No, his purpose was to show there was a wider world and a deeper history to Middle-Earth than we got to see in the books. Tolkien was dropping hints like that all over the story; Tom was just the biggest one.
It also was the way Merry got his special wraith-killing sword, and it gave a bit of a glimpse into the limitations of the powers of the ring, foreshadowing Sam’s ability to give it up freely.
Wasn’t his purpose to give the readers a break and to give Gandalf enough time to do a misadventure?
No, his purpose was to show there was a wider world and a deeper history to Middle-Earth than we got to see in the books. Tolkien was dropping hints like that all over the story; Tom was just the biggest one.
It also was the way Merry got his special wraith-killing sword, and it gave a bit of a glimpse into the limitations of the powers of the ring, foreshadowing Sam’s ability to give it up freely.