Den lilla informationen vi har om Tom Bombadil föreslår att nej, han var opåverkad av den beroendeframkallande aspekten av ringen. Gandalf, som är vanligtvis rätt på saker, föreslår att Bombadil är immun mot dess effekt:

[I]f he were given the Ring, he would soon forget it, or most likely throw it away. Such things have no hold on his mind. He would be a most unsafe guardian; and that alone is answer enough.

Fellowship of the Ring Book II Chapter 2: "The Council of Elrond"

Men om du föredrar, säger Tolkien själv att Bombadil inte påverkas av Ring i brev 153 (betonar min):

T.B. exhibits another point in his attitude to the Ring, and its failure to affect him. You must concentrate on some part, probably relatively small, of the World (Universe), whether to tell a tale, however long, or to learn anything however fundamental – and therefore much will from that 'point of view' be left out, distorted on the circumference, or seem a discordant oddity. The power of the Ring over all concerned, even the Wizards or Emissaries, is not a delusion – but it is not the whole picture, even of the then state and content of that part of the Universe.

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 153: To Peter Hastings (Draft). September 1954

Även om det kan hävdas att Tolkien hänvisar till Bombadil inte blir osynlig, förklarar det faktum att han omedelbart diskuterar Rings sanna dominans över andra, åtminstone för mig.

När det gäller Bombadils intresse för ringen är det värt att notera att hobbitsna har bara spenderat en bra lång stund och berättade allt för det:

Tom now seemed wide awake and plied them with questions.

He appeared already to know much about them and all their families, and indeed to know much of all the history and doings of the Shire down from days hardly remembered among the hobbits themselves. It no longer surprised them; but he made no secret that he owed his recent knowledge largely to Farmer Maggot, whom he seemed to regard as a person of more importance than they had imagined. 'There's earth under his old feet, and clay on his fingers; wisdom in his bones, and both his eyes are open,' said Tom. It was also clear that Tom had dealings with the Elves, and it seemed that in some fashion, news had reached him from Gildor concerning the flight of Frodo.

Indeed so much did Tom know, and so cunning was his questioning, that Frodo found himself telling him more about Bilbo and his own hopes and fears than he had told before even to Gandalf. Tom wagged his head up and down, and there was a glint in his eyes when he heard of the Riders.

'Show me the precious Ring!' he said suddenly in the midst of the story: and Frodo, to his own astonishment, drew out the chain from his pocket, and unfastening the Ring handed it at once to Tom.

Fellowship of the Ring Book I Chapter 7: "In the House of Tom Bombadil"

Oavsett de magiska beroendeframkallande egenskaperna, om fyra personer kom in i mitt hus och berättade för mig en lång historia med en magisk ring, den forna egenskapen hos Alls Evig, som jagade av svarta rovdjur, skulle jag jaga vill se det själv.

Nej, Tom Bombadil verkar inte drabbas av ringen alls; om han drabbades, var det försvinnande liten grad.

Här är den passage där Bombadil och Ringen kommer ansikte mot ansikte:

Indeed so much did Tom know, and so cunning was his questioning, that Frodo found himself telling him more about Bilbo and his own hopes and fears than he had told before even to Gandalf. Tom wagged his head up and down, and there was a glint in his eyes when he heard of the Riders.

‘Show me the precious Ring!’ he said suddenly in the midst of the story: and Frodo, to his own astonishment, drew out the chain from his pocket, and unfastening the Ring handed it at once to Tom.

It seemed to grow larger as it lay for a moment on his big brown-skinned hand. Then suddenly he put it to his eye and laughed. For a second the hobbits had a vision, both comical and alarming, of his bright blue eye gleaming through a circle of gold. Then Tom put the Ring round the end of his little finger and held it up to the candlelight. For a moment the hobbits noticed nothing strange about this. Then they gasped. There was no sign of Tom disappearing!

Tom laughed again, and then he spun the Ring in the air — and it vanished with a flash. Frodo gave a cry – and Tom leaned forward and handed it back to him with a smile.
- The Fellowship of the Ring

Vi ser något häpnadsväckande här: Det här objektet, där världens öde är bunden, är maktlös i Toms händer. Han tycker så lite om att han behandlar den som en leksak, en liten bagatell, utan betydelse eller fara. Hur ska vi göra det förnuftigt? Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez har en mycket trovärdig förklaring, och det har att göra med Ringens modus operandi - tilltalande för individens personlighet:

Given that Bombadil asked to see the Ring, and that he played with it and at one point had a gleam in his eye, I don’t see any justification for concluding that he was not tested by the Ring like others. Bombadil probably had the easiest test of all because he had already long before made his choice about mastery over others.

