A Stop By the House of Tom Bombadil

Modern editors would cut massive portions of "The Lord of the Rings," and that's OK (but also, really not good)

Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!

By water, reed and hill, by the reed and willow,

By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!

Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!

(quote from “The Fellowship of the Ring” by J.R.R. Tolkien)

Hello! I’m back(ish?). I got overwhelmed and intimidated by this new effort, as always happens when I try to blog consistently. At this point, I should really expect those times when I’m busy, daunted, or distracted and incorporate them into my plans (like, having a stash of posts all written up and ready to go in advance, maybe?). But here I am again, because I have some thoughts to share!

I’ve been reading a lot lately thanks to discovering the wonders of Hoopla. Turns out, I really missed listening to audiobooks. Podcasts are great, but oh! How lovely to have a story to sink into while I, uh, clean the sink? haha

Anyway, next post I’ll do a catch-up post on all the books I’ve gotten through, along with mini reviews. For now, though, I want to talk about something that came up just in the last day or two as I reread “The Fellowship of the Ring” (through the magnificent Andy Serkis audiobook).

Tom Bombadil is in the air!

A song by Rufus Wainwright and Bear McCreary released in the last three weeks for the character in the “Rings of Power” show. I have no opinion on the show, which I have not seen, but the song is lovely.

And I happened to read the Tom Bombadil chapters in “Fellowship,” right after coming upon this quote from user pastor_librarian on Threads:

He makes a good point, as far as it goes.

“The Lord of the Rings” would never make it past the editors nowadays. It has too much fluff, too much "extraneous" stuff that the story doesn't miss when you cut it, as evidenced by how well the LotR movies work without a lot of the first part in the Shire, several characters and adventures they meet along the way, and even Tom Bombadil himself along with the truly terrifying encounter with the barrow-wights. The story flows smoothly on screen without all of that.

But it is not the same story. The feel and quality of the adventure is much different when you have Frodo and Sam rush out of the Shire, encountering Merry and Pippin by sheer, foolish chance, zip straight to Bree and run off from there with Strider in tow, rather than a quiet and carefully planned departure in which Merry and Pippin play active roles that set them up as serious characters and…. I could go on. Tom Bombadil is important. So is the meeting with Gildor and the other elves within the Shire. Glorfindel and Farmer Maggot add texture, the Scouring of the Shire adds stakes, and on and on.

Photo by Archee Lal on Unsplash

Yet a modern editor of even the epic-est of epic fantasy would cut all of this for the sake of focusing on the main plot and the primary characters’ arcs. And that’s actually not a bad thing.

Much as I love “The Lord of the Rings” books and dislike the movies (maybe I’ll rant about that some other time…?), I enjoy how more recent fantasy has been sharpened and refined so that it has clearer focus and more straightforward stories.

But I think this is primarily stylistic, not an objective improvement.

Nowadays we don't have time to linger in the Shire and face the complications of starting on a quest without rousing suspicion, to say nothing of all the "extra" things like Tom Bombadil and the Scouring and more. We are supposed to stay on target!

As writers, we're told to start where the story really begins, or a little after, then cut ruthlessly everything that Does Not Belong! We must focus on one character, or a few if it’s really epic, and sink deeply into their point of view, following their thoughts, motives, and interactions closely. Tangents are frowned upon. Every character must play not just one role, but multiple; and if they are just there for one scene or one side-quest, we’re told to combine them with someone else. Wars and vast struggles are supposed to be narrowed down into one plot stream.

Again, this is stylistic. Styles change and that's OK. Few authors these days have the skill to write a road trip epic fantasy with as much coherence as Tolkien did. Creating a story with more focus is a good thing too, in its way. But I do kinda miss the more relaxed way!

It's all a fad, one that is matched by an overcorrection into “cozy” fantasy with low stakes and lots of delicious details but no room for blood and battle and death. We like terse books, and have no patience for stories that breathe.

But the truth is all those "extra" things, on one side or another whether gritty or sweet, DO add something. A big part of what makes LotR so enjoyable is all the details—the brief encounters, the poetry, the side adventures.

There are good books out there right now with clear focus and enjoyable stories, brief, to the point, sharply edited.

But some adventures call for a trip to the house of Tom Bombadil, and I think it would be good if we don’t forget that.