Hey dol! Merry dol! The time has come, fellow The Lord of the Rings fans. A highly anticipated moment is here at long last. Yes, we mean the first appearance of the mysterious being Tom Bombadil in a major live-action Tolkien adaptation. In our exclusive clip from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two, episode four, our favorite wandering wizard, The Stranger, ends up in a bit of a bizarre position, though not one unfamiliar to fans of Tolkien… Especially not when a certain being is about to appear on the scene. Luckily for the Stranger, Old Tom Bombadil is in a helping (and singing) mood in this The Rings of Power scene.
You can take a look at the pair’s meeting and, finally, properly meet The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s Tom Bombadil in our exclusive clip below.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two, Tom Bombadil is played by Rory Kinnear. We’ve seen glimpses of Kinnear’s Tom Bombadil in the trailers for the series, but this is our best look at the character yet. And we have to say, it’s full marks from us. A melodic voice, check. Long hair, check. Long beard, check. The inner glow of an unbothered ancient, check.
But all kidding aside, even in this short scene from The Rings of Power, we get all of Tom Bombadil’s best qualities on full display. Kinnear’s Tom is cheerful but enigmatic, soothing but mysterious. There’s a great deal of wonderful warmth in this Tom Bombadil, but just enough of a gentle scold to let us know he’s seeing inside our very souls. “Who are you?” The Stranger asks, and though we’ll unlikely get a straight answer to that question (and nor should we!), it’s a great deal of fun to finally get to watch Tom Bombadil name himself in a The Lord of the Rings project.
Of course, we always love a good Tolkien Easter egg, and true-heart fans will delight in how Tom Bombadil’s introduction in The Rings of Power season two echoes his introduction in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. There, Frodo meets Tom Bombadil after those scamps, Merry and Pippin, get gobbled up by Old Man Willow, and Bombadil helps to save them. In our exclusive The Rings of Power season two clip, it’s The Stranger who has been consumed by a tree instead, only to have Tom Bombadil come to his rescue. We don’t think it’s Old Man Willow this time, but perhaps a cousin. If The Stranger really is Gandalf, someone ought to remind him later that he has more in common with Merry and Pippin than he thinks!
To put the Goldeberry on top, we even believe we hear a touch of “Concerning Hobbits” in the theme that plays for Tom Bombadil when he greets The Stranger. And that really cements for us the deep connection between these two The Lord of the Rings meetings.
The Stranger, of course, seems to be on the hunt for his staff when he meets Tom Bombadil. But tugging on random tree branches does not feel like the right way to go about things. Hopefully, Tom Bombadil can guide him toward a better one. We’ll find out as The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two continues streaming on Prime Video. The first three episodes of the series are now available to watch, with new episodes arriving on Thursday until October 3.