Eleven years ago shortly after the theatrical version of The Fellowship of the Ring was released (holy fuck, has it been that long?), I decided to finally sit down and read the books. I actually had bought them in the mid-90s after a friend breathlessly recommended them but never opened them; I didn't even know what they were about until the movie came out. I was immediately disappointed and never got farther than Frodo reaching Rivendell before I couldn't take it anymore and put it down.

A few days ago I decided to try again, figuring I'm more mature now and have read a shit ton of dryer material without giving up. And... yeah. I can do this. It's better than I remembered although I still prefer the movies. It's slower, that's probably why I couldn't handle it. Like, think about how the movie portrayed it: How long do you think it was between Bilbo's birthday party and Gandalf's return to warn Frodo about the realities of the Ring? The impression I got from the movie was a few months, maybe a year max. It's seventeen years in the book when Frodo turns fifty. And how long do you think it took for Frodo to leave after he got this news? In the movie he left that night with the Black Riders on his trail immediately. In the book it's several months as he plans for his trip: selling Bag End, buying a new house to explain his sudden disappearance, getting rid of all of his belongings. There's other instances like Arwen didn't save Frodo from the Riders and it actually took fourteen days after he got stabbed to reach Rivendell. I could go on.

There's one omission that fascinates me now. Tom fucking Bombadil. Holy shit. I vaguely remembered him from my first venture in 2002 as a singing fool, which he is. But oh my god, what the fuck. Okay, the movies completely ignore him. If you can recall, Frodo is being chased by the Black Riders at night, but he jumps on a boat and manages to thwart them. The next scene all four Hobbits are arriving at the gates of Bree and head to the inn where they meet Strider. In the book there's like three chapters in between. Because Frodo planned for his departure, he has time to think about his plan of action when he realizes these crazy fuckers in black cloaks are after him. He decides to cut through the Old Forest to get to Bree because staying on the road is dangerous. Instead they get attacked by the trees and are nearly killed by horrible monsters called "barrow wights" before they making their way through. But most importantly, they meet Tom Bombadil, who is the master of these woods.

This guy just blew my mind. He doesn't give a shit about anything. If you think about a jolly guy who's completely at peace with himself and the world, that's him. He's just walking around, singing, and having a good time even when there's fucking horrible monsters running around. He's also married to a woman who's the "daughter of the river," whatever that means. But I knew there was some crazy shit about him when Frodo gave him the Ring for a moment and he put it on. First off, he didn't disappear. Secondly, it didn't affect him whatsoever. No temptation, nothing. It had no power over him.

Then we find out later he's probably the oldest person in Middle Earth and may possibly be a god. He made the boundaries of the Old Forest his home, and whilst inside there he pretty much can do whatever the fuck he wants. In fact, he's so powerful that in the Council of Elrond where they decide to take the Ring to Mordor (if you can recall it's the scene where we're introduced to Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir), that Elrond initially suggests just giving it to Bombadil because he's capable of protecting it. Gandalf shoots that idea down because Bombadil would just kinda forget about how important this is because he's indifferent to the outside world.

What amazes about this guy is he fucking didn't do anything for the story! He was cut from the movies and they didn't suffer for it! The oldest and one of the most powerful people in Middle Earth was completely removed and it made no impact! What the hell is he? Why is he there? It's the fucking craziest thing I've read in this damned book. Why did Tolkien make this incredible person who does absolutely nothing?