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Re: the debate turns canonical
I don't want to get angry and I don't want to put anyone in a bad light. Those late night messages can sometimes come across pretty rough, though, try as I might not to say anything offensive.
As far as the populations go, I can refer you to my Suite101 essay
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/tolkien/54681Elves by the numbers</a>, but there are no definitive answers. Through the years I've had discussions with people over Elven populations and none of us has ever really come up with a satisfying way of estimating the Elven populations. Still, that essay represents my most recent take on the question.
How much the titles mattered would be, I think, mostly an issue of personal pride. And Tolkien did attribute or imply some stiff necks to Feanor and Fingolfin in "The Shibboleth of Feanor". I don't believe he would have left matters as they were had he started tying all the threads together, but quite possibly he would have gone back and changed the primary texts to have Fingolfin asserting a claim to kingship prior to the departure from Tirion.
Pride makes a great stumbling block, and it would have made the dispute between Feanor and Fingolfin more poignant, I think, if they were both running around Aman claiming to be Finwe's heir.
http://www.xenite.org/Xenite.Org: Science Fiction and Fantasy</a>
http://www.xenite.org/faqs/lotr_movie/Lord of the Rings Movie news</a>
http://www.xenite.org/xor/home.shtml1500+ Hercules/Xena Links</a>
http://www.xenite.org/books/visualiz...dle-earth.htmlVisualizing Middle-earth, a book on Tolkien</a>
http://www.xenite.org/special_events/vicky_shaffer.htmlVicky Shaffer: Monster or mother? Is Brianna in any danger?</a>
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