Yeah… This maybe isn’t the nicest way to phrase it, but I’ve seen similar situations. Usually people are just kind of talking behind people’s backs, but sometimes it gets nasty :(. Frankly people kind of get bullied all the time everywhere. It’s maybe not as violent as playground bullying but people will be shitty to people at work, school, whatever. Do your best not to be a part of it, try to be self aware if you might hurt somebody else’s feelings, and try to stand up for people.

Yeah. I think if nothing else it does really stand out! It definitely feels like it’s really important and significant… But in a way that sort of isn’t to everything that’s going on in the story? Which I guess is kind of exactly what Bombadil is… They’re some ultimate power that’s just there, but doesn’t really care too much about the goings on aside from in their little insular region. I think it didn’t really sit well with me that Gandalf was like “no, Bombadil won’t really care about the ring,” though… Because I think when we encounter Bombadil they’re a little sporadic, but they clearly care enough to help all of the main characters and didn’t really seem inattentive in any way to me.

I had read the books after I had already seen the movies so I was kind of confused when I first encountered Bombadil. I imagine that makes them stick out even more… Makes Bombadil seem weirdly non-canon, which is a bit of a shame, I think.

I also selfishly want him on screen just to stare at, I’d love like a whole 45 minute cutscene or entirely separate production laboriously following the details of his actions and behavior that are in the book. I don’t even care that his ultimate nature is a mystery. Honestly, I just love his buoyant singing and style.

That’s totally fair :). You like what you like! I haven’t heard of many people who are big fans of Tom Bombadil, but it makes me happy to know you seem to love those chapters!

Did you read that theory about him being the song of the ainur? It’s a great read. One of the nerd of the rings or other fans do a summary video of it on YouTube if you want to cut down the reading time.

Yes, I’ve heard this theory! Honestly, when I first read the books I didn’t really appreciate Bombadil, and I think this helped me appreciate them a lot more. I think how weird Bombadil is made them hard to read for me. They’re so unexpected that it’s almost hard to fit them in your head and have a clear mental image of what’s going on, you know? Also I just find songs hard to read… Which is problematic for these particular books, haha.

I feel like Tom Bombadil is an interesting mystery in the universe, but they’re pretty easily cut out of the story without changing anything really other than getting rid of the question of “who’s this weirdo that the ring doesn’t affect?” The Scouring of the Shire is also arguably cut pretty easily, and I get why a lot of people don’t like it, but it seems more important to the themes in the book and to show how the heroes have evolved since they were last in the Shire.