[Elendur]

Ea itself is not in discord because of Melkor. I think that only pertains to the inhabitants of Ea. Ea was created from the flame imperishable. I dont beleive that flame was 'alive' and capable of being affected in any way except for by Eru. I think Ea itself is the flame imperishable. That is why Eru told Melkor he would never find it. It was not any small flame or object, it was all of Ea. Melkor never found the flame because he was looking at it with the wrong perspective from the start. The power of the flame is in Ea itself and it is under the control of Eru. I think that when Ea was created Tom was also created as an embodiment of Ea itself. But I think he is different from any other person or Ainur (I am agreeing with Phantom on this). Tom was everywhere at once and his body was just a raiment he put on. What Erus exact purpose was for creating Tom, I dont know. He seems to have been alone or only with Goldberry for most of his time in Ea. The only time he is recorded to even be a part of history is when he helps the hobbits and when Gandalf goes to talk to him at the end of LOTR (If Tolkien were to write one thing, I would choose to hear the conversation of Tom and Gandalf over anything else). So I dont think Eru would bring Tom into existence to only do those few acts.

Anyways, Ive gotten really off topic with most of my post and I am only writing what I think. It could be totally wrong or disproven in one of the books and I dont even know about it. I thought I would just share what I thought.