* An unofficial New Silmarillion Outline *

[ArcusCalion]

Good day everyone,

With the release of the new Nature of Middle-earth, I have been launched into more editing and compiling related to the material in that book, most of which fits into the purview of Volume III. I figured I would post my new and improved outline for that Volume, as well as bring up a point of discussion.

Firstly, the discussion: I tried looking for a thread on this, but I couldn't find one. What was the consensus as to the limits of the linguistic material to be included? A great deal of the 'lore' that Tolkien wrote arose out of contemplation of various elvish words or roots, during the explanation of which he outlined complex philosophical concepts like the soul, spirits, light, dark, and the nature of the Valar. I know we have already decided to include some of the linguistic material which has more lore value, but what line are we drawing, and what should we include or not? I only ask because in my renewed editing, I have been revisiting the Tengwesta Quenderinwa, which was a document Tolkien wrote laying out the basis of the sound evolutions from Primitive Elvish into Quenya/Sindarin/Telerin etc. It's second draft dates to around the same period as Lord of the Rings, and contains the Lambion Ontalë, which we have agreed to use as our replacement for the Lhammas text from HoME V, due to its identical subject matter. However, the Lambion Ontalë is only the first of several sections of the Tengwesta Quenderinwa, which go into great detail about how words are formed, how sounds evolved, and how Elvish was pronounced. I personally think it's really interesting, and I would like to include it, as Tolkien considered it valid through the 1960s (as evidenced by several late notes and additions to it) but I am unsure of the scope of the project and where this text lies in relation to that.

Secondly, the outline: I will include the above-mentioned sections, as I have worked on them already, and we can decide if we wish to include them or not.

VOLUME III: THE LORE OF THE WISE

Laws and Customs Among the Eldar
- Preamble
- Of Naming
- Of Death and the Severance of Fëa and {Hrondo [ >} Hröa {]}
- Of Re-{birth}[housing] and Other Dooms of Those That Go to Mandos
-- Death of Animals and Plants
-- Death of Incarnate Bodies
- Of the Severance of Marriage
- <Namna Finwë Míriello> The Statute of Finwë and Míriel
- The Converse of Manwë and Eru
-- Comments on the Converse
-- Manwë's ban

The {Lhammas}[Lammas]
- Dangweth Pengolodh
- Tengwesta Quenderinwa
-- A. Lambion Ontalë
--- The Division of Tongues
--- <Excursus on the Languages of Beleriand>
--- <Of Other Races>
--- <Of Orcs and the Black Speech>
-- B. Lámaquenta
--- Quenderin Ólamar
--- Quenderin Ómar
-- C. Sundocarmë
--- §1 Base Structure
--- §2 Prefixion
--- §3 Normal Vocalization
--- §4 Abnormal Vocalization
--- §5 Inversion
--- §6 KALTA-Stems
--D. Lámasampanë
--- Dipthongs
-- E. Mestanyatsë
--- Contact of Consonants
-- Interconnexion of Bases
-- Note on the Development of ñ, ʒ
-- F. Minquetyarmë
-- G. The Earliest Changes and Inventions Common to the Eldar
- {Essekenta}[Essecenta] Eldarinwa
-- The Primary Linguistic Elements Concerned
--- √KWEN
--- √EL
--- √DEL
--- √HEK
--- √AWA
--- √WO
--- √HO
--- √ABA
-- Meanings and Use of the Various Terms Applied to the Elves and Their Varieties in Quenya, Telerin, and Sindarin
--- Quenya
--- Telerin
--- Sindarin
--- *Abarī
-- The Clan Names, with Notes on Other Names for the Divisions of the Eldar
--- Lindar (Teleri)
--- Vanyar
--- Ñoldor
--- Sindar
--- Nandor
-- Appendix A. Elvish Names for Men
-- Appendix B. Elvish Names for the Dwarves
--- The Petty-dwarves
-- Appendix C. Elvish Names for the Orcs
-- Appendix D. *KWEN, Quenya, and the Elvish (Especially Noldorin) Words for ‘Language’
--- Note on the Language of the Valar
-- Appendix E. Ósanwë-{Kenta}[Centa]
-- Appendix F. On √PHAN; Fana and Related Matters
--- The Knowledge of the Valar, or Elvish Ideas Concerning Them
--- Other Derivatives of √PHAN
-- Appendix G. Notes on Órë
-- Dark and Light
-- Gender and Sex
[i]-- Primal Impulse and Spirit
--- The Primal Impulse
--- Concerning Spirit
- Eldarin Hands, Fingers, and Numerals
-- The Words for Hand
-- Left and Right
-- The Fingers

