Thank you for the kudos Fin, much appreciated.
I must admit I am somewhat confused by your structuring changes. This is how it seems to me that you wish to have the last chapters laid out:
Quote:
The War of the Ring
- The Shadow Grows
- The Hunt for the Ring
-- Of the Journey of the Black Rider According to the Account that Gandalf Gave to Frodo
-- The Ring Sets Out
- The Ring in Shadow
- The Battles of the Fords of Isen
The End of the Third Age
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I see why you propose some of these, but some are confusing to me. I will go through them one at a time.
Overall Structure Notes: You are right that the events in these chapters may be termed as part of the War of the Ring. However, I did not put them under a single heading for two reasons: 1) This leaves us with no title for the events of Return of the King, which, I think, above all other divisions need their own title. 2) In the narrative Synopsis of the events of the story we have this quote from Tolkien:
Quote:
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Even as they reached the Cross-roads and took the path to the ghastly city of Minas Morgul, a great darkness issued from Mordor, covering all the lands. Then Sauron sent forth his first army, led by the black King of the Ringwraiths: the War of the Ring had begun.
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This puts the official start of the War of the Ring midway through the events of the Two Towers, so I think we are justified in referring to the last battles as the War of the Ring proper, while the other buildup was more of the kindling that lit the fire. I know this is a subject for debate, but I think it is more important to have a title for the Return of the King events, and so I would really prefer to keep
The War of the Ring as the title for the next chapter. That being, said I am open to some restructuring possibilities. I am open to moving the events from
RSO-SL-22 to the end into the next chapter, which would mean moving the subheading
The Battles of the Fords of Isen to the next chapter as well.
Second Remark: I agree to the movement of the texts in this way, aside from two things. 1) I think they would be better placed after
TS-SL-14, since Bilbo's party happened long after the births of Faramir and Boromir, and placing it before they're mentioned gives the impression that the opposite is true, and that at the time of the War of the Ring they would only be around 17 years old! 2) I do not agree to the creation of a new chapter, or of the heading
The Shadow Grows. I am unsure where this heading comes from, but it seems to me to be unsourced, which we must avoid at all costs. Therefore, I think to simply leave the text at the end of
The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen is fine. We have a long history in the project of including events inside chapters and stories where they are not necessarily immediately relevant to the title name, but I think it is ok to do so. If you think we absolutely cannot leave them in
The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, then we should move them to the very beginning of
The Hunt for the Ring.
Sidenote: the slightly different editing of
HR-SL-01.5 looks good, but it should say 'had elapsed.'
Last Point of Structural Criticism: This looks perfect Fin, and I was actually thinking it should have been structured better, so thank you. I only have one comment, which is that I would prefer the first subheading to simply be
Of the Journey of the Black Riders, as the full title seems needlessly long, perhaps the second part (According to the Account Gandalf Gave to Frodo) can be placed underneath the subheading, but I suppose any option is fine really, just an aesthetic preference.
Fin's Ending Comments: I do not think we need the subheading
The Ring in Shadow, as
The Ring Sets Out still applies. I am also not sure where this title comes from, so I think it is best to leave it out.
As to the comment about expanding the outline reference to Angmar, I agree.
I see your point about dates, and I agree. Would you like to go through your copies to make sure the dates are all in order? I will do the same with mine.
P.S. As a summary, I think this is the best final structure:
Quote:
- The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen
- The Hunt for the Ring
-- Of the Journey of the Black Riders
-- The Ring Sets Out
- The Treason of Isengard
-- The Battles of the Fords of Isen
- The War of the Ring
- The End of the Third Age
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(See the next post for the Treason of Isengard chapter)