T O P

  • By -

mossy_path

Technically speaking no one is quite sure what Tommy B is. He is older than the valar, which probably means he isn't a Maiar. He seems to be something else entirely. But yeah hit me up with them blue wizards bois, though!


Sumthin-Sumthin44692

We don’t have evidence that he is older than the Ainur/Valar. We do know that he says he remembers the “first raindrops” (i.e., creation of Arda). His powers/abilities and the way Gandalf speaks about him definitely gives him credibility. Yet we have no information that he was present before the creation of Arda.


Jealous_Plantain_538

I thought he said he was there before the songs


Sumthin-Sumthin44692

I don’t see that. I do see this: >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. This implies that he may have been in Arda before the Valar arrived. I won’t go into all the fan theories about what he is or where he came from.


catkraze

I know exactly what he is: a merry fellow.


Sumthin-Sumthin44692

Indeed, he is that.


PastStep1232

Nerd of the Rings covered an interesting theory about Tom being the Music of Ainur. That'd explain why, should Sauron win, Tom will be defeated. Melkor's dissonance would prevail and rejoice, driving out/converting the rest of the Music of Ainur


OathOfFeanor

Nah Iluvatar explained to Melkor that even his discord was all part of the Music.


PastStep1232

Eru knew that it'd all turn out well in the end, but Gandalf didn't, and he stated during the council of Elrond that should the middle earth fall, so too will Tom Bombadil


Tom_Bot-Badil

Clothes are but little loss, if you escape from drowning. Be glad, my merry friends, and let the warm sunlight heat now heart and limb! Cast off these cold rags! Run naked on the grass, while Tom goes a-hunting! ^(Type **!TomBombadilSong** for a song or visit [r/GloriousTomBombadil][1] for more merriness) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/


FunkyHowler19

**!TomBombadilSong**


Tom_Bot-Badil

*Wake now my merry lads! Wake and hear me calling! Warm now be heart and limb! The cold stone is fallen; Dark door is standing wide; dead hand is broken. Night under Night is flown, and the Gate is open!* ^(Type **!TomBombadilSong** for a song or visit [r/GloriousTomBombadil][1] for more merriness) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/


FunkyHowler19

Hell yeah Tom, sing it


OathOfFeanor

Good point, they could both be right too. My imagination post Sauron-victory: > All was, is, and will be as it should be, and as I designed -Eru, an eternal being who lives outside of time and space, as he watches events unfold through his Universe Palantir and takes a pee during the commercial break Meanwhile: > You sure, boss? -Gandalf, trapped in physical form in Arda, as he watches the skies fill with smoke and the ground rend with flame and magma, as he hears the tortured wails of suffering men, women, and children at the hands of Sauron's orcs, and as he gags on the putrid stenches of sulfur and burning or rotting flesh.


RoutemasterFlash

Definitely not true. He's sentient, and we know only Eru can create sentient life, as demonstrated in 'Of Aulë and Yavanna.'


PastStep1232

I'm not a tolkienist so I can't really comment on anything. I'd suggest you check out the video, there is a blog post in the description that Nerd bases his vid on


RoutemasterFlash

There's no argument that could make this assertion true. It contradicts one of Tolkien's core philosophical beliefs.


PastStep1232

Didn't Eru create the music of Ainur?


RoutemasterFlash

No, he 'instructed' them and then they played and sang before him. That's why it's called the Music of the Ainur, not the Music of Eru.


PastStep1232

Very interesting! I take it, the music of Ainur isn't sentient? But then how come Melkor brought dissonance to the song? He seems pretty sentient


RoutemasterFlash

>Very interesting! I take it, the music of Ainur isn't sentient? Well, no, since it's a concept, not a person or a creature. >But then how come Melkor brought dissonance to the song? He seems pretty sentient Of course he's sentient! All the Ainur are. But the Ainur didn't create themselves; they were created directly and personally by Eru, as were Elves and Men (and also the *souls* of the Dwarves, even if Aulë created their bodies).


