I think one of the main things Tom Bombadil contributes is that he is not affected by the ring. For him it is a bauble.
Everyone else, even Gandalf, even Galadriel sees the ring as something they barely have the power not to struggle to use and to take. For Tom Bombadil, he has not the slightest interest in it personally, no desire to possess it or use it, and it has no power over him either, it doesn't make him vanish when he wears it.
Without that perspective the whole thing would become far more heavy.
It also fits in with the pattern of havens such as Rivendell, and Lothlorien - the idea that even when things are dire and terrible, yet there remain places which remain untouched by all the darkness in the rest of the world.
It is part of what makes it a story of hope and part of the positive message, not just an action adventure or struggle of good guys against bad guys. Something that is above all that.
And Tom Bombadil also - has the perspective of someone who has lived through countless ages. Who remembers when the barrow downs were citadels of small kingdoms. Who remembers long before that way back to the first raindrop :). So again get this idea, that though we are totally caught up in this matter of the ring, yet, in perspective, it's in some ways really just a small matter, you could say, looms large at present, very important for all those involved, still, in the great time and many ages of Middle Earth is just one of many such epics and stories.
Also the power of song. Which Elrond and the elves also show, and Galadriel, that somehow songs have a power in themselves against harmful things. Tom Bombadil shows that most of all though. With just songs, no weapons, nothing else, he dispels the barrow wight, and sends willow man back to sleep again.
Some of this as other have said you get glimpses of in other ways later in the story from other characters. E.g. Elrond, Galadriel and Treebeard all have a perspective of great age, of remembering times from many ages past. Even Gandalf going back a fair way. Though none of them as old as Tom Bombadil. And - other places like Lothlorien untouched as yet. And Rivendell. These ideas of places where you are safe, havens, as you are in the house of Tom Bombadil.
But Tom Bombadil in the entire book is the only one not affected by the ring. So that is unique to him, leave him out and you've lost that perspective.
He not only doesn't get vanished by the ring, he causes the ring itself to vanish :). Just for fun. And as well as that, Frodo gives him the ring without hesitation and reluctance, to his surprise. And Tom can see Frodo when he is wearing the ring.
Tolkien says this about him:
Dorathea Thomas says this about him:
Everyone else, even Gandalf, even Galadriel sees the ring as something they barely have the power not to struggle to use and to take. For Tom Bombadil, he has not the slightest interest in it personally, no desire to possess it or use it, and it has no power over him either, it doesn't make him vanish when he wears it.
Without that perspective the whole thing would become far more heavy.
It also fits in with the pattern of havens such as Rivendell, and Lothlorien - the idea that even when things are dire and terrible, yet there remain places which remain untouched by all the darkness in the rest of the world.
It is part of what makes it a story of hope and part of the positive message, not just an action adventure or struggle of good guys against bad guys. Something that is above all that.
And Tom Bombadil also - has the perspective of someone who has lived through countless ages. Who remembers when the barrow downs were citadels of small kingdoms. Who remembers long before that way back to the first raindrop :). So again get this idea, that though we are totally caught up in this matter of the ring, yet, in perspective, it's in some ways really just a small matter, you could say, looms large at present, very important for all those involved, still, in the great time and many ages of Middle Earth is just one of many such epics and stories.
Also the power of song. Which Elrond and the elves also show, and Galadriel, that somehow songs have a power in themselves against harmful things. Tom Bombadil shows that most of all though. With just songs, no weapons, nothing else, he dispels the barrow wight, and sends willow man back to sleep again.
Some of this as other have said you get glimpses of in other ways later in the story from other characters. E.g. Elrond, Galadriel and Treebeard all have a perspective of great age, of remembering times from many ages past. Even Gandalf going back a fair way. Though none of them as old as Tom Bombadil. And - other places like Lothlorien untouched as yet. And Rivendell. These ideas of places where you are safe, havens, as you are in the house of Tom Bombadil.
But Tom Bombadil in the entire book is the only one not affected by the ring. So that is unique to him, leave him out and you've lost that perspective.
"Show me the precious Ring!" he said suddenly in the midst of the story; and Frodo, to his own astonishment, drew out the chain from his pocket, and unfastening the Ring handed it at once to Tom.
It seemed to grow larger as it lay for a moment on his big brown-skinned hand. Then suddenly he put it to his eye and laughed. For a second the hobbits had a vision, both comical and alarming, of his bright blue eye gleaming through a circl of gold. tghen Tom put the Ring round the end of his little finger and held it up to the candlelight. For a moment the hobbits noticed nothing strange about this. Then they gasped. There was no sign of Tom disappearing!
Tom laughed again, and then he spun the Ring in the air - and it vanished with a flash. Frodo gave a cry – and Tom leaned forward and handed it back to him with a smile.
Frodo looked at it closely, and rather suspiciously (like one who has lent a trinket to a juggler). It was teh same Ring, or looked the same and weighed the same: for the Ring had always seemed to Frodo to weight strangely heavy in the hand. But soemthing prompted him to make sure. He was perhaps a trifle annoyed with Tom for seeming to make so light of what even Gandalf thought so perilously important. he waited for an opportunity, when the talk was going again, and Tom was telling an absurd story about badgers, and their queer ways then he slipped the Ring on.
Merry turned towards him to say something and gave a start, and checked an exclamation. Frodo was delighted (in a way): it was his own rign all right, for Merry was staring blankly at his chair, and obviously could not see him. He got up, and crept quietly away from the fireside towards the outer door.
"Hey there!" cried Tom, glancing towards him with a most seeing look in his shining eyes. "Hey! Come Frodo, there! Where be you a-going? Old Tom Bombadil's not as blind as that yet. Take off your golden ring! Your hand's more fair without it. Come back! Leave your game and sit down beside me! We must talk a while more, and think about the morning. Tom must teach the right road, and keep your feet from wandering.
The Lord of the Rings
He not only doesn't get vanished by the ring, he causes the ring itself to vanish :). Just for fun. And as well as that, Frodo gives him the ring without hesitation and reluctance, to his surprise. And Tom can see Frodo when he is wearing the ring.
Tolkien says this about him:
"I might put it this way. The story is cast in terms of a good side,
and a bad side . . . but both sides in some degree, conservative or destructive, want a measure of control. but if you have, as it were,
taken „a vow of poverty‟, renounced control, and take delight in
things for themselves without reference to yourself, watching, observing, and to some extent knowing, then the question of the rights and wrongs of power and control might become utterly meaningless to you, and the means of power quite valueless. It is a natural pacifist view, which always arises in the mind where thereis no war. "
Dorathea Thomas says this about him:
"In a tale in which every character seems to get dragged into the RingSee: He Is: Tom Bombadil and his function in The Lord of the Rings
quest in some way, the text uses Tom the “natural pacifist” to remind the hobbits that there are parts of Middle-earth not consumed with anxiety over Sauron and the Ring, that there is more to Middle-earth than the struggle surrounding Sauron‟ s creation."
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Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
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