It is a truth universally acknowledged that a blog with any sort of Tolkien adjacency is in want of a Tom Bombadil theory.
The Bombadil Question is not only a perennial fixture for Tolkien’s readers, it may well be the original Middle-earth enigma. Where other Legendarium mysteries are relatively recent preoccupations (how were Orcs first made?) or have been repeated to the point of parody (do Balrogs have wings?), the Bombadil issue remains not only pertinent (if now itself somewhat parodied), but possesses an ancient lineage. Even before The Lord of the Rings was published, Tolkien found himself fielding questions about Tom and his nature (see Letter 144, in which Tolkien expounds on Tom at length to a proofreader); and Tolkien’s (I think relatively clear) comments on Bombadil have done little to dissuade readers from forming their own theories (which are honestly usually more revealing of the reader’s predilections than of Bombadil himself) over the following decades.
“Who, what, and even why Tom Bombadil is?” is, in short, the original Legendarium question.
To each of these individual questions there are at least a dozen answers, some held more passionately than others, some better-rooted in scholarship than others, and some more sensible than others. Tom Bombadil is a Maia…no, a Vala…no, Eru himself. Tom Bombadil is Tolkien himself, Tom is the opposite of Ungoliant, or maybe they’re one and the same? Tom is the countryside of Oxfordshire, or of England, or of the world. Tom is the Music of the Ainur, or something that existed before the Music, or something that came from outside the Music? Tom is a spirit, or he is the most “real” being in Arda, unless maybe Tom is Arda itself? Or maybe…
…needless to say, this is far from being a comprehensive list. And in a way, I am sympathetic to these questions. Tolkien has gained a reputation as being a consummate and detail oriented world-builder (though even that reputation, I think, is somewhat untrue – Tolkien could be detail oriented if he wished! But I think he often provided an illusion of depth, provided just enough information to make his writing “feel” real – but that is a question for another time), and so his inclusion of such an enigmatic and contradictory character in Tom naturally leads many people to try and “fit” him into the larger world in some way.
And now it’s my turn. Because if this blog is to have any Tolkienish credibility, it is necessary and obligatory for me to follow in the footsteps of every other blog, podcast, video series and what have you and to publish a piece on Tom; to construct my own theory to add to the pile of Bombadil theories. So, without further ado, this is the official position of the Blog of Mazarbul:
Tom Bombadil is Father Christmas.
…ok, and now a caveat, and an explanation. Firstly, I do not literally think Tom is Father Christmas. I do not think Tolkien intended him to be Santa, and there are ultimately far too many differences between them to make such a position tenable. But I’ll return to this in a moment.
Secondly, I would love to claim credit for this outlandish position, but I cannot. I first stumbled across this theory in a (since deleted) post on r/tolkienfans, quite a few months ago. To be honest…I did not think much of the theory, which argued for a one-to-one comparison between the two rather more earnestly than I think held up to any serious scrutiny. Ultimately, Tom and Santa are very very different people – apart from anything else, Tom is explicitly tied to his little corner of the world, as opposed to the globe-trotting gift-giver.
So, now that I’ve got my clickbait claim out of the way, let’s amend that official Blog of Mazarbul position. Because while there are irreconcilable differences between Tom and Father Christmas, there are also some notable similarities…both textual and (crucially) meta-textual similarities.
Let’s deal with the texts first. Both beings are supernaturally and immensely powerful, yet also suffer curious and (perhaps self-imposed) limitations upon the exercising of that power. Both are kind, generous, and merry. Both are very human, yet also clearly something other, something alien and ancient and enigmatic.
And it’s what that something is that truly intrigues me. Because really, if we are to interrogate what Tom Bombadil is, why should we not do the same for Santa Claus? What sort of thing is Father Christmas, really?
Some will claim he is Saint Nicholas, which I say is nonsense. Santa Claus is almost certainly chiefly descended from that early Turkish bishop, yet they are not the same person, no more than King Arthur of Camelot is a Saxon warlord. If there ever were an actual Arthur, King Arthur of the Round Table has long ago escaped that man’s dry historical grip – withered and enfeebled by the necessary precision of biographical fact – and has flourished into his own unique and splendid characterhood. So, too, has Santa come into his own – it is undeniably interesting and perhaps even useful to acknowledge his ancestry, but the venerable Saint Nicholas and the jolly Saint Nick are clearly distinct and different figures, both as individual from each other as any child is from its parent.
Yet Arthur, for all the wonders and marvels of his fairy-touched England, remains stubbornly human, and I do not think the same can be said of Father Christmas. He is ancient (perhaps even immortal), capable of extraordinary feats of speed and endurance, dwelling merrily in a frozen waste where he crafts wonders unerringly chosen to suit the preferences of millions of children. His reindeer fly, and his ability to enter any home in the world should really be a matter of international concern. Father Christmas may have once been human, but he is certainly not human anymore.
And his motivations, too, are bewildering, apparently set and constrained within limits of his own design and desire. Why does he only come once a year? Why doesn’t he “do something” with his immense power? And what does he get out of it in turn? What reward does Santa gain for his own immense labour? There is a fey irrationality to the mind of Santa, an irrationality that is bound by an equally confusing and immutable logic.
Father Christmas is, in short, alien, bewildering, baffling. Inscrutable and ancient and frighteningly powerful. And still we are no closer to answering the question of what he is. For he is no earthly man, that much is clear. Yet he does not easily fit into any “modern” metaphysical system of which I am aware – for example, he is assuredly no Christian angel either.
So what is Santa?
The easy answer at this point is that he is not real, and so there is no “need” to answer what he is. Yet is he not just as real as Tom Bombadil?
One might counter that Tom belongs to a world that is not real, to a sub-created world, while Santa (reportedly) operates in our world. But that isn’t satisfying to me….Santa, too, exists in a world of sub-creation, in a way. Every child that knows Father Christmas will visit on Christmas Eve is, in a way, a wanderer in just such a world. And Tolkien’s own Father Christmas Letters afford us older and wiser folk a peek back into that world.
But we don’t know what class of being Father Christmas is, really, and I’ve never heard of anyone who really wanted to know, because we don’t really need to know – he is Father Christmas. An ever-living and good being with incredible power beyond our ken, who directs that power to a benign and joyous task. And while I realise I can only speak for myself, never have I read The Father Christmas Letters and been dissatisfied that the titular correspondent fails to tell us what he is, or where he “fits”. I know who Father Christmas is. He is.
So is Tom Bombadil Santa Claus? No, definitely not. Yet I do think that they belong to the same class of beings, too. They both of them are legends and myths tinged with roots in reality, classless creatures in worlds obsessed with classification, ancient and powerful and storied beings that defy any feeble attempt at comprehension. They exist without need to belong.
Bombadil is, just as much as Santa is. And honestly? While there is value to knowing that Tom Bombadil was originally a Tolkien family doll, or that Saint Nicholas was bishop of Myra, or that Bombadil represents the countryside of Oxfordshire and Santa the spirit of gift-giving and generosity, none of these things actually answer what either of them “are”. And I think I’m ok with that. I don’t need to know how Tom Bombadil came to be in the Old Forest, any more than I need to know what type of creature Father Christmas is.
They both just are, and the world’s a little better for them.
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