Quote:
Originally Posted by Galin
Well I would agree that 'author's point of view' can become an all too easy explanation for seeming contradictions. I stressed 'possibility' above and am more inclined to agree with Nerwen's post and Tolkien's noted love of superlatives, although I do think -- at the point when the Annals were still meant to be different texts from Quenta Silmarillion -- some 'comparisons of interest' were perhaps intended.
That generally said, I would also agree that that has no real force when it comes to specific examples, unless Tolkien comments directly or makes something 'agreeably obvious' I guess...
... for instance did Maglor drown himself with his Silmaril (poetry, and one of Tolkien's letters) or walk along the shores (prose Silmarillion) after 'drowning' his Silmaril? Despite my opinion that this detail nicely lends itself to the confusion of history, so to speak, which would be nicely represented in the two very different traditions, the matter could simply be external.
Again if forced to guess: more probably external.
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When Tolkien started off creating his mythology as we know he intended it to be new mythology for England, since we were sadly lacking in that area. He seemed far more content to go along with the confusion of myth and history.
However, late on his life mostly post LOTR I think there is a quite a change. Instead of being content to allow different interpretations and different stories to stand he seems determined to find a 'true' account of what happened.
An example of this is the question of whether 'Tuor' died or who exactly sent Gandalf back. These are things he either clears up completely or leaves us with very strong implications of what happened.
Since this is about Glorfindel, this is another such case. Tolkien could have left things ambiguous as to whether the two were the same. However, he clarifies this for the readers and there can be no doubt of the truth.
Even in the mythology about the Two Tree's he appears unsatisfied with leaving the account as Mannish myths. He tried very hard to make a translate the solarism myths into a 'true' account. For instance the Morgoth messing with the orbit of the Earth or the intensity of the Sun's heat.
I am inclined to think that he would have liked to clear up as many conflicting tales as he could, except for a very few.