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Re: Tom Bombadil

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Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
> On 20 Oct 2024 13:50:30 GMT, Stephan Seitz <stse+usenet@rootsland.net>
> wrote:
> 
>>Hello!
>>
>>I have some questions about Tom Bombadil.
>>
>>After reading the LotR I would say the following:
>>
>>- the hobbits don't know Tom;
> 
> The ones we encounter may not, but there are more Hobbits in the world
> than just those.
> 
>>- Tom doesn't cross his own borders, not even for free ale;
> 
> Only if the Barrows are inside his borders -- and didn't Tom wave
> goodbye (as it were) before those were reached precisely because they
> are not inside his borders? And yet, he rescues them from the Wights.

As I recall,Tom rescues the hobbits from the Barrow-Wight,
then points them toward Bree,but declines to go further with
them because THAT is beyond his borders.
 
>>- Tom knows and meets Farmer Maggot (probably in the Old Forrest if
>>  Buckland or the Marish aren't part of Tom's country), maybe he does
>>  business with him; after all Tom has bread and butter but no cows or
>>  corn fields;

What would bring Maggot into the Old Forest?
A rather perilous milk delivery route.

>>
>>So far, so good. But after finally getting my hands at the new version
>>of "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", things aren't so clear anymore.
>>
>>- the Buckland hobbits know Tom, the poems about Tom were written by
>>  them;
>>- Tom Bombadil is a bucklandish name given to this strange woodman by
>>  the Buckland hobbits;
>>- Tom visits the hobbits (including Farmer Maggot) from time to time
>>  and likes to drink ale ;-)
> 
> The old version, IIRC, is much the same. But it has been quite some
> time since I read it.

Is it unlikely that Tom would have mastered brewing on his own?
He had plenty of time to learn.

> I suppose it depends, in part, on /when/ the poems were written by the
> Hobbits in relation to the events in /LOTR/.
> 
>>So what now? If the mysterious woodman Tom Bombadil is so known to the
>>hobbits that they have givven him this name and are making poems about
>>him, why don't Merry and Frodo remember at least his name?

Merry especially would be expected to know Brandybuck lore,
and Frodo lived there for decades as well,so this is a fair point.

>>Can Tom cross his borders to visit friends? Or are Buckland and the
>>Marish part of his country? After all nothing is really said about the
>>borders.
> 
> I think it is more a matter of not wanting to do so than not being
> able to do so.

Yes.

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