PastStep1232

I think I'm beginning to understand. The reason the theory doesn't work is because Ainur, not their music, are sentient. And Tom Bombadil couldn't be one of the Ainur either


Mikemtb09

Honestly when Amazon first announced a LOTR series I was hoping it would be on the blue wizards. There’s so little canon regarding them, it would be very difficult to have non-canon details come up. Unfortunately they don’t have the rights…


Itchy-Decision753

He’s older than the Valar?! I knew he was as old as the days but did not know that


Cultural_Guard_890

Technically he’s NOT. The Valar are Ainur, beings who were around before Time itself.


phatcat9000

Wasn’t ungoliant around before the Ainur?


Cultural_Guard_890

No, no, no. It’s never implied that at all.


phatcat9000

Oh ok


jellajellyfish

She just shows up out of nowhere in the First Age. Nothing's really implied, so best we have is a looooot of speculation.


RoutemasterFlash

She's said to have been "seduced into Melkor's service" before going her own way, which implies she's one of the Ainur. Tolkien created her before he came up with the idea of the Maiar, but if we want to 'retcon' her, she must be a Maia, since she isn't one of the Valar.


Romanticcarlmarx

He must be Ungoliants younger, more beautiful and mature brother and came down with her from the void!


RoutemasterFlash

Nothing is "older than the Valar" - all the Ainur are primordial. Tolkien himself was unsure what TB was, so trying to say categorically what he 'is', in a canonical way, is pointless. But if you want to force him into a category that Tolkien described, he makes most sense as a Maia.


tominator93

Chronologically, Tom Bombadil seems to have existed in Arda before any of the Ainur arrived. So he is the “first” from the perspective of the earth itself.  Going beyond the bounds of Arda, yes the Ainur existed in the mind of Eru before the dawn of Eä and the inception of time itself. 


Tom_Bot-Badil

Whoa! Whoa! steady there! Now, my little fellows, where be you a-going to, puffing like a bellows? What's the matter here then? Do you know who I am? I'm Tom Bombadil. Tell me what's your trouble! Tom's in a hurry now. Don't you crush my lilies! ^(Type **!TomBombadilSong** for a song or visit [r/GloriousTomBombadil][1] for more merriness) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/


RoutemasterFlash

Well there are two points here. One is that we only have Bombadil's word to go on, and he doesn't necessarily seem like someone who would tell the whole truth under all circumstances. He is, in folkloric terms, something of a trickster (messing about with the Ring like a conjurer at a children's party, for example). The other is that, for all we know, those of the Ainur who made their homes in Arda didn't necessarily all arrive at the same time. Some could have come very early on, before either Melkor and his retinue *or* the main host of the Valar and their attendant Maiar. So if Tom had arrived before even Manwë and Co, he'd have a good claim to being the 'Eldest'.


tominator93

I don’t think the text gives us any reason to think Tom is at all a trickster character in the sense that Odin, Loki, etc are. Quite the opposite: Bombadil speaks truth, clearly, poetically, and deeply, such that nature itself responds. Tolkien seems to be influenced by his friend Owen Barfield’s notion of language in his work Poetic Diction here. Similar themes can be found in CS Lewis’s That Hideous Strength, which isn’t surprising given that the three were close colleagues.        But the second part your comment is I think is actually validated by Tolkien in one of his letters. 


RoutemasterFlash

Bombadil performs a parlour trick by making the One Ring, the most magically potent artefact in the world, disappear. He spends the whole time singing and capering about, seemingly either not realising or not caring that the whole of Middle-earth is in mortal peril. I'd say that pretty well qualifies him as a 'trickster' character. But back to the main point. I've already explained why he's not "more powerful than Sauron." Could you explain why you think he is?


mossy_path

Older than the valar in the sense that he was in arda before them. All of creation (including bombadil) was in the mind of the creator before creation began, so in that sense, they are equally old. I think Maia is probably the least likely of the categories, otherwise Gandalf would have recognized what he is, being a Maiar himself. Tommy B is also far, far more powerful than a Maiar and far older than all other maiar. He is his own, unique being.


