Tom Bombadil
"TOM-BOM BOMBADIL, TOM BOMBADILO! That's right, motherfuckers. Tom Bombadil is here, and he gives zero fucks. Tom is master, bitches. They have a cave troll? Tom don't give two shits, that ugly bastard ain't coming anywhere near him! A Nazgul? All fucking Nine Nazgul? On fell beasts? Tom gives not a hapenny jizz! The Balrog? Saruman? Fuck it, Sauron too? Doesn't matter, he'll take them all! AT THE SAME TIME! He won't even hurt them either, he'll leave them to live forever in the shame! TOM IS MASTER, AND HE WILL END YOU."
- – Anonymous
"He is a strange creature."
- – Elrond Peredhel
Tom Bombadil is an enigmatic character, both in Arda - the world of Middle Earth - and in real life1. He looks like a short middle-aged Man, with many wrinkles from laughing, sporting a long brown beard. His eyes are bright blue. He wears a blue jacket, yellow boots and an old tall hat with a long blue feather. He is known as fatherless and the oldest being in the world; believed to have been present even before Eru Ilúvatar sent his angels to shape the world. While the Valar and Melkor (AKA Satan) were fighting for the dominion of the existing world, in a long dispute of Good versus Evil, Tom was too busy not caring. For thousands of solar years he kept to himself, joyfully roaming the forests and hills.
He eventually set his own property in what would be know as the East of the Shire and has ever been a friendly neighbour to the Bucklander Hobbits. On a time, while Tom was strolling by the side of the river, Goldberry pulled him by his beard under the water out of mischief. Tom however was having none of it and ordered her to set him free, and so she did. The very next day, Tom went to the spirit of the river (Goldberry's mother) and asked Goldberry to be his wife. All creatures of the Old Forrest attended their wedding and the couple have been happy ever since.
By the time of the War of the Ring Tom, whilst singing his way home, had saved 4 lost Hobbits that had unknowingly entered his property. Being a caring fellow, he offered the lost Hobbits to stay for the night at his cosy house. One of the Hobbits had shown Tom a magic golden ring, telling of its importance and that Gandalf had entrusted him to meet him back in Bree. Tom examined the ring and held it like it was nothing. Before the Hobbits went on their journey, Tom taught them a song that, should they be in peril throughout their way, he would come to the rescue. The Hobbits eventually sang and he came. He found them in the tomb of some Barrow-Wights and defeated them with his singing. Tom gave the Wights' daggers to the Hobbits for protection and escorted them to be border of Bree, while riding his mighty pony Fatty Lumpkin. He bade them fare well and went back to his lovely wife.
During the conference in Rivendell over what to do with the Ring, it was briefly considered to give the Ring to Tom, since he couldn't be corrupted by it, but that idea was quickly shot down due to the fact that Tom is way too innocently absent minded, and would probably drop the Ring and forget about it somewhere while he chases butterflies or something.
After the defeat of Sauron, Gandalf decided to live with his friend Tom and Goldberry for the next three years, to do some catch-up perhaps. After that, Tom and Goldberry lived happily ever after.
1 This is quite deliberate. Tolkien loved exploring his made-up history and mythology and fitting it all together, but he also felt that a good myth should have a few aspects which leave the audience guessing.
On the Tabletop
It would seem pretty difficult to implement someone as bizarre as Tom into the tabletop, yet it was done so rather well. In Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game there is an independent Good faction which arbours some characters that may not fit in any other faction, such as Barliman Butterbur. For more information regarding The Wanderers in the Wild, you can check its page. Here though will be focusing on Tom Bombadil:
- Tom is one weird bag of tricks: all of his stats, except his Will of 15, and his Movement of 6" (15.24cm), are set at ‘?’. Nothing can charge him, nothing can shoot him, nothing can cast magic powers at him, and nothing can enter his control zone or harm him in the event they ignore control zones. If he charges, any combat he is involved in is automatically won, however, he and anyone else involved cannot strike blows. This makes Tom one of the best characters for playing certain objective based games since while he cannot pick up objectives, the models behind him can, and so long as he's in front of them and they're in his Control Zone they're under Tom's protection, and he can also use this to force opponents off of objectives, such as the ones they keep in their backfield, as well as Storm the Camp. Incidentally if you deliberately chose Tom and Goldberry specifically to win Heirloom of Ages Past or Storm the Camp, you are automatically that guy and a WAACfag.
- We should talk about Tom's Magical Powers. The first one Refreshing Song which causes a friendly model to regenerate a Wound, as well as a single point of Might, Will and Fate. The range is incredibly short but since Tom ignores all difficult terrain he should be able to keep up with your Infantry at least. Also do be aware the power can never be Channelled, Tom and Goldberry are the only models that have it and neither of them can boost it with Might. This isn't that big a deal either since the vast majority of Heroes have only two Wounds, and honestly you might consider it worth it to lose your Army Bonus just to get this. Regenerating Might on whoever you want is incredibly useful, it not only gives you more of your specialised Heroic Actions, but it also gives more Heroic Moves and Heroic Combats, and the only reason you don't spam those is because you normally don't have the Might to spare. As for Tom's second spell, Banishment is an anti-Spirit spell that has more utility than it first appears. Not only can Tom use this to kill Ringrwraiths and make Angmar cry, but he can absolutely bully the Balrog and even Sauron with it since they're both Spirits. Just be aware that both of them have a pretty good chance of resisting it, but if you can whittle their Will Points down over the course of the game before getting some Wounds in it's absolutely worth it since they both cost far more than Tom does.
- Do be aware that War Beasts and Chariots can both engage in combat against Tom without him wanting them to, because they both ignore Control Zones. If you're up against either of these types of models, consider keeping Tom away since the last thing you want is for him to waste his Will on fights you didn't have to take.