The Middle-Earth Prophecies - Page 8
© Michael Martinez
The limitations of forecasting may explain why Tom Bombadil couldn't offer the Hobbits much advice concerning their road. He didn't believe the Nazgul would trouble them for long (he was, in fact, wrong). The Nazgul were watching Bree when Frodo and his companions arrived. Tom was apparently relying upon his knowledge of the land and the creatures he knew. His experience with the Nazgul was limited, and therefore he wasn't very good at predicting what they might do. And he said as much to the Hobbits.
The uncertainty of Tom's predictions is matched by the uncertainty of the revelations in Galadriel's mirror. Her little basin filled with water is clearly revealing things, so the visions Frodo and Sam perceive in it are true prophetic visions. But Galadriel warns them that it is not easy to discern whether the revelations are about the past, the present, or the future. And she also points out that not everything the mirror "predicts" comes to pass. So, where is the mirror getting its visions from? Is Galadriel's magic capturing the random thoughts of sleeping Ainur? Or is Iluvatar handing out visions like fortune cookies?
Within the Tale of Time, prophecy plays a diverse role which informs and illuminates, but it does not dominate. In the wrong hands it is as much a tool of compulsion as evidence of compulsion. But in the right hands it is a sign of the continued interest and intervention from Iluvatar, who alone knows how everything will turn out. But he nonetheless allows all the Children of his thought, both Ainur and Incarnates, to make their own choices.
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