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Originally Posted by Hookbill the Goomba
There are actually two. There is the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis) and there is the Tree of Life (Revelation).
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And there are Two Trees in Norse myth - Ask & Embla (Ash & Elm) from which the gods create men & women...
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The Bible doesn’t actually say if he did or not. For all we know, he was bald and clean shaven... Hmmm...
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He is called 'Rabbi' which inplies long hair & beard....
I don't think Tolkien used his 'sources' consciously either. The point of my 'many trees' argument is that Tolkien would have been exposed to so many trees (both real & fictional) that to pick one out of all of them & imply it was a 'specially' significant source misunderstands the way his mind works. He took in a massive amount of material & it all came out as he wrote. Trees are just very strange & awe-inspiring things.
Lalwende & I visited the Botanical Gardens in Oxford last week & stood beneath Tolkien's Tree - the gigantic Pinas Nigra. It is simply awe-full. Something so huge & alive is inspiring in & of itself - whether you have any mythical/religious knowledge at all.
If we pick out Biblical or mythological paralllels to anything in Tolkien it seems to me we have a purpose for emphasising those parallels as opposed to others. All along, as I said, I've been asking 'So what?' What is the point of this thread - or rather 'What is the point you're trying to make - where are you trying to take me. If facetious parallels are not to be made, then its because people want to focus on 'serious' parallels. Hence, they are trying to go somewhere with this. I'd just like to see the map so I know where I'm likely to end up..