The Rings of Power has done something Peter Jackson didn’t with his The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. The Prime Video show has brought a live-action Tom Bombadil to Middle-earth. Who is this strange jolly fellow full of magic and mystery? Why are some fans excited to see him while others might not be? And what role does he seem set to play on The Rings of Power? Here’s everything we know about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power‘s Tom Bombadil—along with everything we don’t—and what his arrival means for The Stranger during the Second Age.
What The Lord of the Rings Book Does Tom Bombadil Appear In?
The magical, mysterious Tom Bombadil appears in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo and his Hobbit friends accidentally come across the rotund, gregarious figure near Tom Bombadil’s home deep in the Old Forest near the Withywindle tributary valley. Tom Bombadil actually ends up saving Merry and Pippin from a particularly hungry tree, Old Man Willow, who pulls them into its depths. We see an echo of this in The Rings of Power‘s introduction of Tom Bombadil as well.
The area around his small dwelling is under Tom’s domain, and the tired Hobbits spend a couple of days feasting under his roof before leaving. But it’s not long before Frodo must call on Tom, using a special song Bombadil taught him, to rescue the halflings from Barrow-wights. ( Those terrifying creatures made their The Rings of Power debut in the same episode Tom did.)
Tom Bombadil, who has a fondness for singing silly songs, sports long hair, and a long beard. He wears a blue jacket, blue feathered hat, and yellow boots. He’s taller than a Hobbit but shorter than a man. Tom Bombadil is also the very, very old, the “eldest” living creature in the world. Tom says he “remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn,” as he predates them.
While he is usually merry, he’s also capable of being serious when the moment calls for it. However, Tom Bombadil showed no interest in the matters of the rest of the world, so while he did not support Sauron during the Third Age, he also did not join in the second war against the Dark Lord.
What Kind of Creature is Tom Bombadil? How Powerful is Tom Bombadil?
No one knows exactly what The Lord of the Rings‘ Tom Bombadil really is. He’s arguably the greatest mystery of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic tale. His age suggests he might be one of the Ainur, but that’s only one theory. What we do know is that he’s magical and powerful. He also has dominion over nature, which he can commune with. Those abilities are why some think Tom Bombadil is the physical manifestation of the natural world itself. Tom also uses his songs, some of which he sung quietly to himself on The Rings of Power, to control the Barrow-wights and other creatures.
The true depth of his abilities was best exemplified when Frodo willingly handed over the One Ring to him.
Did Tom Bombadil Hold the One Ring?
Frodo was reluctant to give anyone the One Ring, yet freely gave it over to Tom Bombadil without thought when asked in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Unlike everyone else on Middle-earth the One Ring had no power over Tom. He didn’t disappear when he wore it. He was also able to see the otherwise invisible Frodo when he did.
Soon after Elrond, who’d met Bombadil long ago, suggested Tom as an option to carry the One Ring to Mordor. But Gandalf said the jolly fellow’s disinterest would make it likely Tom Bombadil would simply throw the ring away and forget about it.
Why Didn’t Tom Bombadil Appear in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies?
Tom Bombadil plays a very minor role in the plot of The Fellowship of the Ring, something Tolkien himself admitted. The author said he included Bombadil because the character represented something “important” he did not specify. With so much story to tell onscreen Peter Jackson decided to leave Tom Bombadil out of The Lord of the Rings trilogy entirely. (Though he did give the Ents some of Tom’s book dialogue in his The Two Towers adaptation.) Tom Bombadil has appeared in some other live-action adaptations as well as other media, like Magic: The Gathering. Until recently, Tom Bombadil’s Magic: The Gathering depiction was the most canonical rendition of the being we had.
Bombadil’s exclusion from Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films disappointed many ardent fans of the character, but not everyone disagreed with his omission. Some readers find Tom Bombadil, with his penchant for communicating via absurd songs while doing silly dances, a divisive figure. The Rings of Power co-showrunner J.D. Payne told Nerdist “one of the challenges” in bringing the character to live-action “is that Tom Bombadil sort of defies drama by his very nature.”
That didn’t stop the Prime Video series from introducing him to their story, where he doesn’t feel out of place at all.
What is Tom Bombadil Doing on The Rings of Power?
The Stranger didn’t realize his star map was bringing him to another magical, powerful being who seemingly exists outside of time, but he was always meant to find Tom. The slightly more muted version of Tom Bombadil will need to see if The Stranger is worthy of his capabilities, which he will need to stop the mysterious Dark Wizard and Sauron from teaming up and engulfing Middle-earth in flames.
Tom Bombadil is not living in his normal home in the Old Forest in The Rings of Power, though. He is currently residing to the west in Rhûn, where he came to personally see its change from a lush green land into a harsh desert.
Tom Bombadil and Goldberry in The Rings of Power
He did not arrive in Rhûn alone though. The woman’s voice The Stranger heard was Tom’s wife Goldberry. She’s a river-spirit, which is why The Stranger did not see her. Goldberry chose not to reveal her human-form to him at this time and we don’t know if we’ll see it at all on The Rings of Power. Outside of Tom’s cottage The Stranger also had an unfortunate encounter with a grumpy tree. Tom called that tree Old Man Ironwood, but it seemed remarkably similar to Old Man Willow from Tolkien’s novel. That equally cantankerous tree was the one who made the Hobbits fall asleep in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which led to them meeting Tom Bombadil in the first place.
Tom Bombadil did not go on to fight Sauron in the Third Age. But that war takes place thousands of years after The Rings of Power. The show is introducing Tom during the Second Age before the Dark Lord even forged his One Ring to rule them all. The pleasant Tom Bombadil might be more subdued because he knows he has an important job to do on The Rings of Power. Istar are relatively new to Middle-earth, and The Stranger needs someone powerful and magical like him to guide him in his quest to understand who he is and what he can. By the Third Age, Gandalf (who The Stranger might actually be) will be well-versed in fighting Dark Lords and not need Tom Bombadil’s help.
Who Is Playing Tom Bombadil on The Rings of Power?
Rory Kinnear (Men, The Imitation Game, Penny Dreadful) plays Tom Bombadil on The Rings of Power. Star Daniel Weyman told us what it was like filming with such a legendary character of Middle-earth.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who is pro Tom Bombadil. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.