Who's stronger Gandalf or Tom Bombadil?

Tom Bombadil is more powerful than most LOTR gods so probably him

>>726429788
Bullshit

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>>726429586

Tom EZ

>>726429892
not bullshit, he's probably a Maia or Valar.

I've heard several theories about Tom, from he is Eru (god) to he is the human form of Arda (the world). The ring didn't affect him but Gandalf wouldn't touch it. Tom would win of he gave two fucks

tuturu

There's a good fan lore read about Bombadil being evil incarnate. Worth a Google search for your answer.

Debate

Tom, by far.

If they rumbled Gandalf would be in some serious shit... if Tom Bombadil gave enough of a shit about things.

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>>726429788
>>726430263
>>726430215
>>726431159
>>726433022
fags detected
gandalf wins always.

>>726433278
>Movieverse cucklord detected
Gandalf is badass in the books and in most movies, but Bombadil would had wrecked Sauron with a sneeze if he would had wanted.

>>726429586
Def tom bombadil, even the ring had no power over him

>>726431159
Thats what i always suspected, that he was some kind of valar in disguise, visiting his summer home in middle earth. The other option is that he is the spirit of weed incarnate. Either way he is certainly a being of considerable power

>>726433278
They would have had Tom carry the ring if he gave two fucks about it. He is immortal being of unknown origin on par or more powerful than the beings who sent the wizards to middle earth in the first place. The only thing that could spare Gandalf in a fight against Tom is that Tom might just not care about the fight.

>>726434231
But tom would lose the ring in his sock drawer, or give it to a barrow wight as a housewarming gift.

>>726433655
>>726434231
>impying gandalf couldnt fly above bombadil with eagles and wait for him to starve
git gud

>>726434452
Exactly. He is kind of a fucking ridiculous character. There is this massive conflict happening in middle earth, and there is just one guy who is powerful enough to end it if he wanted, but he gives so little fucks he would forget what he was doing and go have lunch.

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>>726429586

Ron Swanson

>>726434488
Bombadil would be smoking so much weed the eagels would get so high they land, so would gandalf and then they would all go down to the prancing pony for a jug of mead.

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>>726434744
sheeeeyit i cant argue w that

>>726434488
Tom would go join Gandalf on the back of a flying squirrel and invite him to tea.

>>726434644
Check that.

Also truth.

That fucker is the main reason why I love nihilism.

>>726429788
Tom stronger than Gandolf, yes, but they are both from the same order of gods. There are far more powerful gods in middle earth

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>>726434644
>>726434744
>>726434844
>>726434877
Holy fucking mother of gets!

This might be Kek and Bombadil's doing.

>>726429586
pikachu

>>726434744
Bruh I wanna smoke a blunt with Tom Bombadil

Tom Bombadil will never leave his forest so Gandalf will win by default.

>>726429586
isnt tom bombadil even stronger then sauron?
I thought he could like piss on sauron or anything and he would die

>>726430263
This.

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>>726434488
>>726434644
>>726434711
>>726434744
>>726434844
>>726434877

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>>726439749

can someone explain this to me? Is this tom bombadil thing a meme or is he seriously that powerful?

>>726440134
read the book dipshit

>>726440134
he's the most powerful being in the mythos besides the creator, Iluvatar

>>726440297
* and Gandalf

>>726440388
Gandalf is not on the same level as Eru Iluvatar, he's only a Maiar, even the Valar outrank him

>>726440134
dude you're missing so much by not reading the book, it's worth it

>>726440388
Dude stop trolling
Gandalf is on the same level as the balrog

>>726433278
Not knowing shit about LOTR
you are shit kys
this is serious business and NOT FUN

>>726441137
and the Balrog is only a Maiar... read the books or the Silmarillion before u shitpost

>>726441203
Elves have killed balrogs

>>726441340
i know, i realized im yelling at u for no reason, i thought u were claiming gandalf is on par with Iluvatar, sorry anon

>>726441203
That's what I said? Read what I replied to

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>>726441203
like that fag actually has the reading comprehension to understand the silmarillion, top kek

>>726441606
i know, thats why i apologized, i thought you replying to >>726440715

I always thought tom was like an ocean in terms of power. Men can run around and do all these things and the ocean is just there but there is no way to move it or change it and if you go out to sea you are completely at its mercy.

other than iluvatar no one carries more power than tom. he also does not give a shit about anything on middle earth but that fucking hat.

