‘Thou art indeed an Outlier,’ Mowgli called back; ‘but we will speak when the dholes are dead. Good hunting all!’
‘Ask of the dead, Outlier,’ Mowgli replied. ‘Have none come down-stream? I have filled these dogs’ mouths with dirt; I have tricked them in the broad daylight, and their leader lacks his tail, but here be some few for thee still. Whither shall I drive them?’
The stream is shrunk—the pool is dry,
And we be comrades, thou and I;
With fevered jowl and dusty flank
Each jostling each along the bank;
And by one drouthy fear made still,
Forgoing thought of quest or kill.
Now ’neath his dam the fawn may see,
The lean Pack-wolf as cowed as he,
And the tall buck, unflinching, note
The fangs that tore his father’s throat.
The pools are shrunk—the streams are dry,
And we be playmates, thou and I,
Till yonder cloud—Good Hunting!—loose
The rain that breaks our Water Truce.
The night we felt the earth would move
We stole and plucked him by the hand,
Because we loved him with the love
That knows but cannot understand.
And when the roaring hillside broke,
And all our world fell down in rain,
We saved him, we the Little Folk;
But lo! he does not come again!
Mourn now, we saved him for the sake
Of such poor love as wild ones may.
Mourn ye! Our brother will not wake,
And his own kind drive us away!
Dirge of the Langurs
"Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow! Bright Blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow!"
Tom Bombadil was a mysterious being that lived for much of the history of the world, being known in the Third Age to dwell in the valley of the Withywindle in the depths of the Old Forest, east of Buckland, and close to the dangerous Barrow-downs.
His domain was of modest size, but he seemed to possess an unequaled power over the land around his dwelling. He lived in a small house[2] with his wife, Goldberry, between the Barrow-downs and the Dingle of the Old Forest, far from any other settlement. Although seemingly benevolent, he took no open stance against the Dark Lords.
"Eldest, that's what I am… Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn… He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside."
—Tom Bombadil (The Lord of the Rings)
The origin and nature of Tom Bombadil are unknown; however, he claimed already existed before the Dark Lord came to Arda,[3] signifying he may have been alive even before the coming of the Valar. (It is unclear whether he refers to Melkor's first or second entry into the world.) In any case, Tom is insinuated to have been the first living creature to inhabit Arda.
First & Second Ages
Tom and Goldberry Matěj Čadil
Goldberry meeting Tom, by Matěj Čadil
Tom eventually "left" where he had come from, and arrived in Middle-earth, which he wandered through and explored, having witnessed the emergence of the forests and the rain. While his role and nature in the First and Second ages are unknown, he may have witnessed most major events and battles. He also witnessed the reducing of the great forests that covered all Middle-earth, and perhaps of his powers.[4] The levels of his interactions with the outside world are also unclear; however, he perhaps became a folkloric figure in the traditions and legends of Elves, Dwarves, and Men.[5] As a result, he came to be known by many names during his pilgrimage: the Elves called him Iarwain (Old/young, presumably because as far as anyone remembered he had always looked much the same[6]) Ben-adar (without a father), while he was known as Orald to Men and Forn to the Dwarves.
At the end of his wanderings, Tom focused his exploration only on Eriador, making him the first to reside in the west even before the Elves moved there and the tides were folded. In this period, on his journey down the Withywindle to the Brandywine River, several of the valley's mysterious residents, including the River-spirit Goldberry (also known as the "River-woman's daughter"), the malevolent tree-spirit Old Man Willow, and the Badger-folk attempted to capture Bombadil for their own ends, but quailed at the power of Tom's voice, which defeated their enchantments and commanded them to return to their natural existence. Ultimately, Bombadil was captured and married Goldberry when she pulled Tom by his beard under the water-lilies out of mischief, but he ordered her to set him free. The next day he came to the River-woman and asked Goldberry to be his wife, and the creatures of the Old Forest (the badger-folk and other animals) attended their wedding.[7][8]
still moar interesting than schumers wife tho
"But I had forgotten Bombadil, if indeed this is still the same that walked the woods and hills long ago, and even then was older than the old. That was not then his name. Iarwain Ben-adar we called him, oldest and fatherless. But many another name he has since been given by other folk: Forn by the Dwarves, Orald by Northern Men, and other names beside. He is a strange creature…"
—Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
It is untold at what time Tom settled into his domain outside the Old Forest, but it is known that he dwelt there when the Third Age began, seeing the rise (and fall) of Angmar and its wars that led to the Barrow-downs being inhabited by the Barrow-wights. He also saw the arrival of hobbits in the region that would become the Shire, which led him occasionally to interact with the little folk, mostly in Buckland. He eventually was named Bombadil in Bucklandish by the Bucklanders, which would become the name he adopted. Perhaps it was because of his contact with them that he had his cheerful and whimsical attitude.
