Quote:
|
but Earendil would not be borne in her arms, for he said: 'Mother Idril, thou art weary, and warriors in mail ride not among the Gondolindrim, save it be old Talagand!' and his mother laughed amid her sorrow; but Earendil said: 'Nay, where is Talagand?' - for Talagand had told him quaint tales or played drolleries with him at times, and Earendil had much laughter of the old Elf in those days when he came many a day to the house of Tuor, loving the good wine and fair repast he there received.
|
The bold part has to be changed, that's clear.
About old Talagand, we hear a 7 year old boy (half a mortal by the way) talking about an elf that is clearly older than his mother. Thus I did not see any problem with the statment. It is right that the suggestions is that Talagand rides because of his age. But why not? From all we know Talagand could be one of the oldest elves. That would be about 5000 years, and we do not know how long the 3 cycles of elvish live are. Thus he could have a beard and lake the strenght of younger warriors. But again, Eärendil is 7 years old! Ask any 7 year old boy to tell you how old the director of his basic-school is. I have no doubts that the boy will tell you that he is an old man.
But it is possible that we will loose the complte passage. All I could find to amand the missing riding warriors is very riscy:
Quote:
|
but Earendil would not be borne in her arms, for he said: 'Mother Idril, thou art weary, and as a warrior{s} among the Gondolindrim in mail I won't ride {not among the Gondolindrim, save it be}like old Talagand!' and his mother laughed amid her sorrow; but Earendil said: 'Nay, where is Talagand?' - for Talagand had told him quaint tales or played drolleries with him at times, and Earendil had much laughter of the old Elf in those days when he came many a day to the house of Tuor, loving the good wine and fair repast he there received.
|
If their was any change between the Elves of
The Lost Tales and the time after
The Lord of the Rings, than it would rather allow for an fat elf then forbid it.
Aiwendil wrote:
Quote:
|
I could go with "tall among the Noldor" or "Penlod the Tall". The former retains the suggestion that he was unusually tall specifically among the Noldor; the latter is safer since it's a simple epithet instead of creative writing.
|
May be I was to short in my recollection of the sentence under discussion. It was originally:
Quote:
|
There too were the folk of the Pillar and of the Toweer of Snow, and both these kindereds were marshalled Penlod, tallest of Gnomes
|
Thus, I can't see that "Penlod, tall{est of Gnomes}[among the Noldor]" more risky or inovative writting than producing an epithet.
Oh, sorry forgotten to put my address in:
Ralf.Volles@gmx.de
or if you can remember it easier:
Findegil@Tolkiens-Welt.de
Respectfully
Findegil