Silmarillion - Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

[Pitchwife]

Most of this chapter reads to me like a rehash of matters treated more fully elsewhere (the Akallabeth for the fall of Númenor and Appendix A to LotR for history of the realms in exile), and as such, I don't find it dreadfully appealing. What it looks like to me is the work of a Fourth Age author trying to sum up the whole matter of the Rings of Power in a brief digest for future generations - sort of an article Rings of Power in a 4th Age Encyclopedia of Arda.

One minor aspect I find interesting is the statement that "Frodo the Halfling" (how much remoter from the story we all know and love can you get?) "threw the Ring into the fire in which it was forged" (or words to that effect; I'm retranslating from my German version here). Clearly the author of this text had no access to an unredacted copy of the Red Book.
(Don't get me wrong - it's only logical that Frodo's failure at Sammath Naur, as recorded in his own memoirs, got glossed over in 4th Age tradition, and I certainly don't begrudge him the laurels; still, the difference is interesting if you try to construct an imaginary sitz im leben for this text.)

(Also, being a nutter for language, I can't help noting that this text alone AFAIK gives us the Quenya word for Nazgûl: Úlairi, the un-living; same as 'undead', only the other way round - an interesting way to put it, if you care for such things.)

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Sauron's story comprises a good deal of this chapter - of course, since he was responsible for the making of the Rings of Power. We discover that he even repented of evil, at least after a fashion, and though Morgoth's influence was strong enough to sway him to return to evil, it does seem that he could have genuinely repented had he wanted to do so.

Hm, I don't think he repented of evil as such, or he wouldn't have minded humiliating himself before Manwë; what he repented of was joining the losing side in the previous conflict and letting himself be put into such an embarrassing position in the first place. As soon as he figured out he could return to his bad old ways without immediate retaliation from the West, he went back to emulating Morgoth's example, probably with the ambition to do better than his master and succeed where Morgoth failed. Like Gandalf said: Wise fool.

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Our discussion of The Silmarillion ends with this chapter. The family trees, index and appendix finish off the book; unless someone thinks there is enough material for discussion there, I am not starting a thread for them.

Well, personally, I'd adore a discussion of the linguistic appendix, but I suppose that would turn into a monologue on my part pretty soon, so yeah.