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Originally Posted by elbenprincess
Is it right that the version where he takes part in the battle and becomes a Valar is an old one and the other version where he doesn´t take part in the last battle and therefore doesn´t become a Valar is a later version?
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If I recall correctly, the facts are these:
- The oldest version (from the Lost Tales) is that Turin takes part in the final battle, kills Morgoth, and becomes a Vala.
- This was changed in the 1937 QS so that Turin still takes part in the final battle and still kills Morgoth, but he is not counted as one of the Valar. Instead, he 'returns from the halls of Mandos'.
- In the cursory 1950s revisions to this part of QS, 'from the halls of Mandos' became 'from the doom of Men', the words 'and Beren Camlost' were inserted, and then an X was drawn through the whole section. Presumably, we see Tolkien trying out different ideas here.
- The 1950s Valaquenta ends with a statement that Mandos has not said anything about the end of the world (this statement was transplanted to the end of the 'Quenta Silmarillion' in the 1977 published Silmarillion). So it appears that the prophecy of Mandos was at this point rejected, at least from the 'Quenta Silmarillion' tradition.
- Texts from the late 1950s found in HoMe X (including the 'Athrabeth') talk in a general way about 'Arda Remade', suggesting that some idea of an 'end of times' prophecy still existed.
- A text from c. 1968, 'The Problem of
Ros', mentions the prophecy of Andreth: that Turin will return at the end of the First Age to kill Ancalagon.
- In the 1972 note and alliterative fragment on the Istari (found in UT), mention is made of the Dagor Dagorath, when Melkor will return and Manwe will descend from Taniquetil, suggesting that this last battle, as distinct from the prophecy concerning Turin, had still not been entirely rejected.
Edit: I was wrong about the date of the note and alliterative fragment; they are from before 1972 and, quite likely, before the 1968 'Problem of
Ros'.