Bombadil allowed evil things to remain in his land — not because he wanted them there but because he did not want to destroy them. He probably set the boundaries of that land to keep those evil things from troubling Men and Hobbits (his neighbors).

Bombadil didn’t believe in creating prisons for the barrow-wights and... Old [Man] Willow; he just didn’t succumb to their evil ways. Hence, the Ring could have shown him a world where he roamed free and evil things didn’t bother him (and perhaps didn’t bother anyone else). Or the Ring could have shown him a world where he could “master” anyone and anything. The point is that the Ring definitely could have shown him something, even if it was more absurd and silly than what it showed to Sam.

Och självklart, vad som helst som ringen visade Tom var han inte intresserad.

Tolkien förklarar varför i Letter # 144:

Tom Bombadil is not an important person – to the narrative. I suppose he has some importance as a 'comment'. I mean, I do not really write like that: he is just an invention, and he represents something that I feel important, though I would not be prepared to analyze the feeling precisely. I would not, however, have left him in, if he did not have some kind of function.

The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power, and so on; but both sides in some degree, conservative or destructive, want a measure of control.

But if you have, as it were taken 'a vow of poverty', renounced control, and take your delight in things for themselves without reference to yourself, watching, observing, and to some extent knowing, then the question of the rights and wrongs of power and control might become utterly meaningless to you, and the means of power quite valueless. It is a natural pacifist view, which always arises in the mind when there is a war.

Så det som gör Ring så tilltalande för nästan alla andra är samma sak som gör det maktlöst mot Tom Bombadil. Han har medvetet valt att avvisa kontroll över allt annat än sig själv. Han själv är bra, men han tar inte sidor i striden mellan gott och ont. Han bryr sig inte om vem som vinner eller förlorar, för att han har avstått från makten, kontrollen och konflikten. Dessa begrepp har ingen betydelse för Tom. Han är uteslutande en observatör, och hans enda intresse är i saker för egen skull. Tom godkänner inte Old Man Willows försök att äta hobbitsna, och han hindrar honom från att göra det, men han respekterar fortfarande Old Man Willow och hans rätt att existera. Det faktum att Old Man Willow är troligen ont, åtminstone till viss del, går inte in i ekvationen.

Ringen är en kraftenhet, och makt är det enda sättet att påverka och manipulera människor. Tom Bombadil är diametralt motståndskraftig, och därför är ringen kraftlös för att korrupta eller fresta honom. Det är intressant (och underhållande) att föreställa sig att Ringen desperat försöker hitta en chink i Toms rustning, söker förgäves för en väg att nå honom och tyst skriker av vrede när han behandlar ringen som en dum liten leksak. Eftersom ringen skräddarsyr sin individuella unika svagheter (det vill säga) och eftersom Tom inte har några önskemål (förutom att hålla sin fru Goldberry glad) kunde ringen helt enkelt inte nå Tom. Han är helt bortom sitt inflytande, och det är bara en annan smycke till honom.

Gandalf håller klart med denna bedömning:

'He is a strange creature, but maybe I should have summoned him to our Council.'
'He would not have come,' said Gandalf.

'Could we not still send messages to him and obtain his help?' asked Erestor. 'It seems that he has a power even over the Ring.'

'No, I should not put it so,' said Gandalf. 'Say rather that the Ring has no power over him. He is his own master. But he cannot alter the Ring itself, nor break its power over others. And now he is withdrawn into a little land, within bounds that he has set, though none can see them, waiting perhaps for a change of days, and he will not step beyond them.'

'But within those bounds nothing seems to dismay him,' said Erestor. 'Would he not take the Ring and keep it there, for ever harmless?'

'No,' said Gandalf, 'not willingly. He might do so, if all the free folk of the world begged him, but he would not understand the need. And if he were given the Ring, he would soon forget it, or most likely throw it away. Such things have no hold on his mind. He would be a most unsafe guardian; and that alone is answer enough.'
- The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Council of Elrond