But can Ulmo defeat Manwe in single combat??
Anyway, I might not have paid much attention to this thread, except that I just reread
Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin in the
Unfinished Tales. Here he
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sat by a stream that trickled forth near to the door of the cave where he dwelt
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and he is suddenly inspired to play his harp and sing an Elven song
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...and even as he sang the well at his feet began to boil, and it overflowed, and a rill ran noisily down the rocky hillside before him. And Tuor took this as a sign, and he arose at once and followed after it.
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Now we don't see any such direct sign from Ulmo in LOTR, but the suggestion is perhaps still that his power lurks in the waters even far from the sea. Perhaps it is true that the connection between the Valar and Middle Earth faded after the 1st Age, and again after the drowning of Numenor, but as recounted in some of the examples above in which the Eagles suddenly arrive, one has to think that the Valar have not completely cut themselves off from Middle Earth.