Tom Bombadil is joy and contentment. That’s why:
A) he’s not human. We’re terrible at joy and contentment
B) he’s immune to the Ring. The Ring is temptation, and if you’re happy and content, temptation has no hold on you
C) he was so important to the book plot, which goes further into the metaphor of the Ring than the movies
D) he’s the right thing to cut from the movies, which are more literal than the books
E) he’s so popular in spite of not doing a lot
F) he seems like Eru Iluvatar, being a creature fully made of love and completion
G) he is powerful and yet must be protected
H) he can be summoned through song, yet the song has no power over him. We all have songs that are likely to make us happy, but they don’t always work
I) his enemies are the barrow wights, ghosts that hold forever onto ancient grudges. Those are legit grudges, mind. The Witch-King of Angmar did the men of Arnor dirty. But the wights hold onto those grudges beyond death, and as such are enemies to joy forever. They (the wights) are scattered when their treasures are distributed without history
CelebrÃan
Think about what it was like for Elrond. Galadriel was his mother in law, and his wife was tortured by orcs until she (CelebrÃan) fled into the west.
Can you imagine Thanksgiving dinner?
LOTRO Campaign
It’s weird there’s no full on LOTR campaign in LOTRO. Why isn’t there a mode where you build a hobbit, get a ring, and head off for Mordor?
There’s a mode where you’re recruited to support the Fellowship, but it’s circuitous and bizarre.
There might be IP or permission concerns.
Literal Cave of Death
Hey, Gimli! If all your friends were going into a cave of death, would you go to?
Yes, Mom, yes I would! Because if I didn’t go into the cave of death, I’d never hear the end of it!
Sidethought LotR
You know something invisible about LotR? You always knew what people were trying to accomplish and why.
Broadly: What was the overarching goal? Throw the ring into Mt Doom.
Specifically: What was Boromir trying to do? Save the Minas Tirith and Gondor.
Niche: What were the three hunters trying to do in Rohan? Save the hobbits, followed by save Rohan, followed by save Gondor.
What was Treebeard trying to do? Nothing when he wasn’t that important a character, and defeat Saruman when he was an important character.
What was Shelob trying to do? Eat people.
And so on and so on. It’s so simple it’s invisible, but you always knew what the characters were trying to do if they mattered.
What was Gimli trying to do? Show up the elf.
And it’s invisible. That’s mastery.
Editting/Cutting for Length
Some cuts from LotR obviously had to be made for the movies. Tom Bombadil is the one people mention, and it’s obviously. He and Goldberry just wouldn’t translate, and the mystery of them would be lost. Those two characters wouldn’t work in film.
But another area that should be cut is the ride from Minas Tirith to the Morannon. That just wouldn’t work in a movie as long as it is in a book, because movies need a bit more focus. That long sequence of exploration and travel is world building. It’s development. It’s character. It’s way too long, and should be cut down to two or three short cuts, like in the movies. If you want more of that, the books are the place for it.
P Jackson did that right.
LotR
I reread Fellowship trying to regain the joy of it and maybe hatch some story ideas.
The former happened. It’s better than I remember.
The latter sort of happened. I did forment some story ideas, but they’re gaming ideas. I got plots for DnD games, not fics.
I’m going to go get a cookie.