Lord Of The Rings: 10 Smartest Changes Peter Jackson Made From The Books

For anyone who has read the books, Tom Bombadil is one of the more baffling characters in the entire trilogy. He's partly enjoyable and partly absurd. Numerous pages are dedicated to the Bombadil sub-plot and yet it has almost nothing to do with the overall narrative.

On their way to Bree, the hobbits get waylaid several times; once in the old Forrest and once by evil spirits called Barrow-wights; both times they are saved by Tom. He's a strange, singing/dancing, forrest dweller who lives with wife, tending to the forrest and looking after animals.

It's alluded to that he's the most powerful being in all of Middle Earth, with many interpreting him as symbol of god. But, confusingly he seems to have no care about the Ring or the looming threat of Sauron. At one point he even takes the Ring from Frodo and puts it on without vanishing.

When Tolkien began writing the Fellowship of the Ring, he intended to follow a similar theme as the Hobbit, with episodic, side-adventures that happen throughout. But as Tolkien said "this tale grew in the telling" and soon the story became much darker and grander then he had envisioned. Tom Bombadil was left-over from the original format, and it seems Tolkien never quite got round to addressing him.

Peter Jackson was definitely wise to cut him out.