>>726434452
>>>726434231
>But tom would lose the ring in his sock drawer, or give it to a barrow wight as a housewarming gift.
If Tom lost it, then it would truly be gone. It won't remove the power of the ring (where ever it is) so Sauron would stay in power but no one will be able to see it.


He also saved dumb ass frodo from wraiths without effort. He just shows up.

Tom Bombadil is the avatar of Ilúvatar

>>726435084
Tom's origins are unknown, son

>>726441973
Perfect analogy

Tom is powerful as shit but I'm pretty sure he's only powerful within his domain. I'm pretty sure he admits himself that if he left the forest he wouldn't be much help

Tom is OP (overpowered, not faggot OP), but seemingly only in his own domain, if he even CAN leave it.

So anywhere else, Gandalf would win, surely.

>>726443643
Also Tom is not the most powerful being in LOTR lore like some people are saying. The gods that control the universe, including Melkor, sing to create existence (and Melkor sings to disrupt it)

A lot of Tom's powerful comes from singing too. BUT his songs don't manipulate the universe, they just influence the creatures of middle earth to do his bidding

Obviously he has more tricks up his sleeve than singing but he's still far from as powerful as a lot of characters in LOTR

Dumb fags getting on the "Tom is all powerful" hype train without reading the books

>>726429788
>>726431159
>>726432054
>>726433655
>>726434231
>>726435084
>>726438131
>>726440297
>>726441973
>>726442096
>>726442770
Citations required on about 95% of this

All Tom does in the book is sing songs, dick around with the ring, and eat a shit load of food, and they don't explain ANYTHING about how powerful he is or who/what he is or anything, so all of these are just headcanon and fan theories

Tom played with the ring and even put it on. Nothing happened and he could see Frodo when Frodo was wearing the ring. An artifact by arguably one of the more powerful maiar. I think Tom is much more powerful but would ultimately not use his power.

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Storythyme

>be me 20 years ago
>sitting in stinky woods with gayass freind
>eating berrys like nothing is happening
>two little people stumble uppon ourcampfire
>wtfisthisshit.jpg
>they be chased and in a hurry
>leave without excuse or shit
>back to berry when suddenly another fagwit seps in
>has long ass beard blue jacket
>quite friedly
>holy fucking shit his kush hits!
>tell him story of faggot little people
>"lol ima make it hard for them"
>calls his nigga on a nigga horse
>tell him where they at
> blaze all nite and enjoy badil kush
>he falls asleep and hear him mumble "check´em"

>>726444312
Well, they do explain that Tom Bombadil is rumoured to be older than the land itself, or was it him that said that about himself? And then when he saves them from those Wights? Someone would probably have to be extremely powerful to do what he did.

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>>726429586
Tom and his wife Goldberry are literally
uncorruptable by the ruinous powers including
the ring. But they preach the whole "It's not
our business to interfere with mortals" shtick.

Tom would win in an instant.

>>726445943
He says that himself. He also talks about how he forgets things a lot

I'm not saying he's lying but he definitely has the right personality to kind of stretch the truth

And the wights thing wasn't that big of a deal. Obviously the gang couldn't beat them because they're a bunch of dumbass midgets with no fighting experience, but many other people could've beat them

>>726446237
>Tom and his wife Goldberry are literally
uncorruptable by the ruinous powers including
the ring
Citation needed

He put on the ring for like one second and he didn't go invisible. The ring sends you to the shadow realm, which is why you become invisible. It's more likely that Tom is locked to the forest and simply can't leave, meaning he couldn't go to the shadow realm and couldn't go invisible.

He probably was able to "see" Frodo because he could smell him, or because Frodo didn't move so he just looked at where he was last at.

From what's given in the book, these are much more likely scenarios than Tom is God or whatever you dongs are spewing

Tom is not maiar or valar. since he says something like "i was here before the dark lord came from the ouside". meaning he was there before melkor came with the other valar. and he is not eru, because Tolkien denied it in one of his letters.

>>726441169
Kek

>>726447783
He's chaos incarnate.

