The clue is in the prelapsarian nature of Tom. He is the Eldest, who was around before sin and evil entered the world from outside, but it seems that evil, after its arrival, had not affected him. Unlike everything else in the Fallen and therefore broken cosmos, Tom is neither Fallen nor broken. He is quite literally free from sin. He is not subject to it. It has no power over him. Although Tolkien has not yet provided the textual clue that the date of the Ring’s destruction provides, we are already being given distinct and definite clues that the Ring is symbolically synonymous with sin.
