Amazon Studios The Rings of Power is here. The Second season is on its way. We want all Spoilerites to have the best viewing experience possible and have the widest knowledge base about the Second Age of Middle-Earth. This is a weekly Let’s Get Nerdy article series highlighting a different piece of Tolkien I think you need to know about!
In past articles I have answered the question:
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- What Are the Rings of Power?
- What is Númenor?
- What is the Second Age?
- Who are the Harfoots?
- Who is Prince Durin IV?
- What is Khazad-dûm?
- Who is Celebrimbor?
- What is the Last Alliance of Men and Elves?
- Who is Elendil?
- New Pics! Who are Bronwyn and Theo?
- What is Rivendell?
- The Rings of Power First Reactions Are In!
- What is Lindon?
- What are the Nine Human Rings?
- Empire Magazine’s The Rings of Power Covers
- New Character Pictures
- Will Wizards Appear in The Rings of Power?
- New Promo for The Rings of Power
- What is Eregion?
- Leaked! Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
- The Rings of Power Teaser Breakdown
- New EW Rings of Power Pictures
- SDCC Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
- Who is Isildur?
- The Rings of Power is Here! Read the Reactions
- Who is the Stranger?
- Who is Queen Míriel?
- Who is Ar-Pharazôn?
- What is the broken black blade?
- What is Mordor?
- What is Mithril?
- What are the Silmarils?
- What is Narsil?
- Who founded Númenor?
- Who is Galadriel’s Brother Finrod?
- Rings of Power Adds 15 New Cast Members for Season 2
- Who is Círdan?
- Will Celeborn Appear in The Rings of Power?
- Are Galadriel and Sauron Enemies in Book Canon?
- Who is Narvi?
- Jamie Bisping Cast as Viran
- Will the Harfoots Settle The Shire?
- What to Watch Before The Rings of Power Season 2
- Will We See More Rings in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Will Lord Belzagar Appear in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Who is Diarmid?
- Will Ringwraiths appear in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Will Gil-Galad Lead an Army in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Is the Balrog Durin’s Bane?
- Who is Isildur’s sister Eärien?
- What is Rhûn Where Nori & The Stranger are Headed?
- Will Galadriel Go Dark in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Where are the Southlanders Going?
- Is Durin Still a Prince?
- How Eärien will use the Palantir in The Rings of Power Season 2
- Is the Rings of Power close to canon? Will it get closer in Season 2?
- What is The War of the Elves and Sauron?
- Who are the Three New Rings of Power Cast Members? Ciarán Hinds, Rory Kinnear and Tanya Moodie
- Who are the Three Witches Trying to Rescue Sauron?
- Rings of Power season 2 Reportedly Wraps Filming
- Nenya will Appear in The Rings of Power season 2
- Will We see Shelob in The Rings of Power season 2?
- How Celeborn Could Appear in The Rings of Power season 2
- Will The Rings of Power be at San Diego Comic-Con?
- How are Hobbits and Harfoots Different?
- Who is Galadriel?
- What are Noldor Elves?
- Who are “Durin’s Folk”?
- What are the Seven Dwarf-Lord Rings?
- How did Humans come to Middle-Earth?
- Who is High King Gil-Galad?
- What are Sindar Elves?
- What is Hobbit Day?
- Finding all the Lord of the Rings at New York Comic Con
- Who are the Rohirrim?
- New Lord of the Rings Video Game – Return to Moria – is Here!
- Who is Gimli, son of Glóin?
- What is the Fourth Age of Middle-Earth?
- What are Cave Trolls?
- Why does the Bridge of Khazad-dûm Matter?
- Are Orcs and Goblins Different in Middle-Earth?
- The Rings of Power Season 2 – Where Are We Now?
- War of the Rohirrim – Where Are We Now?
- How Many Seasons will Rings of Power Run?
- Lord of the Rings is a Christmas Movie
- Rings of Power at the Creative Arts Emmys
- Update on the Rings of Power Lawsuit
When The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was first coming out the biggest fan gripe was about the lack of Tom
Bombadil representation in The Fellowship of the Ring. If you’ve read the book The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring I defy you not to fall in love with Tom Bombadil the very second you meet him and understand the outrage while simultaneously understanding – from a storytelling and filmic production standpoint – why he and Goldberry were left on the proverbial “cutting room floor”.
Just to poke the Fandom Bear a little bit more I also categorize The Burning of the Shire in the same way despite the flash forward we see of the event in The Fellowship of the Ring movie when Frodo looks into Galadriel’s mirror.
BUT, LET’S GET BACK TO TOM BOMBADIL!
His potential appearance in the upcoming season of The Rings of Power is the most persistent rumours I see everywhere from thoughtful thinkpieces to personal blogs to meme posts on social media. So, let’s explore the likelihood of this happening!
The biggest credit for stoking this rumour goes to TheOneRing.net who recently shared a slough of supposed goings-on for season two! Including, but not limited to:
Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are in an episode.
Based on some of the new they broke throughout their inception during The Lord of the Rings original film trilogy I do consider them to be a pretty solid source. That being stated, take their assertion with an entire bag of salt and your own knowledge may varry.
As with many of the characters we’ve seen in The Rings of Power, Tom Bombadil has the positive quality of having never been portrayed in live action in the English language before. Like Gil-Galad, Celebrimbor, and Arondir (granted, a non-canon character), audiences don’t have as many preconceptions about him as we brought to new versions of characters we’ve seen from previous live action films such as: Galadriel, Elrond, Elendil, and Isildur. Tom Bombadil serves a pretty minimal role in the pages of The Fellowship of the Ring, highlights of which include: allowing Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin to sunbathe naked in his backyard.
That’s not a joke. That is a real thing that happens.
This leaves his character fairly free for interpretation. The creators could easily use him as a handy-dandy plot device – perhaps in the Nori and The Stranger storyline? Maybe he could be the guide who eventually leads the Harfoots to settle The Shire and evolve into the Baggins-style Hobbits we are more familiar with.
If Tom Bombadil is in The Rings of Power season 2 I wouldn’t be surprised if we caught a glimpse of him in the earliest footage or teaser trailer or if the actor playing him is marched out at San Diego Comic-Con or New York Comic Con this year.
