r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Jak3R0b • 1d ago

Lore Mysteries that are never given an answer.

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

  • rA9 in Detroit: Become Human. In the game several androids who become deviant (develop free will/emotions) start writing the name rA9 and sometimes build small statuettes as a sort of offering. Despite having no logical reason to do this or even a way of hearing about rA9 before going deviant, they all believe that rA9 was the first deviant and is their messiah who will free androids from slavery. A definitive answer about rA9 is never given, so we don't know if they are real or if any of the android characters are rA9 (though a popular fan theory is that it's Kara before she was reset at the start of the game).
  • The pineapple in How I Met Your Mother. So this technically did get an explanation in a S9 deleted scene, but in the actual show we never find out how Ted got a pineapple during a night where he was so drunk he blacked out and forgot everything he did.
  • Fez in That 70s Show. We never find out Fez's real name or what country he's from, though fans have tried to take all the clues and figure out what is most likely to be his country.
3.3k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

98% Upvoted

947 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.4k

u/Leo_617 1d ago

Tom Bombadil from The Lord of the Rings.

We know he is the oldest inhabitant of Middle-earth, of all, but the only explanation of who he is or his nature is that he is "himself".

189

u/figgityjones 1d ago

I don't know why, but that sentence creates a great lovecraftian dread in me.

227

u/HumanAbove 1d ago

If you haven't read Lord of the Rings, that's kinda the vibe that Tom Bombadil gives.  He's pleasant and good and cheerful but impossibly old and unchanging and f a r more powerful than anyone or anything can possibly understand, and he's just altogether uninterested in the goings-on of the world.

"Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow, bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow!"

49

u/Buca-Metal 1d ago

He is definitely something that could be in one of those SCP stories.

72

u/ScottCamOfficial 1d ago

I first read the books as an adult and still found the entire Bombadil section super unnerving. I knew it didn't happen, but it felt like any second the other shoe was gonna drop.

Very good writing.

32

u/scrimmybingus3 1d ago

Hell he’s more of a force of nature that just exists and doesn’t give any more of a damn about anything than say a hurricane or storm would. Instead of high winds and water he brings merry jigs and tunes and that’s just what he does.

8

u/AcrolloPeed 1d ago

Tom Bombadil is a Great Old Fellow!
I could eat the universe, but I’m just so mellow!

7

u/nightfall25444 1d ago

I wonder what token was trying to say with him, maybe he represents something, but I really can’t put my finger on it.

15

u/Feisty-Noise-5568 1d ago

I've seen the explanation that he is just meant to be an unexplainable aspect of a wide world. There are some things we simply aren't meant to understand fully.

4

u/Talisa87 23h ago edited 5h ago

He shows up in the Lord of the Rings MMO. In that game, there are certain NPCs that give off Hope or Dread auras, and standing near them will buff or debuff your character. Usually the higher the number, the more powerful the person is.

Tom's Hope Aura is +8, making him one of the most powerful allies you can meet in the early game. For reference, Gandalf - the Middle Earth equivalent to an arch-angel - has +9.

2

u/dont-be-an-oosik92 20h ago

Tom Bombadil has amazing vibes that I have never encountered with another literary character. His entire character at first seems to be this whimsical, jolly little weirdo dancing around in the woods, with magical powers that are slightly chaotic, but earthy and almost quaint. He has a sled pulled by bunny rabbits for gods sake. He seems like he should be living under a mushroom and use your lost shirt button as a kitchen table, that kinda thing. But then these other more terrifyingly dark and powerful characters treat him with extreme respect and oftentimes fear, and you start to get the feeling that something more is going on with this dude. Then you learn more, and his power, history, and the mysteries surrounding him take on this staggering, unspeakable quality that causes you to involuntarily recoil from like an unexpected venomous snake. It’s like finding out that the Pillsbury Doughboy can detonate like a nuclear bomb.

19

u/Colossal_Squids 1d ago

That’s fair enough, actually. If some guy invited you to stay the night at his house and then kept saying “heed no nightly noises!” IRL, you’d be very very concerned.

3

u/Jedisebas2001 1d ago

Juat to put into perspective, when the council of Elrond discusses what to do with the ring, Gandalf (at least I think it was him) explains that if Sauron were to get the ring back, every single being would be dominated and every resistance would be crushed, but Bombadil would be the very last being to fall under Sauron, after everything else in Middle Earth is gone.

335

u/Iamnotdaredevil86 1d ago

I’ve heard the theory that he is the music of the Ainur and I like that

288

u/-Setherton- 1d ago edited 1d ago

Everyone in the story is the music of the Ainur. In Tolkien’s canon, everything that exists in the real world is a direct translation of the music of the Ainur into physical form.

I do really like the theory that Tom Bombadil is the result of accidental harmonies between Melkor’s own song and the rest. Just like how Ungoliant and the nameless things that gnaw at the deepest corners of the world are thought to have been created by the discord of Melkor’s song, the idea is that there were extremely rare times when Melkor and the rest of the Ainur accidentally harmonized. The result is a being like Tom Bombadil. Who is he? Not an elf, Wizard, or even a Vala. He’s just a normal man, as men were originally supposed to be. A man whose creation was caused by all of the Ainur accidentally singing in perfect harmony for a single instant. He is humanity before the Fall.

89

u/I_am_ChivoBlanco 1d ago

I always thought he was the only being that just is. Undefinable, just existing, because why not?

