the elessar

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

It's difficult to see why, in light of the introduced ambiguity in the main body of the story, Tolkien would end in such a declarative fashion about which version was the truth.

My explanation is that this 'concluding' section of the text is not a conclusion of the text proper, but an external summation with an intended revision from Tolkien regarding Celebrimbor and Enerdhil. Christopher Tolkien describes...

'Enerdhil appears in no other writing; and the concluding words of this text show that Celebrimbor was to displace him as the maker of the Elessar in Gondolin.'

And the seeming clarity that the first jool passed away could be a revision too, but I'm more inclined to think this is due to the brevity of summing up both tales. As I posted earlier, the further external factor is, in my opinion, that when Celebrimbor becomes a Feanorean he is arguably not going to remain a smith in Gondolin.

Thus if we take The Elessar as 'canon' it arguably reads better with Enerdhil anway!

In my opinion. Again to me it doesn't read like part of the text, but a summation of the two with an 'intended' change that never occurred.

[Inziladun]

I still favor the Celebrimbor version. However, returning to your question of why Olórin would have brought it to Galadriel, if she already possessed Nenya, I have an idea or two.

In the first place, it's possible Gandalf, when he arrived at the Havens in the Third Age, was coming in blind, maybe knowing little or nothing of the Rings of Power. If he'd been given the Elessar to pass to Galadriel, it might not have occurred to him to wonder why she needed it. Also, he made a point of telling her it was not intended for her sole keeping forever, but that she was to give it to a certain person in the future.
I wonder too, if the powers of the Elessar and the Three, though similar in healing properties, were nonetheless subtly different, owing to the gifts and intentions of their respective makers.

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I still favor the Celebrimbor version. However, returning to your question of why Olórin would have brought it to Galadriel, if she already possessed Nenya, I have an idea or two.

In the first place, it's possible Gandalf, when he arrived at the Havens in the Third Age, was coming in blind, maybe knowing little or nothing of the Rings of Power. If he'd been given the Elessar to pass to Galadriel, it might not have occurred to him to wonder why she needed it. Also, he made a point of telling her it was not intended for her sole keeping forever, but that she was to give it to a certain person in the future. I wonder too, if the powers of the Elessar and the Three, though similar in healing properties, were nonetheless subtly different, owing to the gifts and intentions of their respective makers.

Hmm, my problem with these is that Galadriel appears to desire preservation power in the first place, and then Olorin offers her the stone.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galin

Hmm, my problem with these is that Galadriel appears to desire preservation power in the first place, and then Olorin offers her the stone.

Indeed, which is why I think the powers of Nenya and the Elessar might have some differences. Perhaps Galadriel used the latter to augment the former.

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Indeed, which is why I think the powers of Nenya and the Elessar might have some differences. Perhaps Galadriel used the latter to augment the former.

But that still misses the main question in my opinion: why does Galadriel, before even knowing that the Elessar is with Olorin, desire preservation power if she can employ Nenya, as she certainly does in the Third Age? The Three were already powerful, and made for preservation.

That's the question that goes away if she cannot employ Nenya at all because it's too early, with Olorin but not 'Gandalf'.

[Ivriniel]

Originally Posted by Galin

But that still misses the main question in my opinion: why does Galadriel, before even knowing that the Elessar is with Olorin, desire preservation power if she can employ Nenya, as she certainly does in the Third Age?

That's the question that goes away if she cannot employ Nenya at all because it's too early, with Olorin but not 'Gandalf'.

Was it the case that her conversation with Olorin preceded the peak in assay of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain's lore? I took UFT (I don't have it here atm, but I can check again), on this point (about the Elessar/with Olorin version), to be a conversation with Olorin sometime before she had Nenya.

However -- and here's the timing thing again -- as we know, Cirdan gave Gandalf a Ring. So, I need to check UFT again, but it seemed to me that in that first version of the Elessar, Tolkien had not had Nenya on Galadriel's finger (which again goes to what I read in Galin's earliest post, upstream. He noted that this meant a 'visit from Olorin to his mate, Alatariel (as he would have known her, not as Galadriel), *before* he was Istari-ified.....

awkward, but necessary to resolve the problem....

[Galin]

Well that's the point in question: if it's Gandalf the Istar it's about 1,000 years into the Third Age, or later... but Nerwende Artanis -- with [in theory] Nenya on her finger -- desires unfading grass, for example? She says this to Olorin before he reveals he has the Elessar.

I don't know why the Olorin idea is necssarily awkward though, as Tolkien himself even speaks to this Maia visiting Middle-earthers very early on, and provides the means. Unless you think the idea awkward even if it's from the uthor, I guess.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galin

But that still misses the main question in my opinion: why does Galadriel, before even knowing that the Elessar is with Olorin, desire preservation power if she can employ Nenya, as she certainly does in the Third Age? The Three were already powerful, and made for preservation.

That's the question that goes away if she cannot employ Nenya at all because it's too early, with Olorin but not 'Gandalf'.

Perhaps Galadriel was reluctant to use Nenya because of uncertainty regarding the One. The Wise knew only that Isildur had been traveling to Rivendell with it, when he, and it, were lost. Although it had been around 1000 years, maybe she wanted some means of healing that did not involve any connection to the One Ring.

The idea of Olórin coming to Middle-earth before the Third Age just doesn't sit well with me. Like I said, the coming of the Istari was such a major event in Middle-earth history that it seems like a cheat of sorts for Gandalf to just pop over the Sea to hand over something to an Elf.

[Galin]

Appendix B notes:

The Third Age

These were the fading years of the Eldar. For long they were at peace, wielding the Three Rings while Sauron slept and the One was lost; but they attempted nothing new (...) [something about Dwarves... something about Nmenoreans] (...)

... and next we learn that around 1,000 years [a notable amount of time] 'had passed' and the arrival of the Istari is described. And in step with this: 'Yet after the fall of Sauron their power was ever at work...' Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age

Come on now Tolkien doesn't have to spell it out explicitly with respect to Nerwen.

The Elves had, in my opinion, already wielded the Three in the Second Age, and even Christopher Tolkien rather simply notes that Galadriel would have to await the fall of Sorehead, in a comment about the possibility of her using Nenya after the Ring Ruse was discovered.

Although subjective of course, I think the possibility you raise about Galadriel is more strained than Olorin visting Middle-earth. Again everyone seems to accept Melian for instance, or some of the Valar.