A mystery within a mystery, involving Tom Bombadil.

[Bombadil]

I looked for any threads that match this, didn't find any, but sorry if I didn't look hard enough.

In the Fellowship of the Ring in chapter VIII Fog on the Barrow-Downs, there is an interesting and mysterious line about Tom Bombadil- hence the title of the thread a mystery in a mystery, Tom being an enigma in himself. The line comes after he saves the hobbits from the barrow-wight, and it is:

He chose for himself from the pile a brooch set with blue stones. many-shaded like flax-flowers or the wings of blue butterflies. He looked long at it, as if stirred by some memory...

(Just to clarify, the ellipsis at the end shows the quote continues, it wasn't written in a such a way, which if it were would add more mystery to it than it already entails.)

What is this memory? Being a big fan of the character of Tom Bombadil I wish I could say I had a clue. Perhaps the answer lies in the poem of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, but I do not own a copy - because I don't have 300 dollars to buy one! (btw, if anyone has a free copy of this poem if you could please email it to me, or put up a link). What could this brooch be that affects Tom Bombadil so?

[Fingolfin II]

I also don't own a copy of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, but my guess is that he is touched by the brooch's beauty, and that it could be a symbol of the beauty of the environment before the Barrow-wights and 'sinister' trees (i.e. Old Man Willow) moved into the Barrow-Downs.

'Here is a pretty toy for Tom and his for his lady! Fair was she who long ago wore this on her shoulder. Goldberry shall wear it now, and we will not forget her!

This suggest to me that this was worn by some beautiful Elven lady in the First Age, possibly even Luthien or her Maia mother, Melian. As Goldberry is described as fair as 'a young elf-queen clad in living flowers', no doubt the beauty of probably a dead, or gone, Elf lady who wore this long ago brought to mind Tom's beautiful mistress, Goldberry. So I think this is probably a better answer than the one above, and that he remembered not only the beautiful Elf lady long ago, but all Elves that have perished and gave it to Goldberry in memoriam of them.

[Bombadil]

Thank you! I completely forgot to put in that part of the quote which was very important! That is a very good theory, and most likely true, I just wonder if there is any evidence or not to the exact nature of the object.

[The Saucepan Man]

There is an interesting discussion of Bombadil's brooch here.

This suggest to me that this was worn by some beautiful Elven lady in the First Age

As noted in the thread linked to above, the brooch is more likely to have belonged to a lady of the race of Man, as the Barrow-Downs were used as burial sites by the Edain in the First Age and by the Kingdom of Cardolan in the Third Age.

[Lalaith]

Thanks Mr Saucepanman, I had a feeling we'd talked about this before...but I must say this is one of the things I love about Tolkien, these little throwaway lines which hint at hidden historical texture. It's what helps make Middle Earth feel such a real place.

[Bombadil]

Thanks Saucepan! I suppose I didn't look hard enough, I apologize! Perhaps we could change the topic to where I could find The Adventures of Tom Bombadil cheap, or if someone has read the book of poems.

[Fingolfin II]

Try looking at your local, school or State Library. My school has The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. If you're looking to buy it, then try Amazon, or Collin's Books, or Angus and Robertson or a good site for out-of-print books is Biblioz.com.au.

Note that these are all Australian websites, except for Amazon. Hope that helps!

[Rinfanawen]

Well, while we're on the topic of where to find The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, I have a question. Is there more than one version of the poems? I own a copy of it that is called The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. It is said to contain 16 poems in it. My suspicion arose when Bombadil said:

Perhaps the answer lies in the poem of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, but I do not own a copy - because I don't have 300 dollars to buy one!

My copy came in a book with, I think, 6 other things written by Tolkien, and my mom got it for me for about $40.00. Is this the real version, or is there another version out there that I don't know about? I would really like to know if I have the real thing or not.

[davem]

Rinfanawen

Don't worry you have the right (& only) version.

[Rinfanawen]

Thanks, Davem. I guess I just somehow found a cheaper version of it. Lucky me!

[piosenniel]

Here is The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Bombadil Goes Boating

I have them in a collection called The Tolkien Reader - this section being called The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book - with lovely drawings to accompany them by Pauline Baynes.

The other poems included in this section are:

Errantry
Princess Mee
The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late
The man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon
The Stone Troll
Perry-the-Winkle
The Mewlips
Oliphaunt
Fastitocalon
Cat
Shadow Bride
The Hoard
The Sea-Bell
The Last Ship

~*~

Other sections of The Tolkien Reader Collection are:

The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son
Tree and Leaf
Farmer Giles of Ham

All preceded by:

Tolkien's Magic Ring by Peter S Beagle

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a little review of the Tom Bombadil section:

Greenman Review

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can get The Tolkien Reader at Amazon.com very inexpensively for the paperback new and even less expensive for a used copy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Rinfanawen]

Why, thankyou, piosenniel, that was most helpful. I don't have most of those poems in my version, but it does include Sir Gwain and the Green Knight, Tree and Leaf, and Farmer Giles of Ham. There's one other, I think, but the name escapes me at the present moment. Perhaps I will take a look at some of these poems and see if I can get a copy of them. Thanks much, pio!

[kboleen]

My version is A Tolkien Miscellany. I got my copy from the SciFi Book Club so I know it is still out there. It contains Smith of Wootton Major, Farmer Giles of Ham, Tree and Leaf, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. My copy is hardback published by SFBC Science Fiction Printing: June 2002 by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company.

[ninlaith]

I believe the significance of Tom Bombadil is to show character. I believe Tolkien wanted to have someone who could resist the ring and not be affected by it while others were being taken by the darkness. Amist all the chaos and despair there can always be one person who is not affected by change but does not have to be a key part of the adventure. Much like Sir Tolkien himself. Growing up during the industrial revolution was hard on him. However, Tolkien never really met up with the turn of the times eye to eye and always enjoyed peace and quiet and good tilled earth.

[Earendilyon]

Tolkien wrote himself on the importance of Tom Bombadil in Letter 144:

And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally).
(....)
Tom Bombadil is not an important person – to the narrative. I suppose he has some importance as a 'comment'. I mean, I do not really write like that: he is just an invention (who first appeared in the Oxford Magazine about 1933), and he represents something that I feel important, though I would not be prepared to analyze the feeling precisely. I would not, however, have left him in, if he did not have some kind of function. I might put it this way. The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power, and so on; 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 your 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 when there is a war. But the view of Rivendell seems to be that it is an excellent thing to have represented, but that there are in fact things with which it cannot cope; and upon which its existence nonetheless depends. Ultimately only the victory of the West will allow Bombadil to continue, or even to survive. Nothing would be left for him in the world of Sauron.

[Mithalwen]

$300? Was that a first edition? Or written in Ithildin....