The Book of Lost Tales Part I: A Readthrough

[jallanite]

Originally Posted by Tar-Jêx

He was Melko, then Melkor, also known as Morgoth, Bauglir, Morgoth Bauglir, the Dark Lord, and other various 'evil' titles. This is also true for what I was referring to, the places. A great deal of them don't undergo name changes, but are called different things every other page.

Yes the same person is called Melko in The Book of Lost Tales, and other names in later works, principally Melkor and Morgoth. But the name Melko is very close to the name Melkor and the name Morgoth is only mentioned once in The Book of Lost Tales (other than in Christopher Tolkien’s commentary), which should make the Book of Lost Tales less confusing than the published Silmarillion. The forms Dark Lord and Bauglir do not even appear in The Book of Lost Tales. You would seem to indicate that the published Silmarillion is more confusing than Book of Lost Tales, which I do not think was your intention.

As to place names, name even one place name in The Book of Lost Tales, that is “called different things every other page.” Name even a single name that is mentioned “every second page” throughout the work. Gross exaggeration does not convince me.

We seem to have a misunderstanding, though, as I personally really enjoy BoLT.

The misunderstanding, if it is a misunderstanding, comes from you own statement: “I will admit, I did close my book gently, but firmly, in frustration of these ‘silent changes’”. Is this true?

I was stating that a reader can be turned off and become disinterested when every place or item is being referred to by a different name every second page. A number of people I know that have tried to read BoLT found the name switching to be confusing, and never knew what was being referred to.

Name a single case in The Book of Lost Tales where “every place or item is being referred to by a different name every second page”.

I have less understanding of what you are talking about the more you try to explain. I can understand a reader being slightly confused on occasion by differences in the Book of Lost Tales and the published Silmarillion, or in either book by itself, but I see place names changing only sometimes, not “every second page” throughout the Book of Lost Tales.

Continual use of gross exaggeration undercuts the points you are trying to explain, suggesting to me that you cannot support your points by simple statements, either because you are clumsy in your writing or because you simply can’t support them at all.

Yes, the Book of Lost Tales is sometimes confusing in its changing of names. Any stronger statement is gross exaggeration, in the same way the a complaint that the published Silmarillion is sometimes confusing with its similar names: Finwë, Fingolfin, Finarfin, Fingon, and Finrod. This is true. Possibly the changes in the Book of Lost Tales can be even more confusing to some people. Personally, I find it somewhat less confusing. Neither work is so confusing that I closed either book gently, but firmly. Both books were interesting enough that I read them in enjoyment, despite occasional confusion, as with many books.