[Ask for advice] Tom Bombadil and Jinmei appear in the first book of The Lord of the Rings

Do you still remember Tom Bombadil who rescued four hobbits from Old Willow in the old forest? Here is a discussion about him, translated from The Encyclopaedia Of Arda; some excerpts of the translation are taken from the first edition of the Lin edition of The Lord of the Rings. Please forgive me for the poorly translated parts.

The Mystery of Tom Bombadil

Tom Bombadil is one of the main mysterious characters in Tolkien's works. More than almost everything else in Middle-earth that is well described, Tom is a mystery. We can find almost no clues about him: his origin, destiny, purpose, or even racial affiliation. So it's no surprise that Tom is the most talked about Tolkien character.

This article does not intend to give a clear answer to the so-called "Bombadil Question" - and it seems that such an answer is unlikely. What we want to do is to synthesize the common viewpoints—with or without Tolkien’s cosmology—and discuss the merits of each.

Toro himself has maintained an unusual silence on the issue of Tom's identity.

"Even in the Age of Mythology, there are certainly many mysteries, as usual. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."

"Tolkien "Letters" No. 144, 1954

Fortunately, he left us more clues than this statement, but it is still not enough to completely solve the mystery.

In fact, there are two ways to solve the problem of Tom's identity: placing him in the world system of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Diamond", or looking more broadly from the perspective of a literary character Come and see. Here we will try the above two methods. Let’s start with Tom in the Tolkein world system.

1. Tom in Tolkien’s world system

Tolkien’s world is inhabited by a wide variety of species and life forms: the problem is that, as far as we know so far, we cannot successfully treat Tom classified into any of the races. He seems to have "immigrated" from somewhere else. In fact, his story is almost clear, at least on a literary level; but our concern here is to place Tom in the world of Toro. Although there are many candidates here, we can rule out most of them immediately: Tom is definitely not a human, a hobbit, a dwarf, or he does not belong to any race with limited life; and, obviously, everyone can be sure that he is not an orc, giant, orc. Monster, Ent, Dragon or Eagle! But despite this, there are still many possibilities left.

Tom is an elf?

Tom's brisk step, his intelligence, his longevity, and his penchant for singing all gave him an elf-like quality. But this possibility is easily refuted by the words in "The Lord of the Rings":

"When the elves moved westward, Tom was here..."

Tom's own words, " "Lord of the Rings" Volume 1, Chapter 7 "Tom and his wife"

If Tom himself was an elf, he would not be able to say this! In addition, Tom's advanced age is also counter-evidence - the elves' westward migration occurred about 6 centuries ago when he said this.

Tom is Maia?

This is a common view, and even this view is sometimes considered a "fact". However there is no direct evidence to support this - it seems to be based on the fact that Tom cannot be a Vala; and, there is no other possibility, he must be a Maia. As we will see, both views are flawed - Tom could be Vala; and there is at least one other possibility.

Although we cannot be sure that Tom is not a Maiar, this positioning is very reluctant. The most important point is: he is not affected by the Lord of the Rings.

"Tom put the ring on the tip of his little finger and leaned close to the candlelight...Tom was not invisible!**"

"The Lord of the Rings" Volume 1 Chapter 7 "Tom and his wife" < /p>

**Note that Yilin completely mistranslated the meaning of this important place

During the War of the Ring, there were other powerful Maiar in Middle-earth, especially Sauron, Saruman and Gandalf , they are more or less under the control of the power of the Ring. Tom, however, was able to resist its invisibility and had no desire to possess it (he "smiled" when he returned the ring to Frodo). Thomas himself pointed out the importance of Tom's immunity. On this topic, he said:

"The Ring's influence extends to everything, even the sorcerers (or Emissaries) - and not just that, to all matter in the world. form.

”

"Tolkien's Letters" No. 153, 1954

Tom is Vala?

Among the races with names for Tolkien, the last one possible Including Tom is the Valar - the Power of the World. The most common objection to this argument is that all the Valar names are known, and Tom is not among them. This objection is not perfect:

“…(Valar) has another name in the elven language of Middle-earth, and there are many forms in the human language. ""Elf Diamond", Valaquenta

The statement about Tom is:

"He (Bombadil) didn't have that name at the time. We called him Iarwain Ben- adar, the eldest, the fatherless one" Elrond language, "The Lord of the Rings" Volume 2, Chapter 2 "The Council of Forest Vale"

So, Tom is one of the 14 Valar we know, It is not unreasonable to live incognito in Middle-earth. Although we cannot be sure, it seems likely that Vala can resist the power of the Ring, so the difficulty does not exist, even if the "Vala hypothesis" is the best one at present. Although it is tenable, it also has some aspects that are difficult to justify:

"...The eldest person is me...Tom still returns the first raindrop that falls from the sky and the first hazelnut that grows on the tree. Remember...he knew the darkness beneath the stars, but it wasn't scary until the Black Leader came from outside. "

"The Lord of the Rings" Volume 1, Chapter 7 "Tom and Mrs."

