Where: Book 1 Chapter 7 — In the House of Tom Bombadil

Summary: After getting Sam out of the willow, the four stay at the house of a Tom Bombadil, a strange fellow who lives in the woods that the four got stuck in in the first place. This is where we are also introduced to his Elven wife, Goldberry, who proclaims herself to be the daughter of the River. She is the one they heard singing, and she sings for them again when they first meet.

Both Tom and Goldberry are very welcoming and hospitable throughout the four hobbits' stay with them, but both the reader and Frodo (later on) start to realize just how odd the Old Forest is, as well as Tom himself. Tom knows a lot about the old forest that he inhabits, and not only that, but he seems to have some say over how nature is here. He tells tales of the forest long before humans and hobbits walked the world, back when the Elves were among the first to roam Middle Earth, as well as the wrath of the trees. Goldberry, when inquired by Frodo about who Tom actually was, only refers to him as the Master, and seems to leave it at that. Tom himself appears very dodgy when asked about how he knows the Willow, warning Frodo that some things were "ill to hear when the world's in shadow". Tom also seems to hold some sway over even time itself, as Frodo notices that he doesn't exactly know how long the four have stayed with Tom after he finishes telling them some of these tales, and doesn't feel really tired or hungry after the fact either. During their first night there, Frodo, Pippin, and Merry receive odd dreams about Dark Riders, the willow, and strange pools of water.

But what eventually sends Frodo over the edge into wariness is when Tom asks to inspect the Ring that Bilbo entrusted to him and plays with it as if it wasn't an ancient cursed object, even hiding it from view as if he was making a coin disappear as a magic trick. And not only that, he even sees Frodo through his invisibility when the hobbit tries to sneak away from them.

The chapter ends with Tom preparing the hobbits for the journey ahead of them when their stay starts nearing its end.

Thoughts: welcome to the first ever book log! for future logs, i'd just like to say that even if i was the most annoying kid in my english class during my senior year of high school, i am by no means an expert on literature or anything like that, so don't expect a serious literary analysis anytime soon. this is a mixture of a diary as well as as a book log to help myself actually remember what happened and what my thoughts were at the time of reading it. that being said, i do welcome anyone to say something if i did miss anything. i would just like to politely request that we keep things civil esp if the book contains sensitive topics. and i am generally open to discussion, but sometimes i might not be, whether it be because of my headspace at the time or because of the contents of the book, or both, or some other reason. also that spoiler warning is always gonna be there at the start of every book log lol—oh, and DON'T SPOIL ANYTHING IN THE COMMENTS PLEASE THANK YOU.

ok so now onto the discussion around the chapter and some background behind how i went about reading it. i had picked the book up earlier this year but had to drop it since this year was my final year at college and i had to get ready to graduate. so that's why i haven't picked it up for so long, but it wasn't so long that i forgot everything completely. but i'm still missing some details so if the summary seems to be missing a lot of stuff from anything established in earlier chapters, that's why. i also read this as i was getting ready for bed so there's another reason. i might go in and edit it later.

anyway, i really like tolkien's prose, as well as the fact that the oddity surrounding tom and his residence wasn't completely rubbed in my face. it gradually became more apparent the longer the four stayed there, and it all seemed to climax when frodo straight up asks tom himself about who or what he was toward the end of the chapter. i don't have a whole lot to say about this chapter other than that, but i think i'll spend some time catching up on previous chapters via online sources to try to see if there's any details i missed in this chapter and to help keep things in mind as i continue to read this book.

edit 1: spacehey why wont u let me make the spoiler warning have a funky 00s wizard blasting gif :(

edit 2: I FORGOT TO ADD but as a dnd player and hearing about just how much tolkien's influenced dungeons and dragons, i could totally see how it did! in particular, the way the dreams were played out for each hobbit (except sam) totally sounds like a scenario i'd run into during a session where the dm might have some dreams pre-planned or if we had to roll to see how intense it was. also tom seeing frodo through his invisibility totally reminds me of the spell/ability true sight.