[Overtaxed]

So...what's your "Who is Tom Bombadil" theory? Like him? Hate him? Wish he'd shut up with the silly songs? :)

[The Drowning Witch]

He's one of my favorite characters in the book. He's like a pan-dimensional being who just "is"....None of the currents of Middle Earth concern him;
He is the proverbial "uncarved block", "the stone in the stream o'er which the water flows".

[DonnerT]

I think Bombadil is a dirty old man.

He is a totally self absorbed relic of an ancient age. Goldberry, his River-daugher, is an old man's fantasy brought to substance and animation. He has everything the way he wants it and only takes interest in the Hobbits as an amusing curiousity. The Old Forest herded the company to Old Man Willow at his direction so that he could conveniently meet the one who would bring an end to his age.