[Aiwendil]

There are two spots to consider in Jallanite's revision of "The Horns of Ulmo".

{Inland musics subtly magic that those reeds alone could weave −}
[To sea musics ringing magic that the wind and wave can weave −]

Presumably the change subtly > ringing is because the reeds were subtle in a way that the wind and wave cannot be. But is the change really necessary? I don't think we are forced to abandon "subtle", and there is a slight motivation to keep it as it is the original word.

And the meadows {were} [are] about me {where} [with] the weeping willows {grew} [too],
Where the long grass {stirred} [stirs] beside me, and my feet {were} [are] drenched with dew.

This is the spot I thought was awkward. I think the rhyme on "too" sounds forced and a bit amateurish - not that I'm blaming Jallanite; I've looked long and hard at the line and can think of nothing better. But if it can be changed, it should be.

Maedhros wrote:

I agree that CT conjecture is correct, but I really like Jallanite's insertion in there. If we were to remove it to somewhere else, where would it be? Would we try to use it as the basis for another chapter perhaps?

I rather like it as well. But my objection to the use of that poem here is this. If there is a "canonical fact" about the poem, it is that the poem is the beginning of the Lay of Earendil, not that it was a song sung at the festival. In other words, by using the poem here, we are essentially making up a fact about Middle-earth - and one that is explicitly false if we accept CT's conjecture. It's a minor point, but we would actually be altering an established canonical fact out of a personal preference for having the poem there.

Findegil wrote:

What about the Following arrangement: We tell the history of the fugitives of Gondolin up to the festival of memorial held in Nan-Tathren. (Without the two songs.) Then we end the chapter "Tour and the Fall of Gondolin".
The Chapter about Eärendil (however we will name it) would start with the revised poem "Lay of Eärendel". (For this we would need a kind of introduction. Which is the difficulty of this arrangement.) Thus the poem would stand in its right position as the introduction of the story of Eärendil. Since the poem ends in Nan-Tathren we could go on with the rest of FoG, with the addition of the "Horns of Ylmir".

Fog is already a very substantial chapter, while we would have some difficulty to find material for the Eärendil chapter (as was said before).

I have said it before: there is a big problem in the shift in depth between FoG and Earendil, and one for which there is no quick fix. I see the point of your idea, Findegil, but I don't think it solves the problem. It would only trade a little bit of the imbalance between the two chapters for a little bit of an imbalance within the Earendil chapter.

Personally, I'd rather go with the chapter break used in Q30 - where "Earendil" begins with "Yet by Sirion . . .", the dwellings of the exiles at the havens.