>>726447783
do you need to read the silmarillion or some shit to grasp any of this? I tried once when I was like 14, having read the hobbit and lotr earlier in my childhood, and just couldn't get into it

>>726448511
I'm pretty sure Tom only pops up in the fellowship

>>726448426
I think he is something like that. maybe the "music" embodiment, since all he does is sing and all his power seems to come from singing. but not maiar, valar, elf,...Tolkien obviously knew coz I don't think he was able to make up a character without making up a backstory. But this is what he wanted - nerds scratching their heads

Tom Bombadil is a fucking abomination, and Tolkien must have been fucking high, when he thought it was a good idea to include him in the book.

>>726432054
Tolkien never said what Tom Bombadil is, but he said explicitly he isn't Eru.

I obviously need to look into Tom more. I was gonna say Gandalf.

>>726439933
Checked

>>726429586
Tom is an abration. He is essentially a god. The book states "He was here before everything, he was here before the trees." Something like that.

>>726448980
Within the book he's fine. Just a random forest spirit sorta figure.

It was only after LOTR that they expanded on him and made him some OC do not steal tier bullshit.

>>726450061

Please tell me, which purpose he serves in the story? The entire passage from them leaving home, until they reach Brie is the worst part of the books - the level of the story in this passage is on par with childrens books.

>>726429586

Tom held the ring and handed it back.

Gandalf chucked a hissy when bilbo tried to hand it to him.

/thread.

>>726429586
Tom, I'm fairly certain this is not in question. The ring has no effect on him.

>>726449430
He's old but he's the only one to account for himself while the other wizards don't really know much about him.

I'd say he was the first wizard and I would say he has more capabilities than gandalf but I don't know if he has real strength. Gandalf wears a ring of power thus giving him the ability to cast fire, while tom on the other hand probably doesn't have strength in terms of damage but more so defense and constitution. Maybe he doesn't involve himself with wars because he doesn't know how to fight and or would rather not hurt others instead of smoking weed all day.

>>726446287
I think you're forgetting that Tom teleported into the wights barrow by singing. He also convinced a tree to not kill Pippin (or Merry) and Elrond admitted that he is a legit option for dealing with the ring. Going far as to say that he was so powerful that he wouldnt be affected in any way by the ring and would be so unimpressed by it that he would forget it existed even if it was in his possesion.

>>726444312
go read the unpublished books fag, he gets more info in there

>>726443757
I've heard said that he is a personification of Arda

>>726450458
Absolutely none, but hes not some retarded god in it.

>>726442096
Cares for his waifu.

>>726429586
No one knows but Tom and Gandalf. It's a secret they have. They have a private sparring match each decade to determine which one is stronger

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>>726429586
Who is stronger?

Tom Bombadil or Melchizedek king of Salem?

>>726444312
Read the book you fucking nigger.
He is impervious to the one ring itself.

No one in Middle Earth is besides him.
If that give no inkling to his power than I don't know what to tell you.

>>726432632
http://km-515.livejournal.com/1042.html

>>726452902
Lol this. Pretty sure only others impervious to it are Valar and they are on demi-god level, next to the true god. Tom's power is insane. I do wonder though who created him. Was he some kind of anomaly created by the song of the valar? Is he basically an avatar of middle earth/nature It'd be my guess.

>>726452902
And Frodo had a higher resistance to it than Gandalf, does this make Frodo more poweful?

>>726452846
Melchizedek, he can see into the future.

>>726452699
Gandalf would tell people if he won, but Tom is stuck in shit forest.

Is everyone just forgetting that he has his own book, "the adventures of tom bombadil"? Also, Bombadil was tolkeins kids doll, and he made a bunch of storys of him for his kids. I'm guessing he added him for sentimental reasons, or as a little wink to his kids, which explains why that section of the book is a bit more akin to a childrens story.

Tom Bombadil first appeared in a separate story where he embodied, for
Tolkien, the spirit of countryside vanishing from England, but he found his
way into The Lord of the Rings. It is interesting to follow Tolkien’s musings
about this. “He is just an invention,” he writes, “but: he represents
something important, though I would not be prepared to analyze the feeling
precisely. I would not, however, have left him in if he did not have
some kind of function. I might put it this way. The story is cast in terms of
a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny
against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that
has long lost any object except power, and so on; but both sides want a
measure of control, but if you have, as it were taken a ‘vow of poverty’,
renounced control, and take your delight in things themselves without reference
to yourself, watching, observing, and to some extent knowing, then
the question of the rights and wrongs of power and control might become
News and Comments
251
utterly meaningless to you, and the means of power quite valueless. It is a
natural pacifist view, which always arises in the mind when there is a war.
But the view of Rivendell seems to be that it is an excellent thing to have
represented, but there are in fact things with which it cannot cope; and
upon which its existence nonetheless depends. Ultimately only the victory
of the West will allow Bombadil to continue, or even to survive. Nothing
would be left to him in the world of Sauron.”

