“Not all those who wander are lost.”

[alatar]

Didn't Barliman Butterbur's mind tend to wander?

And are we talking about the lack of 'wandering' or control/stasis? The wanderers to me not only accept change, they also accept that there are things that are beyond their care and control. It's that whole serenity prayer thing - one must accept that there are things beyond one's control - you just have to let them go.

Gandalf, the ultimate wanderer, attempts to influence and coerce the inhabitants of ME yet does not seek to control and 'order' the same as does Saruman. Aragorn aids the battle at Helm's Deep yet does not supersede the orders of Theoden - he does not have to 'order' everything. Sauron, stuck as an Eye in a box, wants to reshape all of ME in his image. All things would be in under his dominion.

Anyway, where this all started was in thinking about the Sea. What place contains more chaos, and therefore less order? Even Ulmo doesn't seem to be in control of the Sea all of the time, and even then it seems that he just 'manages' it. The earth can be formed and shaped, but the Sea? Ever changing, formed but ever formless. And never a friend of a being like Sauron.

Didn't Melkor create cold and/or ice in an attempt to control the Sea? Note to Melkor: next time, make ice heavier than water, and then you stand a better chance of freezing the whole deal.

Do our wanderers, having accepted change throughout their lives, go onto the next step, the Sea, the ultimate source of change?

Sorry for the muddled rambling - must be too much water on the brain - but there's a thought in there somewhere.