The Stewards

[ArcusCalion]

Thank you for your diligence gandalf!

1) This is fine for me.

2) I like this better as well. Agreed.

3) Yes, Fin did a wonderful job.

4) Agreed

5) Is this canon? That Gandalf did not know it was Thrain? I felt that it said he did somewhere.

6) Agreed

7) I like this placing much better.

8) no 8? lol

9) Agreed, nice transition. I would not make that sentence its own paragraph tho, and I would call that addition TS-FR-00.5 and keep the other as is.

10) I like this better, Agreed.

11) Nice find! Agreed.

12) Good catch! Agreed.

13) Thank you!

[gandalf85]

5) I believe it's canon. In both the Quest of Erebor and the Making of Appendix A, it states he did not know who Thrain was. I will be on the look-out to see if I find this contradicted somewhere.

8) I have a minor in math but apparently cannot count.

11) I was wondering why you guys removed the last bit about the ringbearer, and I think I know why: it's basically a spoiler the way we have it structured. This text was intended to be a "looking back" conversation between Gandalf and the hobbits and Gimli after the War of the Ring. I think it's probably best to remove the last bits about the Ringbearer, but keep the part about Sauron and Smaug helping one another:

TS-QE-44c <The Quest of Erebor, Appendix And yet that was not his original plan; and it was in the end a mistake. <The Quest of Erebor, Appendix {They will}Sauron and Smaug would have helped one another{.” And they certainly would have done so,} if {I}the Council had not attacked Dol Guldur at the same time.> Resistance still had somewhere where it could take counsel free from the Shadow.> And in that year the White Council met for the last time, and Curunír withdrew to Isengard, and took counsel with none save himself.

[ArcusCalion]

5) I guess this is one of those times that an assumption becomes so ingrained in our heads we think it's canon! I agree to the change, pending any discovery of contradictory canon info.

11) Ah I missed that. I think it is the right choice to remove it, as Fin had done, so I agree to this change.

[Findegil]

1) & 2) Agreed.

3) Nice that both of you like it.

4) Agreed.

5) Yes, it clearly is cannon that Gandalf did not know from whom he got the key and the map.

6) It is true that the dwarves were employed as road menders, but here the perspective is different: If we would make this change we would state that the Hobbits employed the dwarves as road menders. Do we konw that for sure? I don’t think so.

7) & 8) Agreed.

9) Okay, I see that I did not reach what I wanted. I think this will make my goal clearer:

… There all the company mounted again.> TS-QE-36<HoMe 6;From Weathertop to the Ford The Road looped away southward, towards the river> TS-QE-37<HoMe 6;From Weathertop to the Ford {‘That is} Loudwater, the Bruinen of Rivendell. {,’ answered Strider. ‘}The Road {runs}run along it for many leagues to the Ford.{’}>
TS-QE-38<Appendix A The story is told elsewhere of what came {of that meeting: of the strange plan that Gandalf made for the help of Thorin}after TS-QE-38.1<Hobbit one of the ponies took fright at nothing and bolted{. He} and got into {the}that river before they could catch him>, and how Thorin and his companions set out from {the Shire}Rivendell on the quest of the Lonely Mountain that came to great ends unforeseen.>FY-HL-15b<
Of the Finding of the Ring
>TS-FR-00.5<ORP {the}The matter would scarcely have concerned later history, or earned more than a note in the long annals of the Third Age, but for an ‘accident’ by the way.>TS-FR-01b<LotR; Of the Finding of the Ring The party was assailed by Orcs in a high pass of the Misty Mountains as they went towards Wilderland; …

10) Agreed.

11) A good addition. And I think we should keep more of it. What about this:

… and reared once again the dark towers of Barad-dûr. TS-QE-44<The Quest of Erebor, Appendix And yet that was not his original plan; and it was in the end a mistake. <The Quest of Erebor, Appendix {They will}Sauron and Smaug would have helped one another{.” And they certainly would have done so,} if {I}the Council had not attacked Dol Guldur at the same time.> Resistance still had somewhere where it could take counsel free from the Shadow.{ How could the Ringbearer have escaped, if there had been no Lórien or Rivendell?} And those places might have fallen{, I think,} if Sauron had thrown all his power against them first, and not spent more than half of it in the assault on Gondor.> And in that year the White Council met for the last time, …

12) Realy a good catch. Agreed.

13) It is so good for the quality of our text to have reader who gives feed back.

Respectfully
Findegil

[ArcusCalion]

Fin:

9) Agreed

11) agreed

[gandalf85]

6) Yes, you're right, we're not completely sure that dwarves were employed as road-menders specifically on the East Road. So let's keep "it would also appear that".

11) Agreed.

13) I agree with keeping more of it, but I am unsure about one part.

Resistance still had somewhere where it could take counsel free from the Shadow.{ How could the Ringbearer have escaped, if there had been no Lórien or Rivendell?} And those places might have fallen{, I think,} if Sauron had thrown all his power against them first, and not spent more than half of it in the assault on Gondor.> And in that year the White Council met for the last time, …

It seems to me that the "assault on Gondor" referred to here is specifically talking about the siege of Minas Tirith and the Battle of Pelennor Fields, both of which haven't happened in our narrative yet. It is true that Mordor has been at war with Gondor for quite a while, so maybe this is talking about previous assaults (like the taking of Minis Ithil) but I'm not sure. This statement is immediately following one about the Ringbearer, so I'm assuming it's referring to an event which happens at the same time. What do you guys think?

[ArcusCalion]

That sort of very limited spoiler is, I think, fine. It reveals very little about the nature of the further narrative, so I think it is ok to leave it. We have similar vague call-forwards in previous chapters.