It feels different near the Shire....

[Gandalf_theGrey]

* a grey-cloaked figure encircled by rising smoke of a matching shade enters through the mist *

Hail and Well Met, Nar.

* bows a friendly greeting *

Firstly, the summation and conclusion that you reach about Old Tom (quoted below) is just wonderful! I can hope to add naught more than applause. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

My intuition is that Tom is the song sprung from the mind of Illuvatar, not the song as sung by the Valar -- the song as it was meant to be, so while all that happens is included, the ending theme of Arda remade and healed is also in him.

On another note, your intuitive insight regarding Galadriel's Mirror strikes me as remarkable, because it serendipitously resembles part of a post I made ... fittingly enough, in Bethberry's "Picnic at the Bonfire Glade" RPG. (Which by the way ended all too soon by my reckoning, alas, as pass all such dearly precious moments. * waves wistfully and appreciatively to Bethberry [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] *

Here is the pertinent quote documenting that which occurred on Bombadil land:

* Except for these two, the path was now empty, tread smooth by earlier arrivals. Gandalf thought he sensed something. A strange melding of disjointed almost-memories, mingling with a cacaphony of voices, voices high and shrill with merry laughter, deep and low with hidden whispers. It was as though the throng around the feasting tables were every single one of them looking together into Galadriel's mirror simultaneously, swirling the water into a hundred shades of blue and green, sweeping around to create a whirlpool of alternate pasts, presents, and futures. Guests of a myriad of races converged on the Bonfire Glade Picnic. The whole of Time Itself converged as well ... now bent, now straightening, now a flickering chimera, now solid reality. *

Thirdly, I share your outlook regarding Tom being representative of Time. His title of "The Eldest" is graciously granted even by the Eldar, in their tongue rendered as "Iarwain."

Additionally, when Goldberry is asked by Frodo to name Tom's essence, she replies "He is." Words evocative of an ongoing continuous existence/state of being in time.

Gandalf the Grey