Tom Bombadil Is Essential

 

No, I’m not trolling you. Yes, I mean it. Here’s why.

In order to understand my point, we need to go over a fact of the narrative: Frodo is the main character. Sorry, he is. He’s the one carrying the Ring, everyone is literally there to support him, and it’s his exit from Middle Earth that is the actual ending of the book. The main plot rises and falls with Frodo. 

Now, we also need to establish that the Scouring of the Shire is Frodo’s climax. Not Mount Doom. The Scouring of the Shire is where Frodo finally has his moment of genuine heroism. For those of you who still don’t know, the Scouring is where the four hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin come back to the Shire, only to find it taken over and defiled by Saruman. Keep in mind that Saruman, while diminished by Gandalf, is still a demigod. His voice is still extremely powerful. And Saruman uses his voice to work his last work of evil, in petty vengeance. Sam, Merry, and Pippin organize a resistance and make short work of Saruman’s organization. But then they run into Saruman. And not even those three can face him; he’s still a demigod. In an instant all would be lost.

Except for Frodo.

Frodo isn’t phased in the slightest. Because of his experiences with the Ring, especially his succumbing to it, Frodo is can’t be intimidated. Frodo stares down a demigod, and wins on sheer strength of character. It’s a powerful moment. 

And you need Tom Bombadil to make sense of it.

Y’see, Tom is this random… something… that shows up in Fellowship of the Ring. He just comes in laughing, and leaves the same way. He’s totally unaffected by the Ring and can’t see why everyone is so frightened of it. And Tom’s no bumpkin, easily capable of facing down pretty much anything in Middle Earth… but you’d have to get him to care long enough to do it. Tom’s presence in the books is controversial, with detractors claiming Tom’s irrelevance and defenders usually claiming Tom’s charming attitude and his general contribution to the ambiance of the story.

But the thing is that, without Tom being immune to the Ring, Frodo’s arc is nonsense. Frodo FAILS. Why is he capable of having any form of hope at all, nevermind standing up to a demigod on sheer force of will, something literally no one else does in the Legendarium? His ability to stand up to Saruman doesn’t make much sense without the example of Tom, the one who would rather pick flowers for his wife while singing silly songs. Tom contextualizes the world that Frodo is making his decisions in. If there isn't a good that can survive any evil, then Frodo has hope.

The problem of adaptation is that the context of the original work is vitally important; it is a fragile thing, context. I have no problem with changing anything in the adaptation to keep that context. The anime Gankutsuo is possibly the best adaptation of a classic I've ever seen... and it transfers the the setting in order to keep the moral context intact; Dantes's possess by the spirit of revenge is made literal and apparent, so that the spirit of the original work can become that much more powerful. You can argue the change from French Revolution to sci-fi was unnecessary; you cannot argue that the change damaged the actual context. I bring this up because it is absolutely possible to keep the real context and change practically anything about the work. Not one Tolkien "adaptation" has done that.

So I'm not surprised that Jackson removed Bombabil, but I am saddened by the inability of the adapters to understanding that there was a moral and metaphysical framework that needed to be kept in order for the work to be respected. By removing this one character Frodo becomes the saddest of sacks, one of the biggest suckers in the history of suckers. The context of a character's decisions are really important in an adaptation, and the utter lack of caring about Frodo's context just...

Look, I can complain about the movies all day, alright?

Let's leave it at that.