page 251 of the chesterton review by tolkein

>>726452902
>>726453637
Tolkien said that the more powerful you are, the more temptation you feel to take the ring for yourself i.e. the more power it has over you. valar excluded. gandalf knew this, that is why he feared the ring, so did galadriel. that is why Tom is >>726448903, something different from all other beings

>>726453637
No, Hobbits are just harder to tempt, because they aren't very ambitious. Gandalf achieve god-like powers with the ring, which is why the ring can tempt him more.

>>726455239
So why does Tom being immune to the ring automatically make him more "powerful" To me it simply makes him different and completely lacking in the desire for power.

>>726429586
Tom Bombadil.

The one ring doesn't even effect him.He literally tells Frodo he would end up losing it out of disinterest.

Gandalf would end up being corrupted by it.

Therefore,Bombadil is beyond his level.

>>726450458
Tom like the mountain are there to show that there are powers in middle earth not realted to or effected by the ring. The existance of such powers shows the world to be more than a set for the story.

>>726431159
Hes above the levels of Mair and Vair. The one ring can't effect him.

>>726441340
Elves were the first race.They are all part Mair,as their lineage comes directly from them. Hence their affinity for magic.

>>726441661
to be fair, that damn book is soooo fucking slow, at least early in. Still worth a read, I still do bout every 3-4 years. Oh , and Tom hands down, if you could get him to quit fucking his woman and eating lunch

>>726456311
Weren't the dwarves the first? I remember them being something of a prototype before all other races existed.

>>726456399
Dwarves were created a lesser God than the one that made elves and humans. The head god saw that dwarves were not wholly evil, so he let them stick around. Atleast that's I how I remember it

>>726456311
no. elves have no relation to Maiar whatsoever
>>726456399
as I understand it both men and elves were created with arda, it was just a question who "wakes up" first. in that case dwarves were created last (by aule) and gained consciousness first, than put to sleep again and woken up after elves

>>726456399
technically yes, but they were kept underground, basically asleep until after the elves were sung into creation.

>>726455137
The whole book is basically Tolkien hating on the whole Industrial Revolution thing

Tom is basically an embodiment of his wish for an undying spirit of Englands rural countryside

So I'd say he's immune to everything, but not very powerful otherwise

>>726455137
this says everything i wanted to say.
basically tom is the essence of neutrality and has no craving for power what so ever..

>>726429586
HOLY SHIT you guys are still arguing about this?

This is one of the best threads I've seen on /b/ for quite some time. Not because something special happened in here, but just because it's a random topic and there's a bunch of people in here discussing it.
This is what /b/ is supposed to be about, instead of just an endless sludge of porn threads.

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>>726429586
Gandalf.

Tom's power, which is god like, only extends to his forest. Gandalf isn't restricted by a geographical region, he just kicks ass wherever he is.

>Tom's super powerful guys
>what? no he didn't actually do anything
>you want a source? nah read the books you'll see

>>726455137
>tyranny against kingship
lol britbongs

>>726429586
Tom is a mystery. He most likely is some spirit that came down to the middle just like Ungoliant. Gandalf says he is the first and that he owns the land itself and has power over it, but he is not all powerful. In the council of Elrond, Gandalf said that Tom will eventually fall to the power of Sauron and he will be the last as he was the first should they lose the war. You should remember there are all kinds of power in the middle earth.

>>726456712
>, it was just a question who "wakes up" first. in that case dwarves were created last (by aule) and gained consciousness first, than put to sleep again and woken up after elves
wut. Why does this sound so convulated? Why did elves put them to sleep? Were orcs/goblins the last race?

>>726457795
Yes anon this happens when 76 people are contributing to a random discussion

>>726432597
Mayoshi desu

Don't talk shit about Tom "Motherfucking" BAMFadil. The reason he's singing all the time is to suppress his inner rage. Even the big ol' Illuvatard himself wouldn't want to piss off Tom for fear of getting his ass raped again and again.