2 Of Valinor and the Two Trees

[ArcusCalion]

Here are my comments for the draft proposed. Like the "Of the Beginning of Time" draft, I am very impressed at the overall improvement in flow and quality, and have some comments.

VT-EX-01b: is the addition of "ancient" really necessary? when this was written the round world numenoran cataclysm had already entered the mythos, so the ancient word was implied already.

VT-LQ-01.5: I actually realize now that this contradicts the addition of the "vast regions of Ea" into the Cosmological structure with Ainulindale D and later AAm. Should this be changed from "Void and Eldest Darkness" to "Vast Spaces of Ea"?

VT-EX-03.1: In this version, the "Mountains of Valinor" and just "Valinor" occur before the introduction of the name Valinor as the land of the Valar. Is this a problem?

VT-LT-03.5: This is awkward. Maybe instead of changing "their" to "its" at every occurrence, just change the first "Their roofs" to "The roofs of its buildings were .." and leave the "their"s afterwards. Makes it smoother.

VT-EX-30.1: Arie is said to be a Maia of Vana, so this wording cannot stay this way. Maybe

.... to her bidding, and caused one of {her}[the maidens of Vána], even {Urwen}[Arie] ....

VT-LQ-04b: Nowhere in this passage does it say that the wells are near Ezellohar. If there is no actual source saying that they are, then I would recommend that the descriptions of the resting places of the cauldrons be retained in the later part of the chapter.

VT-LT-05: Nothing wrong with this, but in the paragraph after this addition, it says the Noldor call Varda Elbereth, but as this name is Sindarin, should tis be changed to Sindar?

VT-LT-06: At the end of the paragraph, per my comment on the LQ-04b, I would add back in the description of the resting place of Silindirin.

VT-LT-08b: Why remove so much of the sentence? Only the part about Makar seems unfit, the rest is pretty important.

VT-LT-11.5: I would add back the description of the resting place of Culullin, see above.

VT-LT-12: why remove Vê? Even if it is not his own name, there is no real reason to remove it.

VT-LT-13: This last paragraph cause me and Fin a bunch of trouble, and I like the direction you took much better. However, many of my old objections still apply. Much of the Lost Tales descriptions of Nienna are entirely at odds with her later persona, and thus we need to remove or greatly edit much of this paragraph. Firstly, this:

labored {rather} at the distilling of salt humours whereof are tears, and black clouds she wove and floated up that they were caught in the winds and went about the world, and their lightless webs settled ever and anon upon those that dwelt therein. Now these tissues were despairs and hopeless mourning, sorrows and blind grief.

is entirely unlike her. She is not despair, she is pity, hope, courage. She feels the sadness of the world, but she offers means to cope. She therefore cannot be said to make tears or despairs and hopeless mourning. I would personally remove the entirety of the pasage, but if you wish to update it instead good luck. Secondly, the Halls of Nienna can hardly be said to be more wide and dark than Mandos, the Halls of which "ever widen as the ages pass." Therefore, I worry that this description might be too tied to the Hall in Mandos idea, rather than the later idea of a separate Hall "west of West." Certainly, the grim underworld descriptions of it do not fit her later character at all.

[Aiwendil]

Originally Posted by ArcusCalion

VT-EX-01b: is the addition of "ancient" really necessary? when this was written the round world numenoran cataclysm had already entered the mythos, so the ancient word was implied already.

This is an addition from the AAm* typescript.

VT-LQ-01.5: I actually realize now that this contradicts the addition of the "vast regions of Ea" into the Cosmological structure with Ainulindale D and later AAm. Should this be changed from "Void and Eldest Darkness" to "Vast Spaces of Ea"?

Hmm, this is an interesting question. What gives me pause is that Ainulindale D probably precedes LQ. So if the new cosmology had already arisen, then perhaps we should construe "Void and Eldest Darkness" as not actually conflicting with the new cosmology? I need to think about this a bit.

VT-EX-03.1: In this version, the "Mountains of Valinor" and just "Valinor" occur before the introduction of the name Valinor as the land of the Valar. Is this a problem?

Good point. I don't see an obvious, easy way to fix this, though I can give it some more thought.

VT-LT-03.5: This is awkward. Maybe instead of changing "their" to "its" at every occurrence, just change the first "Their roofs" to "The roofs of its buildings were .." and leave the "their"s afterwards. Makes it smoother.

I like this suggestion.

VT-EX-30.1: Arie is said to be a Maia of Vana, so this wording cannot stay this way. Maybe

Right, I was confused on this point when I made the draft, but I now see that Arie(n) became a Maia of Varda only with the new story of the Sun in MT II. Without that story, I agree that she should remain a Maia of Vana, so I think your suggestion is good.

This also brings up the small point of her name. In my view, the 'Arie' of MT II (the name derived from earlier 'Azie', itself from the primeval name 'As' or 'Asa' of the Sun) is almost a different character replacing Arien, maiden of Vana. I am half convinced that in rejecting the new story of the Sun, we should also reject 'Arie' in favour of 'Arien'. A small point, though.

VT-LQ-04b: Nowhere in this passage does it say that the wells are near Ezellohar. If there is no actual source saying that they are, then I would recommend that the descriptions of the resting places of the cauldrons be retained in the later part of the chapter.

