Of the Rings of Power

[ArcusCalion]

Excellent chapter Fin, and I think we will have far less discussion on it than the past few. I still have a few points to make, which I will put below. Anything I do not mention is something I agree to.

RP-SL-12: I see why you deleted the last part of the sentence:

; and three of their rings they saved, and bore them away, and hid them.

I'm guessing it was to keep some suspense until after the attack when we learn that the Elves have hidden the rings, but we might also consider keeping the last part of this first removed sentence. I do not feel strongly about it either way, but I thought I would mention it.

RP-SL-18: This is an editorial addition by CT, and we do not need it. I say we remove it.

RP-SL-21: This is all fine, but you added an 'also' which does not need to be added.

RP-SL-28: I think we should go with Amdir. Malgalad and Amdir are said by CT to be of the same time period and one cannot supersede the other based on seniority. However, Amdir is the name tied to Amroth, and I think keeping this association is reason enough to use this name instead of Malgalad. We could consider giving him the name of Malgalad as an epithet, but that I think if we have to pick one or the other, we should use Amdir.

RP-SL-29: In this addition, the reference to the realm of Thranduil should be changed to the realm of Oropher for the same reason as RP-SL-28. Thranduil is said to lead back his people from the Last Alliance, where Oropher perished, so at this time, Oropher is still ruling over the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood. Call this change RP-SL-29.5.

RP-SL-35: To answer your question about where this comes from, it is from one of the footnotes to Dwarves and Men, so it is a late source. In my draft for The Sindarin Princes of the Silvan Elves I used it in place of your addition from Appendix B of LotR. I would argue that it makes more sense there, but there is no real harm in including it here instead, as we know he dwelt there longer at this time.

RP-SL-38: This is not related to this deletion (which I agree with) but to the editing you did afterwards which is not marked. We can call this RP-SL-38.5 for convenience. You changed it because they are setting out from Lindon, not Imladris, but your editing is awkward. I think it is smoother to simply remove "from Imladris." This is smoother and accomplishes the same goal.

RP-SL-40 to 45: This is the part with the most difficulty in the chapter, as I'm sure you could predict. There are several points which I must raise:

1) No matter what we do with these additions, we should probably use the actual source material CT is referring to instead of his summary
2) Should we give both alternate versions or only give one?

For the first point: the first story given (about the Sindar from the havens) is given in Dwarves and Men during the discussion of the Middle Men. You already took a large piece of this discussion for the Aldarion and Erendis chapter (which was best), and I think this is also the better place for this info, and so we should include it here instead of in the Middle Men discussion. But we should use the actual story instead of CT's summary. However, half of the actual story is in a footnote, and it may be desirable to raise it up into the main text. Here is the text as it stands in Dwarves and Men:

The shores of the Bay of Belfalas were still mainly desolate, except for a haven and small settlement of Elves at the mouth of the confluence of Morthond and Ringló. [Footnote: This according to the traditions of Dol Amroth had been established by seafaring Sindar from the west havens of Beleriand who fled in three small ships when the power of Morgoth overwhelmed the Eldar and the Atani; but it was later increased by adventurers of the Silvan Elves seeking for the Sea who came down the Anduin. The Silvan Elves were Middle Elves according to the Númenórean classification, though unknown to the Atani until later days: for they were like the Sindar Teleri, but were laggards in the hindmost companies who had never crossed the Misty Mountains and established small realms on either side of the Vales of Anduin. (Of these Lórien and the realm of Thranduil in Mirkwood were survivors in the Third Age.) But they were never wholly free of an unquiet and a yearning for the Sea which at times drove some of them to wander from their homes.]

This includes some pertinent info for the Middle Men discussion, which we could lift out and place there, but by and large the question is mainly: do we raise the footnote text into the main text? I say we should, since it is obviously more centrally important here than it was in that essay.

Moving on to the second version, this is based on the Rivers and Beacon Hills of Gondor given in Vinyar Tengwar 42. As this is a rare text, I will give it in full here (I apologize for the length):

Belfalas: This is a special case. Bel- is certainly an element derived from a pre-Númenórean name; but its source was quite known, and was in fact Sindarin. The regions of Gondor had a complex history in the remote past, so far as their population was concerned, and the Númenóreans evidently found many layers of mixed peoples, and numerous islands of isolated folk either clinging to old dwellings, or in mountain-refuges from invaders. [Footnote: Though none of the regions of the Two Kingdoms were before (or after!) the Númenórean settlements densely populated as we should reckon it.] But there was one small (but important) element in Gondor of quite exceptional kind: an Eldarin settlement. Little is known of its history until shortly before it disappeared; for the Eldarin Elves, whether Exiled Noldor or long-rooted Sindar, remained in Beleriand until its desolation in the Great War against Morgoth; and then if they did not take sail over Sea wandered westward [sic; read “eastward”] in Eriador. There, especially near the Hithaeglir (on either side), they found scattered settlements of the Nandor, Telerin Elves who had in the First Age never completed the journey to the shores of the Sea; but both sides recognized their kinship as Eldar. There appears, however, in the beginning of the Second Age, to have been a group of Sindar who went south. They were a remnant, it seems, of the people of Doriath, who harbored still their grudge against the Noldor and left the Grey Havens because these and all the ships there were commanded by Círdan (a Noldo). Having learned the craft of shipbuilding [Footnote: All Elves were naturally skilled in making boats, but the craft that were to make a long voyage over Sea, perilous even to Elven-craft until Middle-earth was far behind, required more skill and knowledge.] they went in the corse of years seeking a place for havens of their own. At last they settled at the mouth of the Morthond. There was already a primitive harbor there of fisher-folk; but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the mountains. The land between Morthond and Serni (the shoreward parts of Dor-en-Ernil)

This was followed by a brief note from CT:

It was perhaps a purely experimental extension of the history, at once abandoned; but the assertion that Círdan was a Noldo is very strange. This runs clean counter to the entire tradition of him – yet it is essential to the idea sketched in this passage. Possibly it was his realization of this that led my father to abandon it mid-sentence.

After this, he notes that this story was replaced with an entirely new passage that does not address the word Belfalas at all.

Having now given both texts as they stand in their origins, I will discuss which one is more fitting, or if both should be given. Both texts are dated c. 1969, so one cannot be shown to be later than the other. However, the second story was rejected by Tolkien, and contains as an essential element a great contradiction to a much later story (Cirdan is one of the latest of his writings.) Therefore, I would posit that the second story is ruled out by nature of its being rejected by Tolkien, and indeed abandoned mid-sentence and replaced. However, as Fin has said, I think we should combine when possible. Thus, I would recommend combining where possible. However, the entirety of the beginning is either not fitting to use here, or a summary of things already said in other chapters, and the main story of the second version is unusable. Therefore, the only detail we can take is this:

There was already a primitive harbor there of fisher-folk; but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the mountains.

I would add it into the first story here:

... who came down the Anduin. <Rivers and Beacon Hills of Gondor There was already a primitive harbor there of fisher-folk; but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the mountains.> The Silvan Elves were Middle Elves ...

This, I hope, effectively solves the debate, and takes the best from both worlds. I would recommend using the beginning passage later on in the Last Alliance chapter, when the landing of Isildur and Anarion is related.

RP-SL-47: I do not see the reason for this change. If there is a good reason, then 'dedicated' is certainly the wrong word to use here, but as it is, I am unsure what your reasoning and intention behind this are.

I apologize for the length of the post, but I think it was a good chapter and the discussion will, for the most part, be pretty painless.