The Rings of Power Is Finally Showing Tolkien’s Most Controversial Character. It’s a Mess.

The Rings of Power, now in its second season , is the first major English -language Tolkien adaptation to depict the merry fellow with his bright blue jacket and his boots of yellow.

Tom Bombadil may be the most argued-about character in Tolkien ’s The Lord of the Rings , but he does not advance the main storyline.

Some readers find the hobbits’ encounter with Tom Bombadil in the woods to be a tedious sidetrack from the main story.

Tolkien ’s commitment to Catholicism had a strong personal motivation: He equated it with loyalty to his beloved late mother, whom he felt had been stigmatized for her faith.

Tom Bombadil doesn't participate in the main plotline of The Lord of the Rings , he provides an indispensable allusion to everything else going on in Middle-earth that has nothing to do with the coming War of the Ring.

Tolkien 's Tom has no why. He has no mission any more than a lake or fern has a mission. He just is an enigma.