Imagine Special - Finding Tom Bombadil

How do you recognise a superbeing? This question haunts Finding Tom Bombadil, a detective documentary about a man on a quest to find his favourite fiction character in the real world. Now, its maker is appealing to the public for help - with a film and presentation about the ongoing, worldwide search for Tolkien”s most mysterious fantasy figure.

Tom Bombadil is a nature-loving, minor character in Lord of the Rings, who mostly sings nonsensical songs. He”s also the only one unaffected by the Ring. In 2015, Joost van de Loo became a holistic detective dedicated to finding Tom Bombadil. He's been searching for years, investigating across five different continents. Joost says: 'Somehow Tom Bombadil always stood out for me. He's so positive and unique; the oldest and maybe most powerful person in the universe, but completely uninterested in power. My project assumes that he actually exists. We're assuming that somewhere, Tom Bombadil is living and walking amongst us.'