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If we remember...
In Silmarillion... When Aule made the race of the dwarves... Eru came and was angry, and the Dwarves were to be kept sleeping until after the Children of Illuvatar were to awake...
After Aule told Yavanna the story, she said "your children and my children will not get along" or something along those lines (her children were plants.. trees.. etc)..
Aule said that even the Children of Illuvatar will have need of wood, food, etc...
Yavanna, worried, went to speak to Manwe about it... Manwe asked Yavanna which of her creations were most dear to her, and she said Trees... so Illuvatar revealed the Shephards of the Trees... spirits that would enter the trees once the children of Illuvatar had awaken, to protect the trees...
So Treebeard awoke at the time after the Children of Illuvatar awoke... Before that - entities already roamed the earth... entities which came from the outside - such as the Valar... and the Maiar... Tom is not Valar... so it makes sense that he must be Maiar - in which case he is older than Treebeard..
Another puzzeling thing is why Gandalf (Olorin) calls Treebeard "Eldest"...
Olorin is of the Maiar... older than the Earth... and much older than Trees... and the shephards of trees - so why does he call Treebeard "Eldest"?
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