Robert Foster, author of an early guide to Middle-earth, suggested in 1978 that Bombadil is one of the Maiar, angelic beings sent from Valinor. The Tolkien scholar and philosopher Gene Hargrove argued in Mythlore in 1986 that Tolkien understood who Bombadil is, but purposefully made him enigmatic. Hargrove suggested that Tolkien left clues that Bombadil is one of the Valar, a god of Middle-Earth, specifically Aulë, the archangelic demigod who created the dwarves.
Robert Foster, author of an early guide to Middle-earth, suggested in 1978 that Bombadil is one of the Maiar, angelic beings sent from Valinor. The Tolkien scholar and philosopher Gene Hargrove argued in Mythlore in 1986 that Tolkien understood who Bombadil is, but purposefully made him .enigmatic Hargrove suggested that Tolkien left clues that Bombadil is one of the Valar, a god of Middle-Earth, specifically Aulë, the archangelic demigod who created the dwarves.