I tend to disagree with the statement of Tom Bombadil. Sure, he could have gone ahead and added his talents and magicks to those of Gandalf. However, to say that he didn't care nor didn't assist would be false as well. Without Tom, the Hobbits would not have gotten much further than the barrows. He would have been an insane asset though - the combat and spells that could have been added --- but as was mentioned somewhere above, Tom could have been diverting attention in his own way. That much power can't go unnoticed - even a little distraction may have been all the Fellowship needed to sneak by here or there.
Not saying that other characters in the story didn't give a rat's butt about the goings-on of the other races, but I still can't see an Ishtari shrugging his shoulders towards a non-Shadow individual or people. But, that's me and how I read the book - which is normally concidered vastly different than how most read the book.
When it's not combat, it's magic - when it's neither, it's fast-forward to more spell flinging & sword dancing. Still trying to figure out where that romance BS between Arwyn & Aragorn occurred (yes, I'm joking).
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://ghlbeyerlein.tripod.com"> My web site</a>
<li> <a href="http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/358/grutos_metallipage.html">My MetalliStation</a>
<li><a href="http://www.grid.org/projects/cancer/"> United Device's distributive computing Cancer Research Project</a>
<li><a href="http://www.firstgov.gov">FirstGov.gov</a>
<li><a href="http://www.tsa.gov/public/index.jsp">TSA.gov</a>
<li><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/">Homeland Security</a>