lord of the rings who is tom bombadil
Tom Bombadil In The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil is a mysterious character who aids Frodo and his companions on their journey. He and his wife Goldberry, the "Daughter of the River", still live in their house on the Withywindle, and some of the characters and situations from the original poem appear in The Lord of the Rings. In the book, he is described as "Master of wood, water and hill", and nearly always speaks or sings in stress-timed metre: 7-beat lines broken into groups of 4 and 3 (old English metre as first noted in Caedmons Hymn in the story of Bede, discovered in the 19th century). He appears in three chapters, "The Old Forest", "In the House of Tom Bombadil" and "Fog on the Barrow-downs". He is mentioned in the chapter "The Council of Elrond" as a possible keeper and protector of the One Ring, as well as at the end of the story in "Homeward Bound" and "The Grey Havens". Behind Bombadil's simple faÃ§ade are hints of great knowledge and power, though limited to his own domain. However, there is a certain amount of evidence that he may be the oldest being in Middle-earth; he tells Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin that he was there when the Elves first came West, Elrond states that Bombadil was considered old during the Elder Days (even by high Elf lords), and Bombadil names himself "Eldest".