Eldest? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

tom bombariffic · 05-29-2006, 04:56 AM

I think we can discount tom being a valar - is he were one, surely he would be able to resist the power of sauron and the ring, and yet we are told by Gandalf (or elrond, I can't remember which) that it would not be safe in his keeping.

Concerning the question of the thread, I'd say tom is definitely eldest. His name means 'oldest and fatherless'. We are given very little detail about him, the bulk of it relating to how old he is. His age is his most prominent trait. Treebeard is old, but he is more characterised, wheras tom is a very sprightly reincarnation of age. Treebeard may be called the oldest living thing that walks the earth, but Tom is such an enigma that he can't really be classified for certain as a living thing: we don't know what he is.

Tom is the eldest. Full stop. That is made very very clear. I think the comment about treebeard being the eldest leaves tom out as a given; of course he is oldest because he existed before anything.

bombariffic

05-29-2006, 04:56 AM	#9
tom bombariffic Wight Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: In the house of Tom Bombariffic Posts: 196	I think we can discount tom being a valar - is he were one, surely he would be able to resist the power of sauron and the ring, and yet we are told by Gandalf (or elrond, I can't remember which) that it would not be safe in his keeping. Concerning the question of the thread, I'd say tom is definitely eldest. His name means 'oldest and fatherless'. We are given very little detail about him, the bulk of it relating to how old he is. His age is his most prominent trait. Treebeard is old, but he is more characterised, wheras tom is a very sprightly reincarnation of age. Treebeard may be called the oldest living thing that walks the earth, but Tom is such an enigma that he can't really be classified for certain as a living thing: we don't know what he is. Tom is the eldest. Full stop. That is made very very clear. I think the comment about treebeard being the eldest leaves tom out as a given; of course he is oldest because he existed before anything. bombariffic __________________ The 'hum' generated by an electric car is not in fact the noise of the engine, but that of the driver's self-righteousness oscillating at a high frequency.