There was a Reddit write up that argued Tom was Arda’s spirit itself and had quite a few convincing points. It is pretty clear that (keeping in mind that canon is a bit nebulous beyond the four books JRR actually published) he is probably not a Maia and also probably not Eru, beyond the level that everything is Eru anyways.
Tom is not a Maiar, one of the five who were present at the formation of the universe, he is… older.
That would be the Istari, no? Pretty sure there are more than five Maiar…
I just meant the five Maiar who then went on to become Wizards but I phrased it poorly!
My head canon was that Tom was Eru Iluvatar just living his best life enjoying all the things he’d created.
There was a Reddit write up that argued Tom was Arda’s spirit itself and had quite a few convincing points. It is pretty clear that (keeping in mind that canon is a bit nebulous beyond the four books JRR actually published) he is probably not a Maia and also probably not Eru, beyond the level that everything is Eru anyways.