Migrations and monuments: Part 2 - Tom Bombadil

Migrations and monuments: the story of the First Age in Eriador and Rhovanion

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Migrations and monuments” quick links:

Contents | Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 |
Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Conclusion | Addendum 1 |
Addendum 2 | Bibliography
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📗 Part 2] Middle-earth’s first dweller: Tom Bombadil

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.’

-- J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Book One Chapter 7: In the House of Tom Bombadil)

The enigma of Tom Bombadil continues to be discussed in lively scholarly and lore debates across the Tolkien fan spaces online and off. Whether you think he’s a Maia, or the spirit of Oxfordshire embodied in Middle-earth, Eru Ilúvatar himself or something else, one thing we do know (or believe if we listen to Tom himself) is that he is the earliest inhabitant of Middle-earth. In the Elder Days he is, according to both his own words and Gandalf, more free-roaming (and more confined during the Third Age) so he is definitely in Eriador and perhaps Rhovanion. Does he also travel to Beleriand?

It should be noted it is not known when he built his home which he shares with Goldberry and that we visit with the Hobbits during the Lord of the Rings. It has more recently been given a name: Underhill. The name appears in a document created by Tolkien called “The Chronology of The Lord of the Rings” which was published in “Tolkien Studies: Volume 19 Supplement” (2022). Underhill is a name which ties directly with Frodo Baggins’ travelling surname on his journey to Bree.

Tom Bombadil is obviously not a First Age development, having been around from the beginning of Arda, though his building of a home in the Old Forest could well have happened in the First Age. We’ll never know that detail sadly but I include him here as an important resident of Eriador.

Next: 
📜 Part 3] Of starlight and the wide spaces of Middle-earth: The Unwilling Elves and those lost or turned aside on the long road

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Migrations and monuments” quick links:

Contents | Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 |
Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Conclusion | Addendum 1 |
Addendum 2 | Bibliography
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------