage in any sort of drama. In fact, he seems as immune to drama and conflict as he is to the power of The One Ring.

Where can I hear more about Tom Bombadil?

In addition to The Fellowship of the Ring, Bombadil does appear in one other book that Tolkien wrote, a poetry collection called The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Published in 1962, the book collects 16 poems by Tolkien about the various myths and creatures of The Lord of the Rings. Despite the name of the collection, only two of the poems are about Tom: “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” and “Bombadil Goes Boating.”

As obscure as these poems are compared to Tolkien's novels, what little we know of Tom's history comes from here. He came to Middle-earth before the Dark Lord and possibly before the Valar. He bore witness to the emergence of the forests and the rains. He was present for the First and Second Ages in addition to the Third Age, which is the setting of The Lord of the Rings. Just how much of the history of Middle-earth Tom personally bore witness to is unknown, though he was certainly around. While it's not clear how much he interacted with the various races of Middle-earth, he entered the folklore of all of them, with each giving him a name in their own tongue. The elves named him Iarwain, meaning “old/young” and Ben-adar, meaning “without a father.” Men named him Orald, while the Dwarves called him Forn.

He met his wife, Goldberry, long before the events of The Lord of the Rings. She was a river spirit who managed to capture the seemingly uncapturable Tom. He commanded her to let him go, which she did, as all do when Tom commands. However, he was smitten, going to the River-woman to ask for Goldberry's hand in marriage.

Wait—what is Tom Bombadil?

He's very powerful. He's very old and immortal. He's completely unaffected by The One Ring, an object so dire that not even Gandalf is willing to touch it. If he's not man nor Hobbit nor elf nor wizard, what is Tom Bombadil?

That very question has been hotly debated for as long as Tolkien's story has been lit upon our imaginations. Tolkien himself never clearly explained the nature of Tom Bombadil. In one of his letters, he said, "As a story, I think it is good that there should be a lot of things unexplained (especially if an explanation actually exists)..." While he explained a great deal of the cosmology and mythology of The Lord of the Rings, he never provided clarification on Tom Bombadil. There are some prevailing theories, though.

The most widely accepted theory is that Tom is one of the Ainur, one of the angelic beings who created Arda (the Earth). These were the first primordial beings to enter existence, and they wielded great power. One possibility is that Tom is one of these, and he fell in love with Arda and Middle-earth so much that he decided to stay and live.

Another prevalent theory is that Tom Bombadil is the personification of Arda. His powers are chiefly over "wood, water, and hill," according to his wife. His only concerns seem to be with the great forests of Middle-earth. When Gandalf visits him near the end of The Return of the King (a visit recounted only in the story by Gandalf), Bombadil's only interest in Gandalf's winding story is the part dealing with the Ents. As for Dark Lords and vast armies and magical rings, he has no interest.

Some have theorized that Tom Bombadil is actually God, but that is one theory that Tolkien himself dismissed. Tolkien stated, "There is no embodiment of the One, of God, who indeed remains remote, outside the World." Others have theorized that Tom is the reincarnated spirit of the Music of the Ainur, or one of the Nameless Things that have inhabited the depths of the world since Ainulindalë, or even that he is merely a man. Nothing more. Nothing less. Perhaps Tom Bombadil is one of these things or none. Perhaps he is all of them. Regardless, he’s an unforgettable character whom fans are still arguing about 70 years after he first appeared in The Fellowship of the Ring.