Tom Bombadil is not the Witch King of Angmar and there was no secret meeting

Contents

It did not happen!!!!

Theories
Facts and truth
References

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1. ChatGPT junk fiction

In September 2025 the present writer was notified by a friend of a YouTube channel Stories of the Ring video which suggested that Tom Bombadil at one stage had a meeting with the Witch King of Angmar. Initial excitement at the thought of discovering unknown events related to a beloved character quickly turned to disappointment when it was realised that there was nothing new here, and actually nothing real.

Upon further investigation it was revealed that the channel had some 20+ "what if?" videos - uploaded between November 2024 and June 2025 - in which Bombadil met Middle-earth characters ranging from Sauron to Gimli and Legolas. Of course no such meetings ever took place and the videos were merely the production of ChatGPT and AI type programs, written by no person but compiled by a computer program that had been asked the question: "What if?" As such, they are largely worthless. Yes, they were logical and reasonable, but they were pure fiction, and not the fiction of the great English writer J.R.R. Tolkien. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile doing a deep dive into one or more of these videos to understand how they are compiled and what the future might hold in regard to such fiction based on great works, and also the deceptive nature of their presentation.

Tom Bombadil's secret meeting with the Witch King, Stories of the Ring, 18 April 2025, YouTube, duration: 25.15 minutes.

In the Bombadil : Witch King video it was suggested an agreement was reached that the latter would not trespass on the former's lands. As a result, within the early chapters of The Lord of the Rings, when Frodo and his friends cross into .... they are not subject to attack by the Wraiths under the command of the Witch King, and the Ring of Power is kept safe for a period. This theory of a meeting is not based on any first-hand, direct facts. It is merely based on theoretical assumptions and second-hand guessing by Tolkien fans. In fact, the theory can be traced back to 3 May 1996 and an even wilder proposition that Tom Bombadil and the King of Angmar were one in the same. This "crackpot" theory is presented below:

......At last, the mystery of Tom Bombadil's identity has been solved. Ready?

Tom Bombadil and the Witch-king of Angmar are the same person.

1. We never hear of Tom at all during the whole of the First Age. The Nine Rings aren't forged until the Second Age. QED.

2. You never see the two of them together.

3. In the first part of Fellowship of the Ring, the Nazgul are sent to the Shire to look for the wandering Baggins. Interestingly, Tom says to Frodo at the dinner-table: "...I was waiting for you. We heard news of you, and learned that you were wandering... But Tom had an errand there, that he dared not hinder" (Fellowship p.137 hardback, emphasis mine: note the fear Tom has of his master, Sauron!).

4. In Tom's questioning of the Hobbits, JRRT notes that "there was a glint in his eyes when he heard of the Riders." (Fellowship p. 144) I think he was concerned that his double-life might have been noticed. Interestingly, Tom immediately changes the subject of conversation! Furthermore, the One Ring had no effect on Tom - which seems consistent with Tolkien's observations about how the Nazgul would have handled the same priceless object (Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, #246): "They were... in no way deceived as to the real lordship of the Ring."

5. It's also interesting to note that Tom could see Frodo clearly while Frodo was wearing the Ring (Fellowship p. 144 hardback) - just as the Witch-king could see Frodo clearly while he was wearing the Ring at Weathertop! (Fellowship p. 208 hardback).

