From: <<<sbjensen -aaatt- midway.uchicago -daht- edu>>> (Steuard Jensen)
Subject: Re: Bombadil and Treebeard
Date: 14 Nov 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <wPuX3.300$j4.6687@uchinews>
References: <7vu24u$647$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <382E0C04.8511EF1C@erols.com> <80lanj$33c_002@news.uswest.net> <382E3B9F.EBDED242@wxs.nl>
X-Trace: uchinews 942569820 128.135.12.7 (Sun, 14 Nov 1999 02:57:00 CST)
Organization: The University of Chicago
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 02:57:00 CST
Newsgroups: alt.fan.tolkien

Quoth <<<hobbiton -aaatt- wxs -daht- nl>>>:
> Yes, Tom Bombadil is an enigma. And therefore so fascinating! Let's
> put him in a... MOVIE! :)

Bombadil as an Enigma in the movie:

     Whether the morning and evening of one day or of many days had
   passed Frodo could not tell.  He did not feel either hungry or
   tired, only filled with wonder.  The stars shone through the window
   and the silence of the heavens seemed to be round him.  He spoke at
   last out of his wonder and a sudden fear of that silence:

     'Who are you, Master?' he asked.

     'Eh, what?' said Tom sitting up, and his eyes glinting in the
   gloom.  'Don't you know my name yet?  That's the only answer.  Tell
   me, who are you, alone, yourself and nameless?'

     'No, really,' interjected Merry.  'That's no kind of answer.
   You're here, so you must be _something_.  You're a Maia just like
   Gandalf, aren't you?'

     Tom smiled, and replied, 'you are young and I am old.  Eldest,
   that's what I am.'

     'So are you saying, sir, that you're actually Iluvatar?' asked
   Sam.  'Him being the eldest of all, if you take my meaning.'

     'No, no,' laughed Tom.  'Old Tom's _that_ old.  I belong here, in
   Middle-earth.  But mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before
   the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the
   first acorn.'

     'So much for my theory that you were the spirit of the Old
   Forest,' sighed Pippen quietly.

     At Pippin's interruption, Tom stumbled in his words and frowned
   briefly, but went on: 'He made paths before the Big People, and saw
   the little People arriving.  He was here beore the Kings and the
   graves and the Barrow-wights.'

     'Is there any particular reason that you keep referring to
   yourself in the third person?' asked Frodo eagerly.  'Is that a
   clue?'

     A shadow seemed to pass by the window, and the hobbits glanced
   hastily through the panes.  When they turned again, Goldberry stood
   in the door behind, framed in light.  She held a candle, shielding
   its flame from the draught with her hand; and the light flowed
   through it, like sunlight through a white shell.

     'That's it!' cried Pippen.  'He's not just a forest spirit, he's
   the physical incarnation of the Flame Imperishable, expressing the
   sentience of Middle-earth itself!'

     Startled, Goldberry stepped back and said, 'What?'

     'My fair lady!' exclaimed Frodo.  'Once again I ask you, who is
   Tom Bombadil?'

     Looking quite puzzled, she replied, 'As I said before, he is.  He
   is, as you see him.'

     'Lor bless me, sir, but that's just what I'm saying.  _He is_.
   Being is necessary for his existence, so he _must_ be Iluvatar.'

     Frustrated, Tom tried to go on.  '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.'

     'But outside _what_?' insisted Merry.  'Do you mean outside the
   Ea itself?  How could you possibly have been here before the Valar
   even shaped the world?'

     'It's like I said,' Pippen replied.  'He must be fundamentally
   linked to the world: its own life, so to speak.'

     'Still sounds more like Eru to me,' countered Sam.

     'Could he just mean that he was in this part of Middle-earth
   before Morgoth got here?'  asked Frodo.  'Maybe "Outside" means
   "outside this particular continent" or region or something... but
   that would mean that you must have been here right when this area
   was shaped... hey, you could be Aule!'

     'All I can think,' continued Merry, 'is that you were just the
   quickest of the Ainur to hop down into Ea.  Why a Maia would be
   first I don't know, but that seems to be the way to go.'

     'Wait a minute,' Pippen exclaimed, spinning to face Goldberry,
   who was standing with a disbelieving look on her face.  'Who are
   YOU?'

     'Yavanna?!?' queried Frodo, leaping out of his chair and
   executing a clumsy bow.

     'Maybe she's Melian,' suggested Merry.

     Tom and Goldberry looked each other over the hobbits' heads with
   despairing weariness.  It promised to be a long night...

	      	     Steuard "Sorry we had to cut Rivendell" Jensen