RoutemasterFlash

>Tommy B is also far, far more powerful than a Maiar and far older than all other maiar. What evidence is there for this? Gandalf himself says "Say not that he has power over the Ring; say rather than the Ring has no power over him." Furthermore, this is backed up by Elrond saying that if Sauron came in force to Eriador, Bombadil's small realm would eventually fall. So he's obviously less powerful than Sauron. Sorry, but this widespread belief that TB is some sort of Manwë-like super-being really annoys me. There's nothing to back it up and plenty that contradicts it. There's also no reason to think Gandalf doesn't understand TB's true nature, either.


mossy_path

He isn't less powerful than sauron, he is vastly more powerful than sauron. Sauron would have to corrupt the entirety of middle earth before evil eye bro could hope to wear away at Tommy B. If sauron showed up on his door Tommy would kick his derriere into next year. Gandalf readily admits what he doesn't know, there is no reason to think he is wrong or mistaken about him. I get why people think Tommy B doesn't fit into the story, but personally I find him endearing. And an effective measure to demonstrate there are many ancient and powerful forces working in the world that mere humans, and even elves, know little about.


RoutemasterFlash

>He isn't less powerful than sauron, he is vastly more powerful than sauron. Sauron would have to corrupt the entirety of middle earth before evil eye bro could hope to wear away at Tommy B. If sauron showed up on his door Tommy would kick his derriere into next year. Please re-read the book and then get back to me. You are categorically wrong here.


mossy_path

I am most certainly *not* wrong. But I won't insult you. As you were.


RoutemasterFlash

I'm not insulting you here, or at least, not deliberately. I'm just struggling to understand why someone who's read the book would say what you're saying. Please, open your copy to page 259. During the Council, Erestor takes your line and says "It sees that [Bombadil] has a power even over the Ring", at which Gandalf gently corrects him with "No, I should not put it so. Say rather that the Ring has no power over him." (Remember that the Ring's power comes entirely from Sauron in the first place, so a being that had power over the Ring would have power over Sauron, and vice-versa.) Further down the same page, Glorfindel says "Could [Sauron's] power be defied by Bombadil alone? I think not. I think that in the end, if all else is conquered, Bombadil will fall..." Bombadil may have strengths and abilities beyond those he demonstrates by dominating an old malevolent Huorn and banishing a Barrow-wight, but more powerful than Sauron? No, unless Gandalf and Glorfindel are wrong, which seems unlikely.


Tom_Bot-Badil

*Get out, you old wight! Vanish in the sunlight! Shrivel like the cold mist, like the winds go wailing, out into the barren lands far beyond the mountains! Come never here again! Leave your barrow empty! Lost and forgotten be, darker than the darkness, Where gates stand for ever shut, till the world is mended.* ^(Type **!TomBombadilSong** for a song or visit [r/GloriousTomBombadil][1] for more merriness) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/GloriousTomBombadil/


TheReaderDude_97

Do we finally get the Blue Wizard cameos?


jellajellyfish

the OTHER other Maiar


4myoldGaffer

The sequel is actually rated XXX Radagast and Tommy are at it again this summer in a theatre near you in … The Two Blew Wizards


Knives-n-Arrows

https://preview.redd.it/nry5r9rnlewc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66948ef2a6317c11e4b137fbeda09e45afddeea3


SardaukarSecundus

"Looks like someone had a homeless orgy on the backseat of your sled.." Damn the original is a 11/10 movie but THAT would be hilarious beyond believe...


Damiancarmine14

Dirty Gloin and the boys 😂


wildcolonialboy

They call it a second breakfast buffet.


