Bombadil, played on The Rings of Power by Rory Kinnear—perhaps best known as M’s chief of staff in the last four James Bond movies – is an enigma.
And funnily enough, he has a deep connection to Oxfordshire, in fact, he is Oxfordshire.
The name is Bombadil, Tom Bombadil! #TheRingsOfPower #TROPspoilers pic.twitter.com/tBQUgy6VXz
— Fellowship of Fans 💍 (@FellowshipFans) September 5, 2024
Tolkien explained that Tom’s role was to show that there were things beyond and unconcerned with domination and control.
If you know your Lord of the Rings, you’ll know that’d be tough.
Tolkien grew up in South Africa and later Birmingham.
After graduating from Oxford, Tolkien fought in World War I. Upon the end of the war, Tolkien returned to Oxford and first worked at the New English Dictionary (The “Oxford English Dictionary”).
He remained in Oxford and went on to become a major scholar of the English language, specializing in Old and Middle English and twice Professor of Anglo-Saxon (Old English) at the University of Oxford.
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Whilst living at 20 Northmoor Road between 1930 and 1937 he wrote Lord of the Rings.
But who or what is Tom Bombadil? Well.
In a letter to Stanley Unwin – a British comic actor and writer – Tolkien called Bombadil the “spirit of the vanishing landscapes of Oxfordshire and Berkshire.”
He first appeared in print in a 1934 poem called “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil”, which also included The Lord of the Rings characters Goldberry (his wife), Old Man Willow (an evil tree in his forest) and the barrow-wight, from whom he rescues the hobbits.