The elves taught the ents to speak and helped them become more "alive," so they
may have been around before the elves appeared, but were probably more like
zombies (for lack of a better word). Perhaps all trees in ME originally
started off as something aking to the huorns and the elves nurtured some so
that they became more elf-like (more humanoid).
I like your choice of "coincidence" when describing Tom. Maybe he is a
piece of the music that, like the trees that for some reason could be taught to
speak by the elves, took on an unexpected life of its own! Eru's plan may
be sprinkled with these happy accidents that look like anomalies, but turn out
to be important parts of his
designs.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air"
--Treebeard
