Tom Bombadil

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow.
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.

-From an ancient poem commonly associated with Tom Bombadil.

Tom Bombadil is an ancient being of immense power, second only to his father Tolkien in both age and strength. He was created by Tolkien very near to the dawn of time and- alone among all beings in the universe- was given a small fragment of Tolkien's own creative power, allowing him to make his own original works not derived from the Lord of the Rings.

Personal History

Early Life

Soon after writing The Lord of the Rings , Tolkien began planning work on a potential sequel. He desired to collaborate with another on this work, but unfortunately he was the only being in the universe. As such, he created Tom Bombadil, giving him a piece of Tolkien's own creative powers so that he could be a full partner in the work.
Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that Bombadil and his father had very clashing ideas. Indeed, Tolkien quickly became convinced that something had gone wrong when creating his son, for there was a darkness in his heart deeper than Tolkien had ever conceived. After deliberating with himself for some time and with a great deal of hesitancy, Tolkien decided to cast his son out of his presence and create two new sons without their own spark of creativity to take his place. These two new beings would only be capable of creating rip-offs, but at least they would be sane.
After being cast out, Tom Bombadil floated through The Void by himself for thousands of years, plotting his vengeance against his father but as yet powerless to do anything about it.

Activities on Middle-Earth

In time, however, he spotted an opportunity. His two younger brothers, attempting to impress their father, had created a universe of their own. Unlike Tolkien's works, however, this universe was not contained within a book but actually physically brought into existence. Galaxies, stars, and planets suddenly floated in the void alongside Bombadil. His attention was particularly drawn to one small planet- the planet where Allah and Colin were currently focusing their actions, known as 'Middle-Earth' as it was meant as a replica of the world from Tolkien's book.
Hating his brothers' work and seeing an opportunity to strike at them and their father, he traveled to this planet and hid himself in The Old Forest. His brothers were aware of him, but did not attack as he was not doing anything openly against them and a battle between the three brothers would likely result in at least one of the twins dying as well as Tom Bombadil and the risk was not yet worth it. Thus, Tom was free to begin his plans.
Since acting openly was too dangerous to risk, Tom needed to create servants who could undertake his will. Thus, he would lure those unlucky enough to enter the Old Forest into his home where they would be... changed. While they could pass as regular people, their true forms were altered to be similar to that of Bombadil himself- gouged eyes weeping blood and ghostly pale skin. They were also utterly subservient to Bombadil's will and he was able to see through their eyes and guide their actions. These were the Bombadilians. Colin and Allah remained unaware of these creatures' existence due to their focus being elsewhere, allowing Tom Bombadil to begin inserting his servants into positions across Middle-Earth. Occasionally, they would even kidnap figures important to Bombadil's will and take them back to the Old Forest to be subject to the changes. Soon, the Old Forest became a place of fear and dread for those living around it and was generally avoided.

For years his plans moved forward slowly as he infiltrated the world and waited for an event which he could leverage towards his final goal- turning his brothers against one another and destroying Middle-Earth. Things were moved forward significantly when his agents became aware of two strange travelers, Isengriff and Lindonrow. Observing them for some time, Tom was able to glean that they were extremely powerful beings currently trapped in mortal form by his brothers. He also observed their argumentative and competitive nature. These observations gave him an idea that would allow his plan to move forward- set Isengriff and Lindonrow against one another and induce them to fight, causing strife between Allah and Colin who were clearly invested in these two for some reason.
Luring the two adventurers into the Old Forest, he spoke with them and planted the seeds of conflict within them by convincing them to try learning to play music, hypothesizing based off of their characters that learning music would inevitably cause them to want to compete in the skill and that their poor sportsmanship would result in conflict. He allowed them to go away after this (only wiping their memories of him to prevent them from seeing what was happening) confident that the seeds he had planted would sooner or later bear fruit.
Soon after this he would be forced to head to Rivendell to personally deal with a pair of Bounders named Halbbo Proudfeet and Romald Harfoot who had uncovered his plots in the course of their investigation into the serial killer out of a fear that they might reveal his plot to Isengriff and Lindonrow and thus derail it. He ambushed them outside the Hall of Fire, dragging them away to the Old Forest to presumably be made into Bombadilians.
His actions after this are as yet unknown.

Physical Description

Body Features

He usually chooses to take the form of a short, stout man with a long beard and hair. When interacting with people who he doesn't want to frighten, he can disguise his face to look like that of a jolly middle-aged man. However, even when disguised like this those who look at him can see a shadow of his true form...

Identifying Characteristics

Generally speaking, he can be identified by the fact that his eyes are like constantly bleeding wounds in his face which somehow stare directly into your soul in an unsettling fashion. Also, he has brown hair.

Apparel & Accessories

Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.

Date of Birth

C. 14,000,000,000 BCE

Birthplace

The Void

Current Residence

The Old Forest

Eyes

Black Pits

Hair

Long and Brown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Ghostly Pale

Quotes & Catchphrases

Hey do, merry do me hearties

-Common saying of Tom Bombadil

Ruled Locations

• The Old Forest

Related Historical Events

• Approx. 10,000 Years After Creation
  The Fellowship of McCabbage
• Circa 14 Billion BCE
  Tom Bombadil Created

Appears in...

• The Fellowship of McCabbage

Found footage depicting Tom Bombadil