Intrigued by the Revised Silmarillion Project?

[Maédhros]

Have you ever been intrigued by the Mysterious Revised Silmarillion project here at the Barrowdowns?

Our hope for the project is to compile a greater Silmarillion that includes the most material possible that is in accord with Tolkien's later conceptions and ideas. (For an exact definition of our scope, see our Principles.)
I have noticed that while many members seems to be in favour of such endeavour, most shy away because the huge amount of work that it involves and with the quantity and quality of knowledge about the evolution of Tolkien's legendarium that is needed for it.
If you are worried that your knowledge is not appropiate for it, don't worry, there are people like Aiwendil and Findegil which provides us with it, and basically we are working one chapter at a time, so all of the readings required to understand it, are not that many per chapter.
We could always use some help from the members of the barrowdowns in our project. There are some great people in here and it is indeed a shame that they have not been taking part in it.
I have to say that I'm happy that The Squatter of Amon Rûdh has accepted to contribute in revising some of the Lays that we are working for.
Just to update you in our project, we have basically finished our Fall of Gondolin chapter and it looks really good. Hopefully, our draft will be posted shortly, and our next chapter Of the Ruin of Doriath has been worked by myself and Findegil, so a great part of that chapter is already done.
Looking foward to see some responses from the members of the barrowdowns.

Maitimo Russandol

[Frodo Baggins]

You mean you want us to help you? I have been drooling over the Revised Silmarillion for several months wishing if there were anything that could be done by the BD 'commoners'. I would consider it an honour to take up a job like this.

[Finwe]

I used to be part of the Sil Project, but I kind of dropped out due to huge increases in my workload in RL. Now that I've cleared stuff up, I'm actually interested in re-joining the project. Is there anything I could do to help, Maedhros?

[Aiwendil]

You are both very welcome to help with the project. In fact, anyone who is sincerely interested is welcome.

It's very unfortunate if we project the impression that we don't want "commoners" to contribute, or any such nonsense. Rather the opposite is true - one of the great difficulties with which we are constantly wrestling is the small number of members.

Sure, familiarity the Silmarillion is required; and some knowledge of HoMe is certainly helpful. But the most important prerequisite is an eagerness to help.

If you are still interested (and I hope that both of you are - and others), take a look particularly at the later portions of the General Comments and Sign Up thread, where there is advice on how to start contributing and on which threads are the most important to read.

[Maédhros]

I know that one of the biggest difficulties in contributing to the Project is the complexity of it all, and because we are at a point of almost finishing the Fall of Gondolin chapter there is a whole lot of reading that needs to be done in order to catch up to it.
Having said that, I will post in advance in this thread the date when we will begin our formal discussion regarding our next chapter The Ruin of Doriath; that way the new members wouldn't feel that they have to catch up and the overall discussion will be far better because of the greater quantity of opinions.

[Maédhros]

Well people, we have actually finished our draft of the Fall of Gondolin and we are almost ready to begin with our next Chapter Of Eärendil and the War of Wrath, so if you are interested in becoming involved with the Project, now is the time to do it.
Sorry Mr. UH, I really thought that The Ruin of Doriath was next.

[Maédhros]

I just wanted to make it public (I know that lindil has done this previously) our great appreciation of the Barrowdowns and in particular to the Barrow-Wight for his use of the forum for those of us in the Revised Silmarillion Project to do our work. We will shortly send some active/semi-active members our drafts of what we have been working on.

As to the general public, I just wanted to say that we have finally finished our draft of the Fall of Gondolin, and we are near the end of finishing both the Ainulindalë and the Valaquenta.

Our new project is to continue along with Of Eärendil and the War of Wrath. There is a pdf that has our basic draft in which we are working on. I encourage anyone who is interested in participating in the discussion to join in. This would be the ideal time to get involved because the discussion has just begun. Remember, this is your chance to play CT.

[Maédhros]

Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many persons in the barrowdowns sometimes wander into the Revised Silmarillion part of the forum to read some of the interesting, long and sometimes boring discussions that go in there.
I have noticed that when I'm in the bdowns, that there are guests that do read sometimes some of those threads.

[piosenniel]

I often read in the Revised Silmarillion Project. I followed along on FoG and the Lay of Earendil, and am now watching the work progress on Doriath.

Very interesting to read the discussions and see how sections are hashed out.

Thanks!

~*~ Pio

[Rimbaud]

I too am a frequent visitor to this forum. In fact, some of these threads were the first on the forum that I ever read, upon first finding the site. I think it is a commendable and ambitious project, and also a great example of the things which what could be termed 'open-source' collaborative work can achieve online (in fields other than software).

[Morgul Queen]

When do you think you'll be starting the Fall of Doriath? I'm not very good with the Fall of Gondolin, but Doriath is one of my obsessions and I'd really like to take part in it.

[Maédhros]

When do you think you'll be starting the Fall of Doriath? I'm not very good with the Fall of Gondolin, but Doriath is one of my obsessions and I'd really like to take part in it.

We have already started on the Ruin of Doriath chapter already. We basically have divided the chapter in 4 Parts:
Ruin of Doriath - Húrin in Nargothrond
Fall of Doriath - Outlaws in Menegroth
Ruin of Doriath - Attack on Menegroth
Ruin of Doriath - Final Part
The first part is almost finished, there is just one little thing that needs to be worked out.
The other are very advance since Findegil and myself had worked several drafts of the story. In order for someone to participate, you would just need to have read The Tale of Turambar, The Tale of the Nauglafring, Wanderings of Húrin, The Tale of Years and The Quenta.
I have lost hope that anyone else would participate in the project, you have no idea how many persons have applied to participate but when they see the workload that is required they dissapear.
Nevertheless, if you want to join us, by all means go ahead.

[Aiwendil]

We would all be quite pleased if you contribute, Morgul Queen.

I feel I should make it quite plain that anyone who is interested is welcome and encouraged to make any comments or suggestions. If someone's idea is completely unworkable within the context of the project, we will not be afraid to say so - however, I assure you we will not bite! On the contrary, we are always pleased to see someone taking an interest in the work, and we would be more than happy to help any newcomer learn the ropes, as it were. Note also that you need not be a "member" or even regularly contribute - if you happen to be browsing and something occurs to you, please feel free to post an isolated comment.

I am pleased to see, by the way, that we are at least providing some interesting reading material for some people.

Edit: I should add that any general comments or questions not answered in the (admittedly outdated) FAQ can be asked in the General Comments thread.

[Aiwendil]

I just thought I should bring this up again to say that we are now engaged in the revision of some sections of the alliterative "Turin" (HoMe III). Findegil has observed that this is probably one of the most "newbie"-friendly discussions in the Revised Silmarillion forum. For these sections, good knowledge of the English language and a love for Tolkien's verse is probably more important than a deep or comprehensive familiarity with HoMe.

So we heartily encourage any and all who are interested to take a look and to post any thoughts or comments whatsoever.

The thread for this discussion is here.