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 The Return of the King.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 is. From http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1586/who-or-what-wa...:"And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No 144, dated 1954