Quote:
I realize this is picking nits, but it bothers me.
Maybe it's just because this whole section of the Silmarillion was reconstructed by poor C.Tolkien.
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Not really. This section as published is almost - aside from certain de-archaising - the text of the conclusion of the Qenta Noldorinwa (1930), which Tolkien copied verbatim into Quenta Silmarillion (1937), and then left largely untouched (he made a few additions in the Fifties, like Ancalagon destoying Thangorodrim in his fall).
The unfortunate brevity and (compressed) nature of this final chapter, and the Fall of Gondolin, aren't CT's fault- it's just that there was no later text available than, in essence, QN.