Adventures with Tom Bombadil

Next up in The Return of the Shadow are some of Tolkien's earliest writings concerning the Hobbit adventures with Tom Bombadil (the Old Forest and Barrow-Wights). As we've seen many of the important meta-themes were present in the very beginning; it's a meter of fleshing out the supporting details. One fun fact: it's during this series of manuscripts that the first appearance of Meriadoc occurs in place of Marmaduke. This now makes the four hobbits: Bingo, Odo, Frodo, and Meriadoc. Here are some other interesting points:

Tom Bombadil first refers to himself as an aborigine: being present before hobbits, elves, and necromancers.

I love Bingo's response when being awoken at Bombadil's house: "'Black riders,' Bingo though. 'Black riders, a host of Black riders...'" (p. 118, The Return of the Shadow). I really enjoy the repetition there; you can tell he's freaking out a little bit. It's not clear in these early writings if Bingo was dreaming or really waked by Black Riders outside his window. It's interesting to see Tolkien's notes that accompanied these writings as he wrestled with the connection between Black Riders and Barrow-Wights; perhaps they were even one and the same?

In a re-writing Bombadil expands more on his aborigine comment. Concluding with: "'He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from outside'" (p. 121, The Return of the Shadow). Christopher Tolkien expounded on the importance of this comment deciding that Tom is referring Morgoth's return to Middle-earth with Ungoliant or it is a reference to a new, yet unwritten, conception of Morgoth's history.

The first notes on the Barrow-wight adventure (and beyond) have some plot points that did not come to fruition: Tom rescues the hobbits much as in the published story, he leads them to an inn and departs, then a fast and adventure-less journey to Rivendell. There was one detour: a stop to see Bilbo's stone trolls, this allows the Black Riders to catch up but the hobbits make it across the ford and when pursued the river rises in torment chasing away the Riders. At Rivendell they meet Bilbo, Gandalf is there (he caused the river to rise), the Wizard is shocked to hear about Bombadil, they take counsel with Elrond, and the Quest for the Fiery Mountain begins.

In this outline the skeleton of the story is present with the end goal first evident. Two major items missing: Strider and Weathertop. Neither has yet made an appearance; nor even a forerunner of these two significant story pieces.