Re: Tom Bombadil

Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

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

I have some questions about Tom Bombadil.
After reading the LotR I would say the following:
- the hobbits don't know Tom;

The ones we encounter may not, but there are more Hobbits in the world
than just those.

Sorry, I meant in this case our four heroes who met Tom.

- Tom doesn't cross his own borders, not even for free ale;

Only if the Barrows are inside his borders -- and didn't Tom wave
goodbye (as it were) before those were reached precisely because they
are not inside his borders? And yet, he rescues them from the Wights.

He waved goodbye from his house. And he gave the hobbits the
"summoning spell" for the next day. I doubt that it would work in Bree
or Moria. So the Barrows have to be inside his borders.

I suppose it depends, in part, on /when/ the poems were written by the
Hobbits in relation to the events in /LOTR/.

The first poem was written long before LotR, the second poem after the
War but with content shortly before the War.

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.

Yes, certainly. Tom is making is own borders. The question is more how
strict is he with his own rules.

Stephan

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