Neo became this detached god-like character when he realized that the world was simply an illusion created inside a computer simulation. Tom Bombadil as a vala was part of the process that created Middle Earth. Everything that Bombadil saw in Middle Earth was perceived as something fabricated by either himself or another vala. Like Neo in the Matrix, Bombadil took nothing seriously because there was nothing in Middle Earth worth his serious attention. Presumably Bombadil had earlier been bored by the eons of living as an immortal, all powerful vala. He preferred play acting as a mortal man because it provided him with more variety. It's interesting to think that J.R.R. Tolkein transported into Middle Earth as an immortal would probably have assumed a persona and lifestyle like Tom Bombadil (Tom maybe Tolkein's alter-ego).

Tolkein did do some clever stuff with Bombadil in the LotR's plot. Bombadil knew all and saw all inside the Old Forest. Bombadil knew that the Hobbits would run afoul the barrow wights. After Bombadil extracted the Hobbits from the barrow, he gave them knives/swords from the barrow. Those knives had originally been fabricated to fight against the Witch-king / Nazgul Lord when he was still human (before his ring transformed him into a wraith enslaved to Sauron). Merry later used his weapon to break the Witch-king's invulnerability thus allowing Eowyn the opportunity to kill the Witch-king with a conventional sword. The Witch-king's death was the turning point in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. This plot thread represented a problem for Peter Jackson's movie. In the movie, Aragorn simply handed Merry the knife without explanation. In the movie, there's no reason at all for Merry's knife to have injured the Nazgul Lord. Again this is a consequence of removing Tom Bombadil from the story.

Gary