[Findegil]

BL-SL-01: I think the hand was removed because of the development in the Lay that the Ork wanted to keep the Ring for himself. With the hand brought to Sauron he could not so easily lie that it was bar (normally you would see a mark of a ring at the finger, especially with a man living all times out side).

Posted by Aiwendil:

Actually, it strikes me that, as a general principle, we might want to give priority to the later version of the Lay over LQ, since by this point much of the work on LQ was merely copying QS.

Agreed.

BL-Ex-03: I can understand your point, but there is at least one passage that comes to mind that does contradict your theory. And that passage comes from the most highest priority source we have: "The Lord of the Rings"; volume 2: "The Two Towers"; book IV; chapter IX: "Shelob's Lair":

There agelonge she had dwelt, an evil thing in spider-form, even such as once of old had lived in the Land of the Elves in the West that is now under the Sea, such as Beren fought in the Mountains of Terror in Doriath, and so came to Lúthien upon the green sward amid the hemlocks in the moonlight long ago. How Shelob came there, flying from ruin, no tale tells, for out of the Dark Years few tales have come. ...

I must say that my memory of that passage was based on the German translation which makes the passage even more explicit by making it Shelob (or rather Kankra) herself who fought with Beren. But anyway here we have a passage that tells us that Beren fought against spiders on his way to Doriath. I would therefore argue that even if he never spoke about it the poet of the Lay took the elvish experience of the Ered Grogoroth and Dungorthed and the freedom of poesy and worked out a passage fitting to the occasion. If I imagine Frodo writing his account of his quest with no more information than what we have in the new version of the Lay and in QS as found in Sil77, how could he than say that Beren had fought with the spiders?

Either way I comment on BL-EX-04 to BL-EX-07 if we decide to use them in the end.

BL-EX-04 & BL-EX-05: What about:

Then {all his}[on this] journey{'s} lonely[ he] fare,
{the}[of] hunger and {the}[of] haggard care,

BL-EX-06: May be we could change it thus:

and there they lived, and sucked bones
lay white beneath on the dark stones -
now all these horrors like a cloud
BL-EX-06{faded from}[lay on his] mind. The waters loud
falling from pinnacle heights no more
he heard, those waters grey and frore
that bittersweet he drank and filled
his mind with madness - all was stilled.

BL-RG-00.5: Agreed. And Tauros -> Tauron is also right.

BL-RG-02: Agreed.

BL-RG-05: Agreed.

BL-RG-06: Agreed.

BL-RG-08: Agreed.

BL-RG-09: What about:

whereon are built the timeless halls
of Manwe {Lord of Arda}[and Varda]. Who calls

Not the same sense but still true.

BL-RG-11.5: With an syllable more:

{not might of Gods}[nor any might on Earth], not moveless fate
shall him defend from wrath and hate

But I am not really happy with this.

BL-RG-12: Of course with a "t" at the end. Thanks for the flowers.

BL-RG-15: Okay, then we will leave the "here" in 1827 out.

BL-SL-03: Let's try:

So would they not that angry day
King Felagund their lord obey,
but sullen murmured that Finrod
{nor yet his son were as a god}[does not think enough as a realms lord].
Then Felagund took off his crown
and at his feet he cast it down,

BL-EX-09: What about:

{One stopped and}[And Edrahil] lifted up {his}[the] crown,
{and said}[saying]: 'O king, to leave this town

BL-SL-04: Agreed.

BL-EX-10: Your work is ever welcome.

At last a word to the working speed. I do not bother at all how slow we are in the moment. When I look at the time it took to finish FoG we are still moving like in a rush reckoned from that point onward.

Respectfully
Findegil