Re: Tom Bombadil

On Wed, 23 Oct 2024 08:29:36 -0700, Paul S Person wrote:

On 20 Oct 2024 13:50:30 GMT, Stephan Seitz <stse+usenet@rootsland.net>
wrote:

Can Tom cross his borders to visit friends? Or are Buckland and the
Marish part of his country? After all nothing is really said about the
borders.

 
I think it is more a matter of not wanting to do so than not being
able to do so.

At the Council of Elrond, Gandalf says of Tom:
"And NOW [my emphasis] he is withdrawn into a little land, within
bounds that he has set, though none can see them, waiting perhaps for
a change of days, and he will not step beyond them."

That agrees with Paul's statement that he does not want to leave his
"little land". But I think Gandalf's "and now" means that Tom used to
go and visit Farmer Maggot and perhaps others, before Sauron became
so active and the Nazgûl crossed the Anduin.

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA
                                 https://BrownMath.com/
Tolkien FAQs: http://Tolkien.slimy.com (Steuard Jensen)
Tolkien letters FAQ: https://preview.tinyurl.com/pr6sa7u
Guide to the Letters: https://www.tolkienguide.com/guide/letters/
FAQ of the Rings: https://BrownMath.com/general/ringfaq.htm
Encyclopedia of Arda: https://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm