The Hunt for the Ring

[ArcusCalion]

Thank you! It was certainly time-consuming!

1) Agreed.

2) Agreed for the inclusions. Apologies if I forgot to make a post about the other addition, it must have slipped my mind.

3) I think both have their merits. Text D supplies some backstory for Gollum which would be missing otherwise, so I am inclined to go with this one. Perhaps we can keep the fallout from the narrative in Text A like so:

... once dwelt beside the banks of the Gladden.>
HR-SL-03.2 <moved from below Now Sauron had never paid heed to the ‘Halflings,’ even if he had heard of them, and he did not yet know where their land lay.> {This}[Trusting Gollum] was thus a very small and natural error – but possibly the most important mistake that Sauron made in the whole affair. But for it, the Black Riders would have reached the Shire weeks sooner.>

This way we keep the story from Text D (which has more character weight for Gollum) while keeping the important bit from Text A: that Sauron's haste ended up costing him much needed time.

4) I do not see the need to remove it. It is true that this event is explained later, but its reference here is being used to provide in-universe proof for the idea that they did not like water, as well as to allay any calls that this point is not true since they went into the Ford. I think it is worth leaving in for these reasons.

5) Agreed.

6) We do not mention it. Should we remove the reference here or should we leave it in because (as Fin says) we should assume that our readers have read LotR?

7) He told them where the Shire is. I think you are right and this needs some editing, but the issue is that they realize that he did not make Gandalf confess, since he already knew the information. He should have shared it with Sauron, but he did not. So they see he is a traitor. How about this:

The Witch-king thus learned that Saruman knew well all along where the Shire was, and knew much about it, which he could and should have told to HR-SL-13.1 Sauron{'s servants} if he had been a true ally.

8) 1418 is in the Shire reckoning. Tolkien often uses Shire reckoning to describe the events in LotR. I personally do not mind leaving it, since the difference is (as you noticed) somewhat jarring, and the change in dating systems is therefore implicitly clear.

9) Very well, agreed to remove.

10) His puzzlement might be a reaction he had from the first time Khamul told him, but it was driven home to him when he saw Frodo in person. I think we should leave it, as there are ways to explain it.

11) Thank you for catching these!