Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel

[Aiwendil]

Maedhros wrote:

That is a real shame.

I don’t know. On the one hand, there are certainly sections of the story for which other sources provide a more substantial narrative (e.g. everything from the rescue of Turin to his coming to Nargothrond is told much more fully in the alliterative ‘Turin’). But Tolkien did apparently intend the ‘Narn’ to stand on its own as a complete and self-contained narrative. Also, by restricting himself to these texts, CT ensured the stylistic uniformity of the final product.

I was wondering Aiwendil, that since it may take me months to have my own copy to read, if you had found new details about the Nirnaeth, that were not included in previous versions of the story.

Again, I haven’t bought the book yet (twenty-six dollars for a story I already own is a bit steep, methinks, though I do intend to get it eventually); my comments are based on about a fifteen minute flip through the pages. I did happen to notice that Hurin’s slaying of the trolls is still there, presumably confirming that this detail comes from the ‘Narn’ version of the battle.

The omision of the last versiongenealogy of Orodreth's genealogy is a real shame to me. Why don't make it right?

I agree about this. It seems that CT thinks the latest genealogy is an ‘unworkable’ projected change, but I entirely fail to see why.

It seems to me that with the little additions that are not found in any previous texts that have been added to the CoH, we would need to put them in our version.

Agreed. But that’s a matter for another forum . . .