The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power unveiled the first live-action portrayal of Tom Bombadil in the fourth episode of season two on Thursday.
JRR Tolkien's character was absent from Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings film, but plays a key role in The Rings of Power —helping guide the Stranger (Daniel Weyman) as he struggles with his uncontrollable powers. In the books, Bombadil is depicted as a cheerful singer-songwriter who has been around since the beginning of time. Some Tolkien fans love him; others find him annoyingly over-the-top. Either way, fitting such a colorful and quirky character into a dramatic story was a tall order.
From the moment the first photo was taken of The Rings of Power's Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) has been revealed, fans have been debating the show's portrayal: Is it too serious? Not close enough to the books? As fans are finding out, The Rings of Power found a balance: keeping the core elements of the character, without breaking the show's dramatic tone. Early reactions on social media seem very positive (“Every scene with Tommy B had me grinning from ear to ear. Rory Kinnear is awesome!” wrote one fan on the episode's Reddit discussion thread).
“I think there’s a long tradition of this type of character: the wise-cracking trickster,” says co-showrunner J.D. Payne. The Hollywood Reporter. “Think about Yoda. He's a funny little green puppet who plays with Luke's stuff and then something ends up being the wisest being in the galaxy. We're trying to walk a similar tightrope with Tom. Does he sing and spout nursery rhymes? Yes, absolutely. But was he also older than the first drop of rain? Yes. And the joy is that one being can embody all of those things, and Rory plays him with such grace. In one moment he's singing, and then I love it, and he turns around and The Stranger asks him, 'Who are you?' And he just says, 'The Eldest.' I get chills when I see him say that, because I think he's the oldest being in all of Middle Earth at that point. So there are moments when he's very serious and very intense and other moments when he's laughing and cracking jokes. The fact that both beings can exist in one body is again part of the joy. I'm really curious to see how the audience will react who's been waiting to see it. And I dare say there's a nice balance between the wise, wise, old Tom and the Tom who's just making fun of you.”
I note that Tom Bombadil, the character on the show, seems like a friendly, approachable guy who enjoys drinking a good craft beer.
“I think Rory actually does some kind of microbrewing,” Payne replies. “I think he lives upstairs in a brewery!”
“His jacket is still blue and his boots are yellow,” adds co-showrunner Patrick McKay DAY. “There's a swan feather in his hat. All those things are there. But the yellow is a gradient, the blue is a gradient. We're always looking for what feels real. Tom's not camping in the woods in his cottage. He's far away in a barren desert country, and his clothes reflect that and are a little more muted than their brightest versions. But maybe when he first took it off the coat rack, they were brighter.”
And in terms of age, “we talked about it,” Payne says. “We talked about casting someone in their 80s. But Tom has a long time to live. He'll be there in the Third Age. But there's also something about Tom that feels like the spirit of Gaia personified. He has this eternal youth and a fountain of life coming from him. So the idea that he could be old and wise seemed a little bit at odds with a character who also had this kind of eternal sense of life. So again, we tried to find someone who had that balance of wisdom and youth.”
The dialogue in the fourth episode, however, suggests that Bombadil may be even more than your carefree immortal hanging out in Middle-earth. You begin to wonder: Is Tom Bombadil, essentially, God? Is he the highest-ranking ruler in Middle-earth?
“We wouldn’t have a problem with that question being asked,” Payne says. “Because people say that about the character in the books.”
McKay adds: “And I think people asked Tolkien himself. Tolkien chose to remain silent and so will we.”
The Rings of Power is currently streaming on Prime Video, with new episodes releasing on Thursdays.