Yes and yes indeed!! That was absolutely amazing job,
Azaghâl! You deserve applause for solving this riddle after what seemed a bit like lost case. (I have already forgotten about the rain riddle, but I see that there remains some similar pattern in my riddles - whether it's for good or not remains a question
)
I think the key here was really to start thinking about The Hobbit. It sort of frustrated me (though I can imagine similar frustration on the side of those who tried to guess) to see everyone once again starting to think about obscure things from the Silmarillion or who knows where, since I picked The Hobbit intentionally, as everybody was aware of the movie being released that year (when I posted the riddle originally...
), and once again I thought I was being too obvious (well, I think so every time and every time I am proven to be wrong).
So the "I" is, of course, the thrush; aside from what
Azaghâl said, "to first of you, I'm just a tale..." was also supposed to allude to the hidden script written in Moon-Letters, where the thrush is really only mentioned in a rather cryptic way; the mysteries could also refer to the script itself, revealed only under the moonlight. "The first" could then be practically anyone of the Company, I was thinking of Thorin, since then the use of words "the first" could have double meaning, but it isn't necessary (the "you" of course is Thorin's company as a whole in any case). "The second" was meant to be specifically Bilbo, with the hint to his height (however the smallest, still bigger than the thrush), plus he was the one mistrustful about the thrush in the beginning. "His trust was of importance" because of what followed, so the thrush could be around and Bard could learn about Smaug's weak spot. The rest
Azaghâl sums up correctly - the "terror's night" is indeed the night when Lake-Town is destroyed, the Other is Smaug, the person referred to is Bard; I could only add that with the line "I save more than the tale did show" I was thinking about The Quest of Erebor (and the Appendices to LotR) where Gandalf remarks that perhaps by killing the Dragon the Free Peoples were saved from one possible future ally of Sauron who could literally set the North ablaze. But that's all detail and all was supposed only to serve the identification; the main point is the thrush, and that is the correct answer.
I think
Azaghâl rightfully deserves to post the next riddle
Looking forward to it!