Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Why Tom Bombadil's House?

In the post on Glorfindel's 'prophecy' regarding Tom Bombadil, I cited the fact that the Council, and most importantly Elrond and Gandalf, concluded that the Ring ought not to be sent to Tom's House.


Yet, in my story here, we have the Sawtooth Stone being sent directly there, and where I believe it currently remains.  And not only the Stone, but also other important artifacts are there, such as the Brass Plates.


The difference, of course, is that the Ring was a thing of Evil - Sauron's Creation - and that as Gandalf said, this Evil had no sway or power over Tom (being a Free Man), and that asking him to be a guardian of such a thing made no sense in this context.


My own personal belief extends beyond this given reason to some speculative considerations.  Tom Bombadil, as Ki-Abroam, set bounds on his own land and power for reasons, some only known to him, but likely at least some of them tracing back to the destruction of Numenor itself, and the breaking of the world.


Tom broke Eressea.  He did it due to the assault of the Numenoreans and Pharazon, which can ultimately be traced back to, in part, Sauron's evil influence as he sat behind the throne (and later openly in front of it, for all intents and purposes) and used the Numenoreans as his puppets.


The Numenoreans invaded Eressea.  It is written the Eresseans would not fight back.  And so Tom, if this part of Doug's record can be believed, swung down his axe and split Eressea in two.  The part that had been invaded and spoiled by the Numenoreans (and 3 of the Nazgul, apparently), would become Eressea #2 in my story here, go under the wave, but come back up again from those waters and become the land that the Jaredites would land on.


The other part would become Eressea #1, and be lifted up along-side Valinor and removed in some fashion.  My general sense is that when we talk of a Great and Spacious Building, and the Empire State Building, it is to Eressea #1 that we might presently look, but that is just my guess.  My hypothesis is that not all is well on that world presently, that we on this Earth feel some of the effects of that, and that any return to Valinor will have to pierce through, around, or over the GSB-ESB to reach Valinor.


Ki-Abroam-Tom had to assist in destroying a world to save it, in other words, and it may be that his self-imposed exile and boundaries at his House relate back to this, at least partly.  He would continue to play a pivotal role in the resistance to the Void, and the Sauron at that time, but it would be in a different way and he wouldn't be asked to display such powers openly again.  Assisting the Hobbits was one such way that he did this, and in curious fashion, too.  For example, if the Hobbits had not both stumbled into the Barrow Wights, and been rescued by Tom, Merry would never have acquired just the sword needed to maim the Witch King and thus allow Eowyn to finish him off.


Anyway, this might be a bit of a tangent, but it just could very well be that such an open display of power in the face of Sauron's assault (through the Numenoreans) by Ki-Abroam was one reason why he chose to draw the lines he did in the ensuing ages.  I don't know, but there could be something there.


In any case, the Ring was Evil, and needed to be dealt with sooner or later, and whether stored at Tom's House or somewhere else, that fact wasn't going to change.   As Gandalf put it, paraphrasing his words, if it falls within their power in their age to do something about it, they ought to do it.


Juxtaposed and directly opposite with the Ring, you have the Sawtooth Stone, which I have down in this story as a creation that is wholly Good.   The Ring was created to enslave, while the Stone was created to set free.  And not just that, but the Stone directly links back to Tom and his Family.  This is something that belongs to them.  My current guess is that Asenath created these Stones in some fashion.   The promise is that through Abraham's seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.  My view is the Stones are part of that promise, with Abraham being the same Being as Ki-Abroam and Tom Bombadil, and Asenath being his literal child, in what appears to be multiple instances and lives, I believe.


Thus, the situation of sending the Stone to Tom Bombadil's House couldn't be any different than sending the Ring.  This is a homecoming, of sorts.  The Stone belongs there, if anywhere on this world.  And if that Stone represents the beginning of a reunion between both Family and their Lands, then I think it makes complete sense for that to commence in the House of Tom Bombadil.  


This is a story of redemption, remember, and if Tom was asked to split families and lands in an age past, then let that action be reversed and healed starting under his roof, as it were.


The Brass Plates are also no stranger to Tom.  He wrote them, sans any histories or prophetic words that came after he and Asenath's session with the plates.  As Asenath lay dying on a ship out at sea, after the Numenorean Fall, Asenath dictated the that Book, and it was Ki-Abroam who engraved her words on those Plates.  

... thus he [Ki-Abroam] engraved all her [Asenath's] words, in books numbering five... 

... in whole, after months told by her aging daily, he hefted himself a Bronze Book, of his making:

-- Almost, she laughed, a coffin for all knowledge.

-- Not so, but a barge, to sail it wheresoever the winds release, take thy voice's words...

Later, after Asenath died, she, as a Spirit apparently, further amended and cleaned up any potential errors that came through from her dictation ( a reference that likely ties directly to the quote heard in my dream of someone "washing the dishes", dishes meaning Plates in this sense, I think).


So, both the Stone and Brass Plates, and likely other artifacts belong at Tom's House, as do the Being who will be invited there to use those gifts.  This is a Family Reunion, after all, and I like the idea of it starting at the House of Tom Bombadil.

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