"NOT WHAT A STAR IS":

Wiley observes that a "mystery is not a problem; it is a hidden truth," one that isn't simply solved but rather experienced and discovered. We won't discover hidden truth through dissection or through scrutinizing facts under a microscope. That is akin to cutting "open a ball in search of bounce," as writer Roger Lancelyn Green once remarked about those who seek to scrutinize Tolkien's work. Destroying a ball in search of bounce is an apt description for the doomed-to-fail approach to understanding the meaning of the characters and events of Middle-earth. By dissecting Bombadil to see what makes him tick ultimately results in neutralizing the intended function of the subject in question. As the old adage goes, the "whole" is often greater than the sum of its parts. C.S. Lewis makes a similar observation about stars in his fifth Narnia book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Upon encountering a "retired star" in bodily form, one of the characters declares, "In our world, a star is a huge ball of flaming gas." The star astutely replies, "Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of..."

Who is Tom Bombadil?

What Lewis and Tolkien (and Wiley) are encouraging us to do is to see things in a different way; for example, we need to see love not merely as chemical reactions, or beauty and truth not merely as social constructs, or goodness not merely a pragmatic means of survival. Wiley points out that pursuing knowledge by "cutting open of bouncing balls" is exactly what Saruman does in his relentless study of the dark arts and scrutinizing the evils of Sauron, a study that ultimately corrupts him. This is underscored by Gandalf, who chastises Saruman's behaviour by declaring that the man who "breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."

Wiley reminds us that we mustn't lose sight of the forest because of the trees. The fact that some aspects of Tolkien's portrayal of Bombadil align with allusions to Christ cause some readers to conclude that he must be a pre-incarnate Christ breaking into Middle-earth. There is some compelling evidence to suggest this. For example, when Frodo first meets Bombadil, he marvels at the way he wields incredible authority over Middle-earth, and he wonders aloud who he could be. The answer Frodo receives is "He is," which is as cryptic as it is provocative. Such a response reminds us of God's self-declared name, "I Am That I Am" (Exodus 3:7-8, 13-14). C.R. Wiley leads his readers towards understanding the function of Bombadil within the larger story, not as an agent of the plot or a one-to-one stand-in for another person or character, but more as a reminder of deeper truths that will shape how readers approach the events and characters of the novel.

What we know about Bombadil is that he is a powerful and ancient being, older than Gandalf and older than the elves, and he has no interest in "trinkets" that are used to dominate others. Although he is aware of evil, he has no fear of it. Instead, he travels about his business bedecked with yellow boots, a blue coat, and a feathered cap. He wanders the woods singing silly songs of seemingly nonsense verse and he possesses an indomitable cheerfulness. In a story filled with perilous journeys, evil rings, and the terrors of trolls, orcs, and wraiths, it would seem that Bombadil's jolly demeanor is out of place. But, when the hobbits first encounter him in the Old Forest, his arrival is as welcome to the reader as it is to the hobbits. This is because Tom rescues Frodo and his companions from certain death - not once, but twice in the two chapters in which he appears. His appearance is unexpected yet timely; what could have been a tragic ending - the death of the hobbits and the failure of the quest - is not only avoided but happily and joyfully thwarted by Tom Bombadil. In other words, when the story is on the brink of a catastrophe, Tolkien suddenly introduces a "eucatastrophe"; that is, a sudden and good turn of events. Tolkien coined this neologism by combining the Greek prefix ευ- meaning "good" with καταστροφή, meaning "sudden turn."

In his essay, "On Fairy-stories," Tolkien describes this "good catastrophe" as

a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.

The "Joy beyond the walls of the world" that Tolkien describes here is the gospel of Christ, which Tolkien asserts "is the greatest and most complete eucatastrophe." It is no mere fantasy, for "this story has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation has been raised to fulfillment of Creation." He goes on to say,

The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the 'inner consistency of reality'. There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits.

Bridging Tolkien's idea of eucatastrophe in The Lord of the Rings with the gospel account is a key stepping stone to understanding the "who" and "why" of Tom Bombadil. 

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