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zionius · 10-12-2023, 09:34 AM

Another question: How do you determine the full moon was on the night of Mar 7/8 rather than March 8/9 in the final timeline? My understanding is:

Evidences for Mar 7/8: almanac time has the full moon at 12:19 am
Frodo sees a full moon on 7/8.

Evidences for Mar 8/9: S2 and S3 say full moon is on Mar 8/9.
Pinpin sees an almost full moon on 7/8.
Éomer says "Last night the moon was full" (before 2005 revision) for Mar 9.
Mar 10 mustering on the "2nd day after the full moon" before 2005 revision.

If we ignore the textual history and only focus on final version, it seems to me the evidences for the latter are much stronger. One only has to make one change in LR text to make it work, whereas Mar 7/8 date requires four emendations, treating them as shadows of the past.
Per Chronology LR p114, Tolkien first used the full moon time for Feb 1 1942 (at 9:12 am) and then switched to Mar 3 1942 (at 12:19 am). But I can't find evidence that Tolkien is using the 1942 moon fullness time in the final timeline (I think we can only be certain that 1942 moon fullness dates are used). On the opposite, S3 clearly shows he envisions the moon fullness time at Mar 8 "PM". I can't understand why CT, H&S and you all say otherwise. Have I overlooked anything?

10-12-2023, 09:34 AM	#65
zionius Pile O'Bones Join Date: May 2021 Posts: 18	Another question: How do you determine the full moon was on the night of Mar 7/8 rather than March 8/9 in the final timeline? My understanding is: Evidences for Mar 7/8: almanac time has the full moon at 12:19 am Frodo sees a full moon on 7/8. Evidences for Mar 8/9: S2 and S3 say full moon is on Mar 8/9. Pinpin sees an almost full moon on 7/8. Éomer says "Last night the moon was full" (before 2005 revision) for Mar 9. Mar 10 mustering on the "2nd day after the full moon" before 2005 revision. If we ignore the textual history and only focus on final version, it seems to me the evidences for the latter are much stronger. One only has to make one change in LR text to make it work, whereas Mar 7/8 date requires four emendations, treating them as shadows of the past. Per Chronology LR p114, Tolkien first used the full moon time for Feb 1 1942 (at 9:12 am) and then switched to Mar 3 1942 (at 12:19 am). But I can't find evidence that Tolkien is using the 1942 moon fullness time in the final timeline (I think we can only be certain that 1942 moon fullness dates are used). On the opposite, S3 clearly shows he envisions the moon fullness time at Mar 8 "PM". I can't understand why CT, H&S and you all say otherwise. Have I overlooked anything? Last edited by zionius; 10-12-2023 at 10:26 AM.