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Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!

Ring a dong! hop along! Fal lal the willow!

Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

That may sound like Santa Claus scatting, but it's actually a song sung by one of the most fascinating characters in all of J.R.R. Tolkien's writings. And in this week's episode of Amazon Prime Video's Rings of Power, we got to meet that character - one Tom Bombadil, played by Rory Kinnear. Now, if you're a little confused as to exactly who Bombadil is, well, welcome to the club. Even within the source material, Tom is shockingly enigmatic. But that won't stop us from doing a little bit of explaining in regards to who Tom may be and, at the very least, why he matters so much to the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Beware: Spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2, episode 4 follow

Who is Tom Bombadil in Rings of Power?

We meet Tom Bombadil in Rings of Power in the fourth episode of the second season, which is called "Eldest" (Eldest is, in fact, one of Tolkien's names for old Tom, so he is technically the titular character of this chapter). He shows up after The Stranger is separated from his Harfoort charges Poppy and Nori, rescuing the amnesiac Wizard from a sentient tree he calls "Old Man Iron Wood." After taking The Stranger into his home and speaking with a woman he insists is not there, Bombadil answers some of The Stranger's most pressing questions about himself.

For example, it's Bombadil that teaches The Stranger the truth about a wizard's staff, which we've seen The Stranger try and fail to use in the previous episodes. Bombadil also expounds on the menacing force that's been following The Stranger and his Harfoots, saying that the mysterious "Dark Wizard" played by Ciarán Hinds has sought him out before, on the hunt for mystical power.

Oh, and we should mention: Tom Bombadil is a guy who likes to sing in this show, which, all things considered, is one of the most lore-accurate things about him. And since we're on the subject of lore...

Who is Tom Bombadil in The Fellowship of the Ring?

We first meet Tom Bombadil in Tolkien's legendarium during the events of The Fellowship of the Ring. He lives not far out from The Shire, and as Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin begin their journey to Rivendell, he is one the first people they encounter. The being they meet is as jolly as he is absolutely unexplainable - he puts on the One Ring and feels no effect, he is not terribly troubled by the threat of Sauron, and even though he is not a wizard, Bombadil has a curious power over nature. In fact, Bombadil is able to best an ancient, angry tree-spirit called Old Man Willow (who is curiously similar to the one we meet in this episode), putting it to sleep and stopping it from killing the Hobbits, who have trespassed in its forest.

Living with Tom in the books is a woman called Goldberry, who's probably the person he denies being there in this episode. Goldberry, like Tom, is also a jolly mystery, beautiful and powerful and as in love with song as she is her bushy-bearded husband. We fully expect to meet Goldberry before this season is up, but hey, maybe the show will make her even more of a mystery than the books do. It's a pretty high bar to 

We could go on about Tom and Goldberry for days; indeed, thousands upon thousands of pages have been written speculating who Tom could actually be and what powers he could possess. Theories run the gamut - some believe him to be Eru Ilúvatar, the creator god of Middle-Earth, others believe him to be the literal personification of nature in Tolkien's world. But for our purposes, there's just one question we need answered in order to keep up with Tom Bombadil on Rings of Power...

What does Tom Bombadil have to do with the Barrow-Wights?

Even though the creatures do not meet Bombadil in this episode, we should point out that the ghostly Barrow-Wights encountered by Elrond, Galadriel & Co. here do play an important part in Tom Bombadil's story in Lord of the Rings. Well, sort of - the Barrow-Wights we meet in this show can't be the same ones we meet in the Lord of the Rings books, considering that the Barrow-Wights in the books are specters of citizens of Angmar, a kingdom not even set up yet at the time of Rings of Power.

Either way, we know that in a contest between the fancy dementors and our pal Tom, the Merry Old Fellow takes he win every time. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Tom wards off the Barrow-Wights after they capture The Hobbits and put them in some sort of deathly palor, not only allowing Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin to continue to their journey to Rivendell but, in doing so, rescuing Gandalf's plan to have the One Ring brought to Mordor and destroyed.

Too bad it wasn't Elrond and Galadriel that bumped into Merry Old Tom instead of The Stranger. Arguably, they could have used his help in this episode a lot more.

The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power airs a new episode every Thursday until October 3 on Amazon Prime Video.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you from a Lord of the Rings reading guide, a Lord of the Rings watch guide, details on the upcoming animated film Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, a full the Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch, how the OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat, and the true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.