The Lord of the Rings has been an impressive franchise for decades, not only because J.R.R. Tolkien’s books are largely considered among the greatest classic novels of all time, but also because Peter Jackson’s movies were a major success (at least, the original trilogy was) and remain high on the list of the greatest fantasy movies. In part, the success of Jackson’s original trilogy was due to how loyal the movies were to the books.
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Yes, there were some changes to characters or story details, but by and large, the three movies—The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King—captured the heart of Tolkien’s books. There is one glaring omission in Jackson’s movies, however, that fans have long questioned and, for some, has proven to be a disappointment.
Tom Bombadil Wasn’t In Peter Jackson’s Movies
The mysterious and incredibly powerful character Tom Bombadil was absent from Jackson’s movies. In the books, Tom is a rather strange character. He is among the most powerful beings in all of Middle-earth, yet he isn’t hugely involved in the action of the story. He does intervene at times. In fact, he is the reason the hobbits survive the events of the Fog on the Barrow-downs story, which will reportedly be the focus of the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie, The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past. Yet, he isn’t exactly instrumental in destroying the One Ring.
Notably, Tom Bombadil has since had an on-screen appearance, as he was in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2. Presumably, that means he will also be in the upcoming season, The Rings of Power season 3. It will be interesting to see how the show navigates such a complex, unusual character, but Jackson was valid in choosing not to include the character in his movies.
Jackson Had Good Reason For Cutting Tom Bombadil
While Tom Bombadil has now had his on-screen debut, it still makes sense that Jackson decided to remove him from his movies. For one, Tom doesn’t do much to move the narrative forward. As mentioned, he does save the hobbits in The Fellowship of the Ring, so it isn’t as though he serves no purpose. Yet, clearly, the plot could be executed successfully without him, so there wasn’t much point in bringing in a character that raises so many questions (and offers very few answers).
The other factor to consider, and Jackson no doubt did, is the overpowered nature of the character. The Lord of the Rings is already full of incredibly powerful beings, from Sauron and Saruman to Gandalf and Galadriel. Having yet another character, not to mention one whose power surpasses some of these very characters, would have added a layer of complication that just wasn’t necessary.
Tom Bombadil Just Doesn’t Work On The Big Screen
It’s quite possible that Tom Bombadil will be making an on-screen appearance again soon, in two of the upcoming Lord of the Rings projects. The first, as mentioned above, is The Rings of Power season 3, which will almost certainly bring him back. Since he is already part of The Lord of the Rings on-screen franchise now, it makes it even more likely that he will appear in Shadow of the Past. Whether that’s the right choice is another question entirely, though.
While it might make sense story-wise for Tom to appear in Shadow of the Past, particularly because he was part of that story in the books, that may only make trouble for the original trilogy, as it will now seem odd that he wasn’t in any of those movies. One of the biggest concerns fans have about these new movies is that they will somehow damage or ‘ruin’ the original movies, so this could pose a major problem for the franchise. (Even if it didn’t actually ruin those movies, it would contribute to that complaint.)
Outside of that, the same issues remain when it comes to bringing Tom Bombadil to life on the big screen. He is a bit too powerful to fit well into a narrative, and his character’s mysterious nature could create problems, particularly in terms of audience reception. For that reason, it seems best for new Lord of the Rings movies to leave this character to the books (and The Rings of Power), but whether they will remains a question mark for now.
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