posted
Quoting Lyrhawn: "Even still you'd have a lot more story to tell, as the Second Age, largely unwritten but not entirely, has tons of stories to be told. To say nothing of the 3,000 years of Third Age that there is that takes place before Lord of the Rings."
I posted on this very thing about a year or so ago, but in relation to books other, approved-by-the-Tolkien-estate, authors could write, fleshing out the stories in the Annals and so on, in the same way that Asimov's universe has been opened up in carefully controlled ways. It seems logical to me that Tolkien would want this incredibly detailed and beautiful world he created to be a living, organic thing rather than something frozen in amber forever.
I'm just one of those that thinks it's perfect the way it is. There's no author out there I'd trust with it, other maybe than Chris Tolkien. And anything that anyone would write for it wouldn't be canon as far as I'm concerned.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I know Lyrhawn, it was you that responded to my original post on the topic. I know what you mean, I just find the stories in the appendices so tantalising. I think Christopher Tolkien's pretty hidebound about the whole thing, understandably, he has a tremendous legacy to protect, but still, I somehow think JRR would be a little less precious about it all.
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In the book he is so old that the ring can't touch him. I think this is because Tolkien wrote songs about Tom Bombadil before he even started with the lord of the rings.
So time is not measured in the time of the story alone. What can be older than the world? Tom can. Because he was there before the world was, in the mind of Tolkien.
I think Tolkien refers to this as sort of an inside joke.
Posts: 129 | Registered: May 2008
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posted
I don't think Tom is THAT old. I think he was one of the Maiar, if I had to guess. It's never said explicitly, but I don't see a better explanation for his abilities.
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posted
Except that Gandalf and Sarumann are both of the Maiar as are all of the Istari and they are not immune to the ring in the way Bombadil was.
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posted
But Tom is not part of the war. He is not part of anything. He has a complete other quality about him, ,a complete different force, from another tale. At least, that is how I see him.
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quote:Gandalf calls Tom Bombadil the eldest being in existence; this is also evidenced by his Sindarin name Iarwain Ben-adar (Eldest and Fatherless). Dwarves called him Forn (Scandinavian, meaning "Ancient" or "Belonging to the distant past"), Men Orald (compare to german: uralt, very old). All these names apparently mean "Eldest."
From wikipedia, but I remember where those things are said in the books. I think it's fair to say that Tom Bombadil is not one of the Maiar. However, wikipedia also says that even Tolkien didn't really know what he was. He was intended to be one of the mysteries of the world. One of it's oldest denizens and very powerful and wise in his domain.
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