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rangerfromthenorth
Rivendell
Jan 31 2013, 2:29am
Views: 2241
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Yet your quote holds little weight being that Tolkien wrote this of Tom before LOTR was written and before Tom was inserted into the world. In his poems The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, which most do not consider canon, Tom is indeed the spirit of the vanishing Oxford countryside, but as stated before, this letter referencing Tom in his poems was written by Tolkien in 1937, Lord of the Rings was not completed until 1949. So clearly in context it is not meant to explain Tom's origins in the world of Middle Earth being that it is reference to a place that does not exist in Middle Earth, Tolkien's answering of his friends questions was not in context of LOTR.
Take for instance, Tom originally had a peacock feather in his hat, but in adapting Tom, Tolkien decided that because peacocks do not exist in Middle Earth he had to change his feather to a swan's feather (Tolkien letters pg 318-319), in other words, Tom's insertion into the story was meant to be consistent with the given world, so much so that Tolkien saw it fit to even make a minor detail, such as to which type of feather was in his hat fit into Middle Earth. Tolkien was very deliberate with his creation.
On top of that, Tolkien has his characters directly allude to who/what Tom is on no fewer than four occasions, so Tolkien himself clearly thought about it and knowing that he adapted Tom already to consistently fit into the world, and that he asked about his origins within Middle Earth, it is not too far of a stretch to suggest that Tolkien had an answer, though he openly wrote that he left him as an enigma. This label though does not mean an answer does not exist but rather that Tolkien chose not to give it so that there would be a mystery in his world. And half the fun of a mystery is trying to solve it;-)
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Time
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Tom Bombadil As the Spirit of the Music of the Ainur
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rangerfromthenorth
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Jan 17 2013, 4:27pm
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Thanks for this!
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Radagast-Aiwendil
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Jan 17 2013, 8:57pm
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Great Theory
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Lost_istari
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Jan 18 2013, 7:56pm
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Thank you much
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rangerfromthenorth
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Jan 22 2013, 2:07pm
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Agreed
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CuriousG
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Jan 23 2013, 5:53pm
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A quick thought on children of Ainur
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Lost_istari
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Jan 24 2013, 6:46am
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Excellent theory!
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FlyingSerkis
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Jan 23 2013, 9:13pm
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Thank You
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rangerfromthenorth
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Jan 23 2013, 9:33pm
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Regarding Bombadil's boundedness
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Plurmo
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Jan 28 2013, 5:59am
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I Know
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Tolkien Forever
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Jan 30 2013, 8:38pm
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"None has yet defined him, for Tom is an enigma"
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squire
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Jan 31 2013, 1:27am
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Great poem/
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CuriousG
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Jan 31 2013, 1:34am
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Great Poem Indeed
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rangerfromthenorth
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Jan 31 2013, 2:29am
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It is certainly a great topic to debate
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squire
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Feb 1 2013, 3:14am
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a "most" dangerous discussion
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rangerfromthenorth
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Feb 1 2013, 3:32pm
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ATB was published after LOTR.
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N.E. Brigand
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Feb 1 2013, 5:55pm
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yes yes it was
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rangerfromthenorth
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Feb 1 2013, 6:14pm
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thats where the confusion came from
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rangerfromthenorth
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Feb 1 2013, 6:22pm
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Tolkien did alter the poem for its 1962 re-publication.
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N.E. Brigand
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Feb 1 2013, 7:51pm
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Very nicely stated
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squire
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Feb 1 2013, 8:38pm
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This may interest you.
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N.E. Brigand
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Feb 1 2013, 5:46am
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