Quote:
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(...) it is uncertain whether Nimrodel or Amroth invented The Flet or Talan, but it was likely one or the other.
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That's according to a late note, but I think Tolkien had maybe forgotten what he had already published in
The Lord of the Rings. In the late note concerning Cerin Amroth, it is said that the flet of Amroth was principally designed to watch Dol Guldur, and the conversion of
telain into permanent dwellings was a later development.
This is the idea according to the same text in which Amroth or Nimrodel are noted as probably the first to live in such lofty houses, but this would be
after the Shadow came to Mirkwood, around about the end of the first millennium of the Third Age, when Lorien became
'... a land of uneasy vigilance, and Amroth must have dwelt in growing disquiet ever since Dol Guldur was established'
But in
The Lord of the Rings the notion appears to be that the Galadhrim were noted for living in trees before the Shadow came, with their very name reflecting this. Nimrodel is said to live in a house built in a tree:
'... for that was the custom of the Elves of Lorien, to dwell in the trees, and maybe it is so still. Therefore they are called the Galadhrim, the Tree-people. Deep in their forest the trees are very great. The people of the woods did not delve in the ground like Dwarves, nor build strong places of stone before the Shadow came.'
Also, Haldir notes that Amroth's house was built in 'happier days' -- and as I see things, this also fits well with a time before the Shadow came to Dol Guldur.
And with respect to 'unpublished' lore (although published by CJRT of course), the text (1969 or later) Amroth And Nimrodel states:
'Though Sindarin in descent he [Amroth] lived after the manner of the Silvan Elves and housed in the tall trees of a great green mound, ever after called Cerin Amroth. This he did because of his love for Nimrodel.'
So here is another late text as well, and to my mind one that better agrees with already published description. Although no time frame is noted specifically, Amroth was king in Lorien before the Shadow came, and here he housed in Cerin Amroth, after the manner of the Silvan Elves, because of his love for Nimrodel.