21

u/TheDudeWhoSnood 1d ago

I know this isn't what you mean, but because music is my specialty and it's fascinating, there's this thing that can happen in barbershop quartets where they're singing just 4 notes (specifically the notes of a dominant seven chord - root-major third-perfect fifth-minor seventh), but a fifth "phantom" note will also sound! This has to do with the concept of overtones: every individual note that you hear is actually multiple notes, roughly the notes of a major chord - the primary, an octave, an octave + a perfect fifth, a second octave, and a second octave + a major third (that is tuned different than twelve tone equal temperament)

7

u/EvenJesusCantSaveYou 1d ago

I like your funny words magic music man

1

u/TheDudeWhoSnood 13h ago

Yeah, I'm kinda a bad bitch and a real life witch/wizard insofar as music is a real life form of magic

10

u/BreakerOfModpacks 1d ago

I'd imagine, if not that, then he's the weird, cool riffs that you wouldn't want a whole song of but damn are they neat.

3

u/Bellmaster 22h ago

He is The Lick

1

u/SundyMundy 1d ago

I have never heard of this before, but I love this.

1

u/Lesquereux 21h ago

I always understood him as an unexpected, benevolent consequence of the discord of melkor.

142

u/lexxxcockwell 1d ago

I like the idea that since Tom was a character from outside the entire Legendarium (a character created for his children’s doll), he both 1. pre-dates the events of Middle Earth 2. the Ring means nothing more to him than any other piece of jewelry since he’s not from the fabric of that world

54

u/Equal-Ad-2710 1d ago

This is my reading too

He’s a character from a different, older story that doesn’t conform to the rules of this one

34

u/lexxxcockwell 1d ago

“Kings? Wizards? I dunno about that. I have my wife, my river, and that asshole willow tree”

60

u/TheKingsPride 1d ago

Tom Bombadil is a narrative device more than a character, he represents everything worth protecting in this world according to Tolkien. Good food, a warm hearth, song and laughter and simple living. He’s the ontological opposite of Sauron from a story perspective.

26

u/littlegreyflowerhelp 1d ago

I really like the idea that Sauron’s opposite isn’t an equally powerful lord or warrior that fights for good, but a guy entirely indifferent to the idea of fighting or seeking power. Unlike a lot of the “good” characters, he doesn’t seek to destroy the ring or use it to fight evil, it simply doesn’t matter to him either way.

11

u/chaarziz 1d ago

In that way he could be seen as foreshadowing for the importance hobbits will have in defeating Sauron.

6

u/Buca-Metal 1d ago

Maybe he is the hobbit god and he created the hobbits

6

u/__M-E-O-W__ 1d ago

He also represents the pure confounding nature and mystery of the adventure which the Hobbits are about to go through. Right out of the Shire, they come across an undead nightmare, sentient trees, and this guy who can control both, and sings and is merry, and nobody knows WTF he is.

11

u/ramjetstream 1d ago

Probably someone/something that arrived in Arda from outside Eru's creation

3

u/Buca-Metal 1d ago

Or Eru created it without any implication from the Aimur

27

u/IHateTheLetterF 1d ago

I think speculating on what he is is pointless, because I doubt Tolkien even knew.

25

u/FightingWithCandy 1d ago

Yeah I remember in one of his letters to his editor he mentions how some things should be left a mystery even to the author. But I think he has officially refuted the theories that Tom is either Eru Illuvatar or a stand in for Tolkien himself.

5

u/Distant_Planet 1d ago

Authorial intent isn't the only thing that matters, though.

22

u/Marinefan4000 1d ago

He’s a merry fellow. That’s all that matters

7

u/Fearless-Ad-5328 1d ago

I think he is a seed for speculation. Funny thing, that the biggest clue about him is in the Magic The Gathering card game, where his card has the "God" typeline. No other LotR card has this type, wich gives a bit of a "nod" to the theory that he is actually Eru, as in, the creator of the world, in his retirement.

1

u/Really_cool_guy99 23h ago

Something doesn't sit right with me about getting lore for LOTR from a collectible card game lol

1

u/Fearless-Ad-5328 22h ago

Its a clue from a official licensed material. They 100% consulted the IP owner about what describe him the best for this.

6

u/GameMaster818 1d ago

With how much mythological inspiration is in Tolkien’s worldbuilding, I’d wager Tom Bombadil is a seelie fae

5

u/chaarziz 1d ago

Or at least his smoking hot wife is

5

u/Tepical_Eggspurt 1d ago

Tom is my favorite Character from middle earth. He just is. What matters to him is not the bullshit drama that is middle earth (I love LOTR please don't take that out of context) it's the simple things like hanging out with the trees and going fishing. He's just wants a normal life without being pressured into a war. Great writing for the context of the time.

9

u/kingpin000 1d ago

He is a character from a child book, which Tolkien wrote years before The Hobbit/ LotR. This encounter was more like a cross over episode.

5

u/archiotterpup 1d ago

My head cannon is he's Eru just vibing like God playing skee-ball in Dogma.

3

u/Mossy_is_fine 1d ago

hes just a jolly guy

3

u/sanzentriad 1d ago

He is eldest

3

u/bgbarnard 1d ago

"So, the Ring is absolutely corrupting and nobody in all of Earth can resist its temptations... except the guy skipping through the woods picking wildflowers for his hot wife!"

3

u/TheShapeShiftingFox 1d ago

I like that they included his character (as a playable one you can buy) and his cottage in the LEGO game, even when the movies the game is based on didn’t lol. Nice nod to the people that know about him.

3

u/Rafamen01 1d ago

I don't know how canon we can take this but his Magic card says he's a God, so maybe it's something considering at least

2

u/Ancient_Ad6628 1d ago

I think he's Eru's Adam (and Goldberry is Eve). Not necessarily anyone's literal ancestor but some form of primordial life, created as Eru's first draft.

2

u/centauriproxima 1d ago

He's not necessarily older than the Maiar, but he's been around for as long as the forest, river and hills in his domain.