Eldest, that's what Tom Bombadil is.
Edit: In Magic The Gathering, he's listed as a god.
this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
174 points (94.4% liked)
Asklemmy
47786 readers
976 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy π
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- [email protected]: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
The Legendarium represents the cultural perspective of the Noldor and the Men who adopted much of their cultural tradition. It's not an objective history, and some things that exist in the world, such as Tom Bombadil and Ungoliant, aren't really accounted for by the Noldor cosmology, even though these beings are known to them.
Similarly, Morgoth isn't just an Elvish version of Satan, he's Satan himself as the Elves understood him - with the implication that Satan is just the same being, viewed through the Abrahamic tradition.
One thing I like a lot about LotR is that it's incredibly detailed and thorough, but there are still some things that simply exist regardless. In a world where magic is real, it wouldn't make sense if everything had an explanation.
Yes.
I always thought tom is the embodiment of nature itself. Basically if nature was a man.
My opinion: mostly obnoxious and good he was left out of the movie.
When I read about him, the first thing that came to mind is the concept of the "original man" from Manichaeism. However, the Lord of the Rings, being a trilogy that owes itself to Catholicism, would rule anything relating to Manichaeism out as a correct interpretation.
The most boring part of the bookβ¦in my opinion.
That's not Tom. That's the forest
Yeah, thatβs fair.