Tom Bombadil mystery solved?

[hooplala]

Both, I think.

[leln]

I recall that they were just going to give it to him to keep, not to take anywhere.  But they WERE afraid he would misplace it eventually... so the problem wouldn't be solved, just delayed.

Yeah, that's what I thought... like the ring (and everything surrounding it) were so completely inconsequential to Tom that he couldn't be arsed to remember it. That supports, I think, the idea that he was Middle Earth (and unaffected by what happens to the people in it) or he was some very powerful being, well beyond the level of Gandalf, Saruman  etc.

Then again, it could just be a random character that Tolkien threw in there for kicks.

From what I remember, there were a couple reasons the council of Elrond didn't send the ring to Bombadil for safe keeping. One was that yes, he might forget why he was supposed to keep it. The ring didn't work since it "ha[d] no power over him," so he'd never fully understand what all the fuss was about. Another issue was mobility. He could have concealed the ring for a while, but not forever. If Sauron's forces continued to grow, they would eventually swamp Middle Earth and Sauron would have been able to locate the ring. "Gee, the only place I haven't searched is in this dude's lily pond. Fetch the goblin grenades." I'm pretty sure that either Gandalf or Elrond says that if that happened, Bombadil would hold out for a time, and then fall, last as he was first, and true darkness would come to Middle Earth (sorry, crappy paraphrase). I think the council also decided that giving the ring to Bombadil would make it impossible to destroy it. They had to act before Sauron had fortified Mordor too much for them to get to Mount Doom.

I haven't read the Silmarillion in years, so I don't recall the timeline for the Maiar. But if Bombadil was one of the most primal natural/life forces in the hierarchy, he was probably older and in some ways stronger than they were. Then again, there's the tradeoff with brute strength versus mobility. The wizards (who as I recall were Maiar of varying rank) weren't as all-out powerful, but they moved freely and exerted influence over comparatively massive swaths of territory. Bombadil could take on just about anything that wandered into his yard, but he'd never step beyond it. I need to check The Fellowship of the Ring to see if he ever talks about his borders changing in response to humans, hobbits etc.

The arguments about Tom being the Witch King seemed pretty patched together, but I'd need to reread it when I'm not as tired to comment in any depth. I need to go sleep and dig out the books in the morning. On a side note, fuck you all, now I feel compelled to reread everything.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Tom Bombadil was a filthy fucking hippie.  He should have been handed over to the fucking Nazgul.

Fucking draft-dodgers.

[hooplala]

Tom Bombadil was a filthy fucking hippie.  He should have been handed over to the fucking Nazgul.

Fucking draft-dodgers.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Tom Bombadil was a filthy fucking hippie.  He should have been handed over to the fucking Nazgul.

Fucking draft-dodgers.

[Richter]

Tom Bombadil was a filthy fucking hippie.  He should have been handed over to the fucking Nazgul.

Fucking draft-dodgers.

Fairly certain  JRR didn't mdoel the Shire after Canada, but the implciations are HILLARIOUS.

[hooplala]

I read somewhere that the Shire was based on Kentucky to some degree.  No troll.

[AFK]

It pretty much can relate to any rural area where the people predominately work the land for most of the day and spend the rest of the day drinking and songing.  So yeah, Kentucky makes sense. 

[hooplala]

A lot of the surnames for Hobbits were taken from rural Kentucky.  Underhill, Boffin, etc.

[Richter]

As far as writers who had their work / POV affected by WWI / WWII, it's interesting that Tolkein held to the concept of idealized pastoral living.  He gets downright T.S. Elliot AFA Mordor / Isengard / Scoured Shire

[Bruno]

I thought he was "Green Man".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man