Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
I don't recall seeing the argument that Nimloth was a cherry tree. What was the basis for that? x/d with Nerwen
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It came up on the earlier "Flowers of Middle Earth" thread. Up until then I had alwaus though The White tree of Gondor looked the way it did on the flags in the Rankin Bass Movie i.e. sort of oak-like (though I suppose if it was meant to be oak like Tolkine would have said Isildur stole a nut, not a fruit.
Anyway, I very much doubt the fruit of Nimloth, or its parent Celeborn would have been eaten. Even if palatable, the trees had such a symbolic value, being derived from the image of Telperion wrought by Yavanna herself, that any practical use of the tree, its fruit, flowers, or wood, would likely have been considered disrespectful.
x/d with
Nerwen[/QUOTE]
That seems reasonable, though I would point out that if you are talking about something like a cherry, eating the fruit and planting are not mutually imcompatible actions, unless you are in the habit of crunching up cherry pits (a bad idea for a LOT of reasons) I was just sort of thinking that the Numernorians might look at Nimloths sort of in the way that they looked at the mallorns, or for that matter all of the other beautiful tree species Numenor boasted. They clearly respected them (at least in the old days) but that did not preclude making use of their wood (Laurinque is specifically said to be good shipmaking wood) talismans (those Oiolaire bows) or food (Yavannamire's fruit would likely not be described as "luscios" if people were note eating it. But then again Nimloth was likey in a class of it's own.