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Old 12-04-2017, 09:26 PM   #1
ArcusCalion
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Tolkien The Lhammas -- Can we include it?

I have begun creating a draft version for the Lhammas text, and I have run into a multitude of issues.

1) In Quendi and the Eldar, Óssanwë Kenta, and other places there are several references to the fact that they are merely a summary of Pengolodh's writings in the Lhammas. However, the Lhammas as written does not contain anything remotely like these writings, with their notes on mind-communication, Valarin, and the tongues of Men and Nandor and Sindar.

2) The work relies very heavily on the idea of the Valian Year. Because we have decided to keep this ambiguous and unresolved, we cannot include these sections. However, it seems to me that there is no way to remove them or keep them ambiguous. We must therefore either resolve the debate, or come up with an unforeseen solution.

3) The canon is severely outdated. The concept of the Sindar had not yet emerged, and the entire Sindarin language is not in existence. Especially after Quendi and the Eldar, with the various relations between Sindarin and Quenya and the multitudinous dialects and historical variations alluded to, to edit these into the Lhammas text seems nigh impossible without immense creative liberty. The only document I can find to help is a section of Words, Phrases, and Passages, but I am unsure how thorough this will be.

These three difficulties present to me a very difficult document to revise. However, there can be no doubt that the idea represented is extremely important to Tolkien and was indeed the root of the entire legendarium: the Elvish tongues and how they changed and related over time. I think we need to try our hardest to include it.

That all being said, if anyone has ideas on how to resolve the points raised, I would very much appreciate it.

Last edited by ArcusCalion; 12-04-2017 at 11:18 PM.
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