All Valar existed before Arda was created, so they can justifiably call themselves "the most powerful of all." The elder". But Tom said he "knew the darkness under the stars" (that is, he was in this world, not outside it) "before the Black Chief came from outside." The "Black Chief" The title is ambiguous here - it can refer to both Melkor and Sauron, and they are both from "outside" the world. If he refers to Melkor, it is easy to understand: according to The. In the initial setting of Silmarillion, this passage can be understood as the arrival of Valar:

"So soon, just as they feared, Melkor arrived there before them..." "The Lost Story" Part 1, Part 3 Chapter "The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor"

The "they" above refer to Manw? and Varda, the first Valar to come to Arda besides Melkor. According to Tuo Lao. According to the initial setting (no contradictory text was found in the published "Elf Diamond"), Melkor was the first to enter the world from "outside", but Tom hinted that he was already in the world when Melkor arrived. Here it is!

Admittedly, Tom may be referring to Sauron, who certainly came after the big guys, but it seems more reasonable to think that it was Melkor from the line "before the black leader came from outside" Some (that is, he mentioned a major event with overall impact, an important turning point in world history, which is not something Sauron can discuss)

This is just one of the loopholes in Vala's theory. That's it. For example, the other people we thought should be able to identify Vala in the mix (especially Gandalf) clearly didn't.

There are many other arguments about Tom's Vala status. For a more detailed discussion of the topic and specific conclusions, we highly recommend Eugene Hargrove's excellent review "Who is Tom Bombadil" (http://www.cas.unt.edu/~hargrove/Bombadil.htm) .

Is Tom the real Ilúvatar?

Tom obviously has unlimited abilities, at least in his own field, which has caused many people to suggest that he can only be the real Eru Ilúvatar. There are indeed some texts in The Lord of the Rings that hint that he may be: he is called "the Master", "the Oldest One", and Goldberry simply refers to him as "him". It's him. "The Lord of the Rings, Volume 1, Chapter 7, "Tom and his wife"

All of these may imply that Tom and Ilúvatar are the same person. However, in fact, this is one of the few theories about Tom that can be true. A definite conclusion. This was mentioned several times in Tolao's letters, and each time he stated that Tom and Eru should not be confused. The following is probably his most explicit statement:

"The One, or Lord God, is incarnate; he is truly beyond the world, and is accessible only to the Valar, the Defender of the World. ""Tolkien's Letters" No. 181, 1958

If The One (that is, Eru) does not have an incarnation, then of course Tom cannot be this incarnation.

Tom is "Spirit" (the word "elf" has already been taken; spirit, soul? It's not easy to translate)?

According to "The Diamond", the idea that Tom is a "spirit" (as opposed to the Maia and Vala theories) is feasible. Although it is generally believed that only the Valar and Maiar entered Arda, in the original version before the official publication of Thoreau, he discussed the Aratar, the 8 most powerful Valar:

"...their authority is equal and far superior to the others, whether Valar or Maiar, or any other form that Ilúvatar sent to E?" "The Elf Diamond", Valaquenta

This simple "any other. Form" seems to be the remains of an older and more detailed corresponding text found in "Lost Stories":

"...brown fairy, fairy, pixie, goblin , and others who cannot be named, for they are very numerous... They were born before the world, older than the oldest, they did not belong to it, but mostly they laughed at it..." "Lost Stories" Part One , Chapter 3 "The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor"

It is difficult not to connect this passage with Tom, which may be the inspiration for creating Tom ("The Lost Story" Predating Tom's first appearance in print by nearly a decade). However, whether Tom is a brown fairy, a fairy, an elf or a goblin is questionable - none of these creatures have appeared in Thor's published works, and their role - set the stage for later legends. This is, at least in part, passed on to The Hobbit.

Spirit alone cannot explain many of the problems discussed above. Why can't even the Maiar resist the power of the Ring but the "goblins" can? Could a "brown fairy" have come to this world before the Valar?

There is another kind of spirit to consider: "Natural Spirit". Thor himself seems to support this statement:

"Do you think Tom, a (disappearing) elf from the Oxford and Berkshire countryside, can become the hero of the story?" Ergin's Letters, No. 19, 1937

This letter predates Tom's appearance in "The Lord of the Rings" (in fact, this quotation is about the ending of "The Hobbit" part of the discussion), so it can be used as the best circumstantial evidence.

The idea of ??"spirit of nature" is entirely possible in Tuolao's world. Although this realm has never been directly mentioned in his world system, Middle-earth seems to have always been populated by various Spirits - at least some trees are obviously spiritual beings (such as Old Liutou and Fangang). The call of the forest). Added:

"But the elves of this land are strangers to us Silvan elves. Now the grass here cannot remember them. I only hear the stones mourning for them..." "The Lord of the Rings" 》Volume 2, Chapter 3, "The Lord of the Rings Goes South"

There are countless such examples: Obviously, in Tuolao's world, natural creations were much more active than in today's world. From these to the "spirits of nature" it is but a small step, and to the figure in the yellow boots who lives in the house is a giant step.