{Ambarkanta}[Ambarcanta]
- Maps and Diagrams

Of Time in Arda
- Of {the Beginning of} Time and Its Reckoning
- Concerning the Quendi in their mode of life and growth especially as compared with Men
- Time and Its Perception
- Elvish Time Reference
- Lives of the Númenóreans
-- Author's Notes

Assorted Lore
- Of Lembas
- The Palantíri
- The Line of Elros and the Kings of Númenor
- The Marshals of the Mark
- The Rivers and Beacon Hills of Gondor
-- The Names of the Rivers
--- Adorn
--- Erui
--- Serni
--- Sirith
--- Celos
--- Gilrain
--- Ciril
--- Ringló
--- Morthond
--- Lefnui
-- The Names of the Beacon Hills
--- Amon Dîn
--- Eilenach and Eilenaer
--- Erelas
--- Calenhad
--- Halifirien

Assorted Poems
- Over Old Hills and Far Away
- Tinfang Warble
- I Sit Upon the Stones Alone
- The Bidding of the Minstrel
- The Shores of {Faëry}[Eldamar]
- The Last Voyage of {Eärendel}[Eärendil]
- The Happy Mariners

Scholarly Notes and Essays
- Commentary on the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
-- Author's Notes on the Commentary
- Notes on Motives in the Silmarillion
-- Melkor Morgoth
-- (i)
-- (ii)
-- (iii)
- A Note on Númenórean Linear Measures

[Findegil]

About the discussion: For me there is no reason not to include linguistcal stuff. It is rather missing confidence in my own abbilities in linguistical matters that I am concerned about. As always we have to be careful not to creat any lingustical facts not based on original Tolkien material.

Respectfully
Findegil

[ArcusCalion]

For the Tengwesta Quenderinwa at least, the content was considered valid by Tolkien into the late 1960s, as evidenced by its agreement with linguistic material from that date. There are a few other works by Tolkien which are bundled with the TQ material which are also considered authoritative, but we can discuss those at a later date. It would be good to have an elvish linguistic expert such as someone from Eldamo to help review those works.

[ArcusCalion]

I just wanted to comment on this thread to boost it to the top of the list for the newcomers. This is the full outline of the entire project as it currently stands. The chapters labeled "Finished" are generally the result of multiple rounds of editing and multiple (4 or more) members coming to an agreement that the chapter is in a finished state. Of course, such chapters can always be critiqued and changed further if some new material or unforeseen issue is raised, but generally these chapters are not the most fertile for discussion and work.

If you want some direction as to where to start with the project I would take a look at some finished chapters to get a feel for the methods of the project, but then to start participating in discussion I would try a Semi-finished or Work in Progress chapter.

I will say that the entirety of the Second and Third Ages will likely be revised once we finish our review of the first age material, so if you have a special interest in those time periods feel free to read those threads.

The Private Forum is not always up-to-date with the texts, so please consider the Private Forum the 'first draft' of the full text before all the changes have been made which arise over the course of discussion.

[Arvegil145]

I have a suggestion, since I can't seem to find it in the outlines for TNS:

Should we include a 'Tale of Years' in the outline - I'm itching to create one!

I mean - short of the mess in the NoME, that is.

[Findegil]

You mean a Tale of the Years for the First Age of the Sun I suppose, since the Second and Third Age are covered in the cannon published by JRR Tolkien himself.

Since we only have texts from Tolkien for The Tale of the Years for the last section of the First Age, I don't see how we could under our rules create such a text. Beside that we would have to fix not only a sequence of events, which is hard enough in parts, but we would have to put fixed dates on any event mentioned in such text. That is asking for a lot of dispute and the result would be questionaled at best.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Arvegil145]

Originally Posted by Findegil

You mean a Tale of the Years for the First Age of the Sun I suppose, since the Second and Third Age are covered in the cannon published by JRR Tolkien himself.

Since we only have texts from Tolkien for The Tale of the Years for the last section of the First Age, I don't see how we could under our rules create such a text. Beside that we would have to fix not only a sequence of events, which is hard enough in parts, but we would have to put fixed dates on any event mentioned in such text. That is asking for a lot of dispute and the result would be questionaled at best.

Respectfully
Findegil

You misunderstand me - I'm not talking about the 'Tale of Years' from WotJ.

I'm talking more about a 'Chronology of Arda', so to speak - covering everything from the beginning of the world all the way to the events of 'The New Shadow' (and maybe even beyond that - all the way to the Seventh Age, which is attested in the NoME).

For example, we have an approximate year for the end of the Fourth Age (c. FoA 2700) - as per PoME.


Besides, I'm not advocating for any in-depth depiction of the events - just cursory ones, so that readers can have a go-to reference for any date relating to events/characters/etc.