[Petty Dwarf]

Any other thoughts on possible inclusion of the fragments of the Lay of Earendil from II or LotR ?

I've always been partial to something like this (since last year in The Lay of Earendil). And now that I've sat on it, the preamble from the LoE seems like a nice touch, even though without precedent.

I don't think Bilbo's Eärendillinwë was trying to wring details out of Elrond, but more of Bilbo trying to adapt a Hobbit poem and style ("Errantry" in AoTB) to something more high-minded. In that case his concern was more metrical and less factual, hence the harsh critique. But there's more about Eärendil's journey in there than there is in any of the "Silmarillions".

The only way to squeeze in material would be to add it somewhere in this:

VE-08
----------------
But /*QS77 in after days it was sung that*\ Tuor alone of mortal Men was numbered among the elder race, and joined with the {Noldoli} [Noldor] whom he loved, and in after time dwelt still, or so it hath been said, ever upon his ship voyaging the seas of the Elven-lands, or resting a while in the harbours of the {Gnomes} [Elves] of Tol Eressëa; and his fate is sundered from the fate of Men. Bright {Eärendel} [Eärendil] was then lord of the folk of Sirion and their many ships; and he took to wife Elwing the fair, and she bore him Elros and Elrond, who are called the Halfelven. Yet {Eärendel} [Eärendil] could not rest, and his voyages about the shores of the Hither Lands eased not his unquiet. Two purposes grew in his heart, blended as one in longing for the wide sea: he sought to sail thereon, seeking after Tuor and Idril Celebrindal who returned not; and he thought to find perhaps the last shore and bring ere he died the message of Elves and Men unto the Valar of the West, that should move the hearts of Valinor and the Elves of {Tûn} [Tirion] to pity on the world and the sorrows of Mankind.
Vingelot he built, fairest of the ships of song, the Foamflower; white were its timbers as the argent moon, golden were its oars, silver were its shrouds, its masts were crowned with jewels like stars. In the Lay of {Eärendel} [Eärendil] is many a thing sung of his adventures in the deep and in lands untrodden, and in many seas and many isles. Ungoliantë in the South he slew, and her darkness was destroyed, and light came to many regions which had yet long been hid. But Elwing sat sorrowing at home.
{Eärendel} [Eärendil] found not Tuor nor Idril, nor came he ever on that journey to the shores of Valinor, defeated by shadows and enchantment, driven by repelling winds, until in longing for Elwing he turned him homeward toward the East. And his heart bade him haste, for a sudden fear was fallen on him out of dreams, and the winds that before he had striven with might not now bear him back as swift as his desire.

What BoLT material we could use:

Driven south. Dark regions. Fire mountains. Tree-men. Pygmies. Sarqindi or cannibal-ogres.

which is tempting because it seems like a presage of LotR stuff: Orodruin, Ents, and Hobbits. And there's also

Driven east --- the deserts and red palaces where dwells the Sun.

It requires some contrived phrasing, but they'd be nice additions.