Tom Bombadil of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is one of the most important characters in a work of fiction, literary or otherwise, despite being almost entirely unnecessary to the plot of this work. As Tolkien once said: “everything needs a good enigma”; oh how true this belief seems to be! How else can one explain the longstanding popularity of various puzzles (i.e. Crosswords, Rubik’s Cube, Sudoku, etc.), or even the morbid curiosity so many seem to find as they slow down to watch a traffic accident, trying to figure out “what’s going on over there.” People love mysteries, in point of fact; drawn like moths to a flame. Tom Bombadil is a character made for just the purpose of being an enigma. Within the context of The Lord of the Rings Bombadil is older and more knowledgeable than many other characters, despite apparently never straying from his woods, and is in turn immune to all effects of the One Ring that anchors the story. However, Bombadil’s overall role in the plot is almost inconsequential and (as seen in the movie adaptation) can be removed with negligible effect on the progression of the plot. This status of minutia only serves to strengthen his role as an enigma, for it is unfathomable that a character would be present without any reason! INCONCEIVABLE as some might utter! Yet the role of the enigma is a hallowed mantle, passed down like many traditions of this particular work and taken up by many successors, embedded in the very psyche of humanity, and it is for this reason that I raise Tom Bombadil up as a legendary fictional character of immeasurable importance.

--Micah Shear