You find out about tom bombadil and the lack of the power the ring has in like, the first 1/6th of the fellowship of the ring lol. They stay with tom bombadill before they even hit Bree. And to find out his backstory you kind of have to take in the majority of Tolkiens works on middle earth. Including most of the companion literature as well.
Tom bombadil has his own entire book of peoms by Tolkien a lot of people dont even know exists
Spoil da earf
Youll know all there is thats knowable, and important about tom bombadill right off the get go in the fellowship.
I genuinely apologize for the spoilers, but i havent met anyone else in quite a lot of years, who has actually sat down to absorb that world in literary form. There is no actual important plot lines spoiled by my post though. These arent actually spoilers though either, honestly...
Honestly, i went into nearly as much detail as you ever get about tom bombadil. And you can get that detail and more from the companions youre supposed to read before the main literature. The ones no one ever reads anyway lol. The vast majority of readers
never even notice he's the single most powerful being in all of middle earth, and even makes gandalf and sauron seem like children.
This info will actually probably help you wrap your head around the tom bombadil thing in LoTr. Most people gloss right over him like hes a side charachter.
Even the writers of the movies, and Peter Jackson himself never noticed how important tom bombadil is to the entire story from illuvitar all the way to the one ring lol.
Theres even a fellowship companion book you should read before starting the fellowship, and it also makes it more clear who/what Tom Bombadil really is. And gives even more infor then i did here.