“Not all those who wander are lost.”

[drigel]

Here we contemplate one of what I feel is a theme that was actually intended by the author. The reader doesnt read road, the reader reads Road. I always interpreted this theme as mainly an internal journey for the reader, for some reason. Especially from the meek hobbits POV.

The sea represents the ulitmate journey, or IMO representing the barrier that separates the corporeal from the non-corporeal, the physical from the spiritual. Aelfwine's passage, or Frodo's footsteps, representing one's life journey (or struggle) from darkness to enlightenment. And what strikes me as I read this thread is how neither of them, for better or worse, are ever the same again. They cannot return from whence they came.