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Shade of Carn Dûm
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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/wight.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: Goldberry and tom?
That is very interesting MU, in which letter did you find that tasty morsel of info.?
Mithadan, I am sorry, I spoke incorrectly, what I mean to say #1 was that Arda was ever pure, but that Men were at one time not corrupted by Melkor. What I meant to say #2 was that the Mountains and such were formed as soon as Ainur first got there, not necessarily at the "get go" but close enough.
The rebuttal. Tom appears somewhat old to be a man, true, but if I am defending Gil's idea(not sure if I am yet<img src=wink.gif ALT="
"> ) then I would point out the fact that before Melkor got to Men, it was speculated that they were immortal(or very long lived, i.e. ents maybe) Arda was marred from the beginning, I have nothing to say about that. I do howver have something to say about Men not awaking early enough. Men existed, they just weren't awakened, so technically you could say(if he was a man) that he was around since before the Ainur came into Arda.
A side note. I am not saying that Gilthalion's theory is a correct one. All I am saying is that it is more believable to me than Bombadil being an ainu. I personally feel Bombadil would be another form of spirit sent to Ea by Eru as something of an ambassador. Being that no one has rule over him or his land, he lives on "International soil", like a consulate would. And he has no power over anything else but himself, his land and everything that resides on it.
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