tom bombadil is the 4th of the 4 wizardly (but not necessarily wizard) archetypes
tom bombadil gandalf saruman sauron
tom-gandalf sauron-saruman
it's a "foremost avatar - more down to earth dynamic" for each
from what I get of the tolkien quotations on wikipedia, tolkien considers himself essentially gandalf, and saruman the guy he would have been if he hadn't of fought with "the tommies"
sauron and tom bombadil are totally outlandish however, and represent very different ways of life, sauron seeks power and is terrifying despite not having a body, whereas tom is already powerful, to the point where sauron's ring is manipulated by him at will, he even makes *it* disappear, instead of the reverse - it's size changing properties manipulated at will on top of that, and his pwnage of the wights in the barrow downs further reinforces his mastery
I say mastery, and I mean it in the mystical sense even, he's equivalent to a non failure yoda, or master sifu from kung fu panda
Parallels have been drawn between the Green Man and various deities such as the British Celtic Lud, also known as Nodens. Many see him as being connected to the Mesopotamian Tammuz who is thought to symbolize the triumph of Life over Winter and Death,[13] Osiris, Odin, and even Jesus, as well as later folkloric and literary characters such as the Holly King.
Etymology
The name Nudd, cognate with the Irish Nuada and related to the Romano-British Nodens, probably derives from a Celtic stem *noudont- or *noudent-, which J. R. R. Tolkien suggested was related to a Germanic root meaning "acquire, have the use of", earlier "to catch, entrap (as a hunter)". Making the connection with Nuada and Lludd's hand, he detected "an echo of the ancient fame of the magic hand of Nodens the Catcher"
"Eldest, that's 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 (The Lord of the Rings)
the green man who makes use of things, sounds like tom to me - in an environmentally friendly way of course, otherwise he wouldn't be "green" would he now?
Edited by 69.172.221.6
Some of the content here and in the subpages, e.g. the Wild Mass Guessing and the Headscratchers, features a lot of Middle-earth-in-general content not specific to the Lot R. Now that there's a franchise page for the whole legendarium, should that content perhaps be moved there?
does anyone think that the caption underneath the image at the top of the page should be changed so that it dosnt seem to be disparaging the length of the book, its length is perfectly fine for most readers and as one of the most enduring stories in the world it should at least get a more repectful caption on its own page
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Nah, I don't mind it. I have nothing against the length of the book, but I'm all for a little affectionate ribbing. Unless you have a better alternative to suggest.
'Crisis or no, nothing should interfere with tea!'
I removed this because it is using the wrong trope. It isn't a Bizarro Episode because it fits within the continuity, advances the plot and character development, and is mentioned again. It is noteworthy for being inexplicable, bizarre, and totally divergent in tone, but I don't know what trope that is. Preserved here in case there is a trope for this.
- Trope Name Here: The Tom Bombadil chapter comes out of nowhere and makes absolutely no sense — to this day, nobody has the slightest clue what Bombadil even is or where he came from. However, the chapter is mentioned again and, in fact, provides significant weapons and character development.
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