A tale says that Tom is challenged by Hobbits and various Forest-folk on his journey down the Withywindle to the Brandywine river where hobbits live at Haysend, including Willow-wren, Fisher Blue, Whisker-lad, and Old Swan, but he charms them all with his voice, ending his journey at the farm of Farmer Maggot, where he drinks ale and dances with the family. At the end, the charmed birds and otters work together to bring Bombadil's boat home.[9]
At some point, he also ventured into Bree and met Barliman Butterbur, the proprietor of The Prancing Pony.
reread two towers
In 3018, Frodo and his company had a chance meeting with Bombadil in the Old Forest after a nearly disastrous encounter with Old Man Willow. Frodo, who had fled from the tree looking for help, enlisted Bombadil, who had been out gathering water lilies. Bombadil went immediately with Frodo to the tree and commanded it to release its prisoners, Merry and Pippin, which it immediately did. He then invited Frodo and his companions to his home, where the Hobbits had an almost dreamlike stay, feasting and making merry with Tom. In this state, Frodo rather inadvertently told Tom all about the One Ring and his quest, and when Tom asked to inspect the Ring, Frodo, without question and without any of the reluctance that tended to accompany giving the Ring to another, allowed him to. Tom then put the Ring on his finger, yet not only did he not disappear, but the Ring appeared to have no effect on him at all. After making the Ring itself vanish with a sleight-of-hand trick, he returned it to Frodo, who, slightly suspicious that it had not made Tom vanish, put it on to make sure it was the genuine Ring. Tom surprised him yet again by revealing that he could see Frodo even with the Ring on, and told Frodo to remove it, stating that his hand was fairer without it.
After two days resting and feasting at Tom's home, the Hobbits set out again, only to be captured the next day by Wights on the Barrow-downs. Fortunately, Tom had taught Frodo a magic song to call Tom to him; so Frodo sang it and Tom came to the rescue, and opened the Barrow.[3] After this, he escorted the Hobbits to the borders of his land and left them there. However, The peril of the hobbits was not over; an attack on their lives was carried out, and their ponies were set loose. The ponies apparently remembered the care they were given in the house of Tom Bombadil, and returned to stay beside Tom's own pony, Fatty Lumpkin. He returned them to Barliman Butterbur, the proprietor of The Prancing Pony. Since he had paid eighteen pence as compensation for the loss, he was now the owner of five fine ponies.[10]
Over a month later, Tom became a topic of discussion at the Council of Elrond. There, Elrond, who had apparently met Tom in times long past, reminisced about him briefly before the question was put before the Council of whether or not to give the Ring to Tom, as it appeared as though Tom may have had power over even the Ring within his lands. However, Gandalf quickly dismissed the idea, saying that rather than Tom having power over the Ring, the Ring simply had no power over Tom. He was immune to its influence, but he could not alter it.
Additionally, it was believed by Gandalf that if asked by all the Free People of the world to take the One Ring he might be willing to do so, but would not understand the reason. Gandalf believed Tom would have likely either forgot about it or thrown it away, as such things had little relevance to him. It was also mentioned that taking the Ring back to him would be impossible to accomplish without it becoming known to Sauron, and that sooner or later, Sauron would bend all his power towards Tom's realm to take the Ring back. Despite his mastery within his realm, it was assumed that Tom would not have cared or been able to keep the Ring contained to his realm.