6. Perhaps most damning, however, is the incident with the Barrow-wights (Fellowship pp. 151-155), where Tom - with nothing more than a few simple words (p. 154) - commands the Barrow-wight to leave. And it does, without argument. Why would the Wight be so completely under Tom's control? Because in his alternate guise as the Witch-king of Angmar, Tom ordered the Wight to inhabit the barrow in the first place! Turning to Return of the King, Appendix A, p. 321, "evil spirits out of Angmar... entered into the deserted mounds and dwelt there." Obviously the Witch-king was reponsible for sending the wights there; just as obviously, the Witch-king (disguised as Tom) would be capable of ordering them to leave! (This is related to another passage, which has since been brought to my attention. On Fellowship page 158 hardback, Tom is guiding the Hobbits back towards the Road when he gazes towards the borders of Cardolan. "Tom said that it had once been the boundary of a kingdom, but a very long time ago. He seemed to remember something sad about it, and would not say much." Since Tom, as the Witch-king, was the one who destroyed the kingdom of Cardolan, it's little wonder that he wouldn't say much about his involvement. Perhaps his remembering "something sad" reveals some remorse at being the instrument of Cardolan's destruction...?) ...Yep: I think we have an airtight case here. :) ...It's worth noting that, after the Witch-king was dead, Gandalf said he was "going to have a long talk with Bombadil" (Return of the King, p. 275). Curiously, he never tells anyone about the meeting later... and he's right there at the Grey Havens at the end of the book, undelayed it seems by long conversation. I think we can therefore theorize that Gandalf made it to the Old Forest, but that Tom (once the so-called "Witch-king" had died) was nowhere to be found! ...Of course, all this brings up the curiosity of motive. What would make the Witch-King of Angmar sport such a double identity? I suppose that the Witch-king, once of proud Numenorean ancestry, felt trapped by the guise of evil which Sauron had tricked him into, and in the fullness of time forged this alternate identity for himself so that he could occasionally feel happy, helpful, noble, and more at one with himself and his lineage. The situation is perhaps analagous to a crossdresser who, feeling trapped in a man's body, would occasionally assume the identity of a woman. It therefore makes sense that the Witch-king's other identity would be so peculiarly enigmatic, and perhaps sheds light on JRRT's observation in Letters #144: "And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)." ...Who else would be aware of Tom's double-life, I wonder? Since Tom repeatedly claims to have been around "before the river and the trees", and indeed even claims to be older than the Ents (Fellowship p. 142), surely the eldest of the Elves would know he was lying. Elrond plays along with Tom in public, being kind enough not to reveal his secret, but also seems to know that Tom and the Witch-king are one and the same; hence his refusal to give the Ring to Tom for safekeeping (Fellowship p. 278-9): "Power to defy the Enemy is not in him."

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2. Facts and truth

In the introduction to the aforementioned video, the anonymous author presents the following deceptive text:

What really happened between Tom Bombadil and the Witch-king of Angmar? In this deep dive into The Lord of the Rings lore, we explore the hidden history behind one of Middle-earth’s most mysterious and powerful characters — Tom Bombadil — and his secret encounter with the Lord of the Nazgûl. Drawing from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-earth, this video uncovers possible connections, ancient oaths, and untold moments between these two legendary figures. Could Tom have revealed the Witch-king’s ultimate weakness? Was there a forgotten truce, an unfinished song, or a battle of immortal wills hidden between the lines of Tolkien’s texts? This lore breakdown goes far beyond the surface, weaving together canonical references, fan theories, and rare details from Tolkien’s letters and extended mythology. Whether you're a lifelong Tolkien fan, a Rings of Power viewer, or just curious about the untapped depths of Middle-earth, this story will change how you see both Bombadil and the Nazgûl forever.

Nothing happened between Tom Bombadil and the Witch King of Angmar; there is no hidden history between the two within any of Tolkien's published texts, no ancient oaths, no forgotten truce or battle of immortal wills. The fact is there are no references to Tom Bombadil outside of those mentioned within The Lord of the Rings and other specific Tom Bombadil texts dating back to the 1930s. What is woven together by ChapGPT in the following 33 what if videos is the product of a computer algorithm.

For fans of the Tom Bombadil character these videos are both intriguing and objectionable. To propose that Tom feared everyone from Gandalf through to Morgoth and the Witch King of Angmar is beyond the pale. Tom Bombadil was undoubtedly the most powerful entity on Middle-earth. He feared nobody. Equivalent to Eru, he could create, restore life, travel through space and time, and as a semi-spirit being - as also was Goldberry - was impervious to the 'slings and arrows' of Tolkien's legendarium characters. To fail to understand this is to cast Bombadil in amongst the ordinary people and creatures of Middle-earth, as the What-if videos have done, and as the AI algorithm has based its fictional accounts upon.

To produce a collection of "what if" scenarios and present them as fact - which is what is taking place at first glance - is deceptive and serves no real purpose. Tom Bombadil is enigmatic because Tolkien planned it that way. The present author has compiled all known references to Bombadil in that author's oeuvre and presented that elsewhere in book, article and blog form. Reference should be made to those works to better understand the character and what Tolkien actually said about him. These what ifs are a distraction, and only tend to further confuse the character.

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3. References

lordsnarf, Tom Bombadil is the Witch King? Crackpot theory, Reddit, 2014.

The secret meetings between Tom Bombadil and Sauron the Necromancer in Dol Guldur, Stories of the Ring, 4 May 2025, YouTube, duration: 26.39 minutes.

Tom Bombadil is the Witch King of Angmar, rec.arc.books.tolkien, 3 May 1996.

Tom Bombadil secret meeting between Sauron and the Witch King, Stories of the Ring, 28 April 2025, YouTube, duration: 24.55 minutes.

Tom Bombadil's secret meeting with the Witch King, Stories of the Ring, 18 April 2025, YouTube, duration: 25.15 minutes.

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Last updated: 21 September 2025

Michael Organ, Australia

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Tom Bombadil is not the Witch King of Angmar and there was no secret meeting

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