This is probably stupid, but as I was reading Helen's post, I pictured Frodo and Gandalf and Galadriel leaving the Gray Havens, and was struck with how similar this was in its elegiac feel to the final departure of Arthur, accompanied by the three wise women/Celtic goddesses. Do you suppose Tolkien was consciously re-writing this? We know he re-wrote Shakespeare's "Scottish play" with the Huorns and Ents. Was he rewriting Arthur here?
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