Oldest and Fatherless: The Terrible Secret of Tom Bombadil
I seem to be in the small minority but I always found Tom Bombadil to be one of the most curious characters in the LoTR, it's a pity he's usually edited out in adaptations. And he's no  transient character either, Tolkien later wrote poems about him and he's also mentioned in <i>The Return of the King</i>.<p>I don't quite buy the explanation given in this post, although it was an interesting read. I think Bombadil is beyond good and evil, he just <i>is</i>. From <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1586/who-or-what-was-tom-bombadil" rel="nofollow">http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1586/who-or-what-wa...</a>:<p>"And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."<p>The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No 144, dated 1954