FreeWessex

It has will ferrel in it, autonatically makes it a 1/10.


jellajellyfish

#1 on the Top 10? Absolutely.


wildcolonialboy

You thinking what I'm thinking? Aim for the ents. [Elvish cover of My Hero plays]


chop_pooey

I would watch this


Nametheft

[https://youtu.be/CISEe-LsvV4?t=41](https://youtu.be/CISEe-LsvV4?t=41)


Sumthin-Sumthin44692

He’s not a Maiar. Tommy B is not tempted, influenced, or effected at all by the One Ring. We have plenty of proof, from Gandalf and Saruman to all the Maiar who were tempted and deceived by Melkor/Sauron, that Maiar are not immune to the Ring. If there were such Maiar, the Valar would have sent them to Middle Earth instead of the Istari they did send. Tommy B is something else.


RoutemasterFlash

I hear this argument all the time and it's total rubbish. Does the One Ring affect Sméagol and Sam in the same way? Or Boromir and Faramir? Or Galadriel and Legolas? Clearly not. So if it doesn't affect all Hobbits, all Men or all Elves in the same way, why would it affect all Maiar in the same way? That's before you consider that Durin's Bane completely ignored Frodo and only wanted to fight Gandalf because it recognised him as a fellow Maia.


legolas_bot

They are coming!


gollum_botses

Master says to show him the way into Mordor, so good Smeagol does. Master says so.


Sumthin-Sumthin44692

What makes you say the One Ring doesn’t affect them all the same? The Ring tempts everyone with power. It manipulates everyone you mentioned and others to think they could use the Ring for themselves (Sméagol, Frodo, Bilbo) or to achieve some seemingly good goal (Sam’s garden, Boromir/Faramir saving Gondor, Gandalf saving the weak out of pity). Galadriel is both. She wants the Ring to rule Arda as Queen and to save/protect her people and preserve her land). I don’t think we have direct evidence of temptation on Legolas but we know from Gandalf’s advice that no one in the Fellowship is immune from the Ring’s temptation and that, one by one, they would all eventually turn on Frodo. On Durin’s Bane, I don’t think the Ring is some sort of evil power magnet or dog whistle. Gandalf couldn’t tell or sense it was the One Ring while Bilbo had it, so why would Durin’s Bane know what it was? Tom is completely unique in the World.


gollum_botses

Nothing, my precious.


bilbo_bot

Yes.


legolas_bot

Sauron's Ring! The ring of power!


sauron-bot

What brought the foolish fly to web unsought?


RoutemasterFlash

>It manipulates everyone you mentioned and others to think they could use the Ring for themselves (Sméagol, Frodo, Bilbo) or to achieve some seemingly good goal (Sam’s garden, Boromir/Faramir saving Gondor, Gandalf saving the weak out of pity). You can't possibly be serious. Sam is *momentarily* tempted by the Ring, but he overcomes it without, seemingly, all that much effort at all, and remains immune to any further temptation even while helping Frodo take the Ring to Mount Doom, where its power is greatest. Sméagol, on the other hand, murders his cousin and best friend to obtain the Ring after being exposed to the Ring for about a minute, and without even touching it, let alone being aware that it extends life or grants invisibility. When did Gandalf say the others would "turn on Frodo"?


bilbo_bot

Wait! You are making a terrible mistake!


gollum_botses

And take it for me!


gollum_botses

For us.


gollum_botses

Yes, we... we meant for us.


Charod48

Is Radagast also a maiar? I thought he was an Istari?


mossy_path

Istari *are* maiar.


Nametheft

Istari is what Maiar are called if incarnated as wizards.


tw3lv3l4y3rs0fb4c0n

"Nasty like a Nazgul Knife!" 10/10 - The Grond


Remote_Emu6915

What is the original movie called?


Additional-Theme-532

The Other Guys with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell.


Feeling_Tell4328

New release 2025!