Editing Tom Bombadil (section)

=== ''The Lord of the Rings'' ===

{{further|Poetry in The Lord of the Rings#Tom Bombadil}}

{{Quote box
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 |quote=<poem>There was another burst of song, and then suddenly, hopping and dancing along the path, there appeared above the reeds an old battered hat with a tall crown and a long blue feather stuck in the band. With another hop and a bound there came into view a man, or so it seemed. At any rate he was too large and heavy for a hobbit, if not quite tall enough for one of the Big People, though he made noise enough for one, stumping along with great yellow boots on his thick legs, and charging through grass and rushes like a cow going down to drink. He had a blue coat and a long brown beard; his eyes were blue and bright, and his face was red as a ripe apple, but creased into a hundred wrinkles of laughter. In his hand he carried on a large leaf as on a tray a small pile of white water-lilies.</poem>
 —  ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', book 1, ch. 6, "The Old Forest"
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In ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', Tom Bombadil helps [[Frodo Baggins]] and his Hobbit companions on their journey to destroy the Ring.<ref name="The Old Forest" group=T/><ref name="In the House of Tom Bombadil" group=T/><ref name="Fog on the Barrow-Downs" group=T/> Tom and his wife, Goldberry, the "Daughter of the River", still live in their house by the source of the Withywindle, and some of the characters and situations from the original poem reappear.<ref name="Hargrove 2013"/>

Tom first appears when [[Merry Brandybuck|Merry]] and [[Pippin Took|Pippin]] are trapped in the [[Old Forest]] by Old Man Willow, and Frodo and [[Sam Gamgee|Sam]] cry for help. Tom commands Old Man Willow to release them, singing him to sleep.<ref name="The Old Forest" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=book 1, ch. 6, "The Old Forest"}}</ref>

The Hobbits spend two nights in Tom Bombadil's house,<ref name="In the House of Tom Bombadil" group=T/> which serves as one of [[Frodo's five Homely Houses]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century]] |date=2001 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0261-10401-3 |page=65}}</ref> Here it is seen that the One Ring has no power over Bombadil; he can see Frodo when the Ring makes him invisible to others and can wear it himself with no effect. He even tosses the Ring in the air and makes it disappear but then produces it from his other hand and returns it to Frodo. The idea of giving him the Ring for safekeeping is rejected in Book Two's second chapter, "The Council of Elrond". Gandalf says that it is unwise to consider Tom as having power over the Ring and that rather, "the Ring has no power over him...". He suggests that Tom would not find the Ring to be very important and so might simply misplace it.<ref name="In the House of Tom Bombadil" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=book 1, ch. 7, "In the House of Tom Bombadil"}}</ref>

Before sending the Hobbits on their way, Tom teaches them a rhyme to summon him if they fall into danger again within his borders. This proves fortunate, as the four are trapped by a [[barrow-wight]]. After rescuing them, Tom gives each Hobbit a long dagger taken from the treasure in the [[tumulus|barrow]]. He refuses to pass the borders of his own land, but he directs them to the [[The Prancing Pony|Prancing Pony]] Inn at [[Bree (Middle-earth)|Bree]].<ref name="Fog on the Barrow-Downs" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=book 1, ch. 8, "Fog on the Barrow-Downs"}}</ref>

Towards the end of ''[[The Return of the King]]'', when Gandalf leaves the Hobbits, he mentions that he wants to have a long talk with Bombadil, calling him a "moss-gatherer". Gandalf says, in response to Frodo's query of how well Bombadil is getting along, that Bombadil is "as well as ever", "quite untroubled" and "not much interested in anything that we have done and seen", save their visits to the [[Ent]]s. At the very end of ''The Lord of the Rings'', as Frodo sails into the West and leaves Middle-earth forever, he has what seems to him the very experience that appeared to him in the house of Bombadil [[Dreams and visions in The Lord of the Rings|in his dream]] of the second night.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955|loc=book 6, ch. 7 "Homeward Bound" and ch. 9 "The Grey Havens"}}</ref>