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Tom BombadilGet Rating Widget!

Overall Rating: 3.80 based on 44 ratings
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Reviews for Tom Bombadil  1-9 OF 9

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oscargamblesfro (81)
09/02/2008
A chubby, childlike lunatic who interrupts the story to pat squirrels on the head, praise butter and loaves and things like that and make up the worst rhymes this side of Eminem. I'm being facetious and harsh, and there is ONE great paragraph in that chapter- the one that begins with Suddenly, Tom's talk left... it mentions kings of little kingdoms fought together, etc... but really this is the weakest section of the book.

  (3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
irishgit (150)
07/16/2008

Hands down, the most pointless, irritating and twee character in the novel, and very deservedly left out of the movie.

The early chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring are something of a mish-mash, as though Tolkien couldn't decide which direction he was going, and when he did, didn't bother to come back and edit.

Tom Bombadil serves no narrative, thematic or other purpose. He's just a silly character who arrives in the nick of time to save the hobbits from relatively minor danger that is a sidebar to the narrative.

When I periodically re-read the novel, I skip the entire section from leaving the house at Crickhollow to the arrival at Bree.


  (1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
pennyroyalty (4)
04/01/2004
i agree that the Bombadil incident in the novels interrupts the flow of the narrative, but he's just such a great character. He's positive and full of life, in touch with the earth. I'm still a little sad they cut him from the movie, but i think it was necessary because people who hadn't read the books prior to seeing the movie probably would not have understood what was going on. So tom remains a pleasant surprise for those first-time readers and an old favourite for veterans

  (0 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
VirileVagabond (37)
02/01/2004
Tom Bombadil didn't fit in the books and certainly would have been a square peg in the movie. In my opinion, this character was put in the LOTR trilogy merely to satisfy Tolkien's children as Bombadil was part of stories told to them (as noted in another comment). That part of the story felt forced to me. I don't think Bombadil even appears in The Silmarilian. I also agree that the trilogy should have been done in more parts (say 5 films), but that might have been a cost prohibitive investment as all three movies were shot at once. Perhaps the SciFi Channel will give it a try as they did a pretty good job with Dune.

  (1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
kyes (0)
06/17/2003
Hey, I'm not begrudging him being left outta the film. I understand completely that there was no time to fit him in. Though myself if I were to convert the book to film I woulda done like a 20 part series on HBO or something so I could go ahead and capture the book in more "absorbable" detail (let alone the big list of other things I would've done differently). Anyway, I'm still gonna rate him a five cause he was such a lovable character. He was like an oasis of happiness and few worries amid the ever-growing danger and anxiety of the outside world.

  (1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
Peachmelba (0)
02/10/2003
Who gives a toss about Tom Bombadil? It's not like he's that important to the major events of the story. Tolkien purists need to get over his exclusion from the film.

  (1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
crowbar (0)
12/13/2002
This guy is great. Probably the only one on middle earth who could have really cared less if the Fellowship of the Ring succeeded. The most mysterious character in LOTR. An "anomoly" as Tolkien put it. The guy came from a poem, actualy, that Tolkien wrote before conceiving the adventures set forth in LOTR. Tolkien thought he should be included in Middle Earth as the character to ponder without end.

  (1 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
magellan (174)
01/23/2002
I think Tom Bombadil is kind of goofy. I mean what the heck is he? He's not an elf, not a ranger, not a dwarf, not a wizard. He's a big jolly guy that lives in the forest and sings songs all day, and saves things from wicked trees. For some reason he is untouched by the power of the ring, but according to Gandalf, is way too scatterbrained to be trusted to help in the ring's destruction. I kind of got the sense that Bombadil was created just to get Merry and Pippen out of the old willow tree - kudos to Peter Jackson for leaving him out of the movie.

  (4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
MedgarEvers (15)
01/23/2002
It's sort of a pity that this jolly old man was left out of the movie, but then again I don't know how he would have fit in. Many people I've talked to think that Bombadil is just a joke, but I think there is something very intriguing about wise old Bombadil and Lady Goldberry. The hobbits needed the time for meditation in Bombadil's haven before they set out on their perilous journey.

  (4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree)
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