Good point. The wells are in fact said to be near the Green Mound in AAm, §28, but I missed that statement since I took this passage from LQ. We must stick with the story that they were near Ezellohar, though how to introduce this fact into the text is not so obvious. The wells are now mentioned before Ezellohar is, so we can't really insert the statement the first time we mention the wells. I suppose what we could do is, the first time we mention the Green Mound, add a statement that it is near the wells, something like:

VT-EX-04.4 And before its western gate, <Editorial addition based on AAm near Cululin and Silindirin,> there was a green mound, and it was bare save for a sward of unfading grass.

Your comment also made me realize that I missed taking up the emendations to AAm here whereby the name 'Ezellohar' was introduced. It should be, then:

VT-EX-04.4 And before its western gate, <Editorial addition based on AAm near Cululin and Silindirin,> there was a green mound, <AAm emendation Ezellohar,> and it was bare save for a sward of unfading grass.

VT-EX-04.5 Then Yavanna and Nienna came to {that Green Mound}[Ezellohar]; and Yavanna hallowed it, . . .

VT-LT-05: Nothing wrong with this, but in the paragraph after this addition, it says the Noldor call Varda Elbereth, but as this name is Sindarin, should tis be changed to Sindar?

I'm not completely sure - this is from the Ainulindale D, which I believe post-dates the change of Noldorin to Sindarin (which arose in the writing of the appendices to LotR). And it is true that in Middle-earth (at least in the 3rd age) the Noldor - like Gildor - do call her that (since they mainly speak Sindarin). On the other hand, Christopher Tolkien saw fit to change 'whom the Noldor name' to 'who in the Sindarin tongue is named'. So perhaps we should follow his lead there.

VT-LT-06: At the end of the paragraph, per my comment on the LQ-04b, I would add back in the description of the resting place of Silindirin.

As noted, I think they do need to be near Ezellohar because of AAm.

VT-LT-08b: Why remove so much of the sentence? Only the part about Makar seems unfit, the rest is pretty important.

I think you're right. We can make this:

VT-LT-08c Nonetheless is he no wrangler or striker of blows unprovoked {as is Makar}, albeit there are none of Valar or Úvanimor (who are monsters, giants, and ogres) that do not fear the sinews of his arm and the buffet of his iron-clad fist, when he has cause for wrath.

VT-LT-11.5: I would add back the description of the resting place of Culullin, see above.

As noted, it needs to be near Ezellohar.

VT-LT-12: why remove Vê? Even if it is not his own name, there is no real reason to remove it.

I think that 'Mandos' clearly replaced 'Ve' as the name of the hall - note that in LT, Mandos is the region, while Ve is specifically the hall. Add to this that Ve is a very old name with no plausible etymology, never mentioned after the Lost Tales, and I think we are best dropping it.

VT-LT-13: This last paragraph cause me and Fin a bunch of trouble, and I like the direction you took much better. However, many of my old objections still apply. Much of the Lost Tales descriptions of Nienna are entirely at odds with her later persona, and thus we need to remove or greatly edit much of this paragraph.

Yes, I hadn't given this much thought, but I think you are completely right about Nienna. I think we should remove the whole paragraph.

[ArcusCalion]

I guess that's everything I saw. I agree with your comments.

On a side note, I see no reason not to include Omar and Nieliqui, since they do not play large narrative roles, and their existence was never denied by Tolkien.

[Findegil]

VT-LQ-01.5: I don’t think that this is a contradiction. Ekkaia is in the new and in the old concept like to what we would call space. And its boundary is the Walls of the World beyond which is the Void.

VT-EX-03.1: We use Valinor already in the heading of the chapter. But still I see reason to replace it here. In the first place we could used “the mountains they raised” and in the second “Aman”.

VT-LT-03.5: I like ArcusCalion’s suggestion as well.

VT-EX-30.1: Hmm, even so we reject the story of the new and holy light, I am not sure that we should not keep the possibility for that story open. Meaning that we will not include it, but as well should not deny it, if not necessary. Therefore I would not specify if Árië/Ariën is a maiden of Vána or Varda. What about just naming her “a maiden of the Maiar”? To the name I am open. For me it doesn’t matter. Both seem to be near variants and Ariën has for me the more feminine feel.

VT-LQ-04b, VT-LT-06 & VT-LT-11.5: I am not sure that what is said about the wells – that they are near the Ezellohar – does contradict what is said about the places of Kululin and Silindrin in LT? Why should not the gardens of Lóriën and Vána stretch along to have areas near the appropriate trees in which the “wells” where places – or to put it in the real sequence: when Aulë needed light, it was for the building of Valimar, therefore the wells were placed near to the place where Valimar was build. When then the gardens of Lóriën and Vána were planted, both liked to include the appropriate well into their garden and extended the gardens accordingly.

VT-EX-04.4 & VT-EX-04.5: Agreed.

Following VT-LQ-05: Agreed. I think we should call that change VT-EX-38.

VT-LT-08c: Agreed.

VT-LT-12 & VT-LT-13: Aiwendil, if you feel not safe with “Vê”, I agree to remove it. The same is true then for “Fui” as the name of the other hall, but I would like to hold that description as I did in my draft:

and go forth to laugh and sing again.>
VT-LT-13b<LT{The}And another hall {that she loved best}there was, one yet wider and more dark than {Vê}[the first]{, and she too named it with her own name, calling it Fui}. Therein before {her}his black chair burnt a brazier with a single flickering coal, and the roof was of bats' wings, and the pillars that upheld it and the walls about were made of basalt. Thither came the sons of Men to hear their doom, and thither are they brought by all the multitude of ills that {Melko}[Melkor]'s evil music set within the world. Slaughters and fires, hungers and mishaps, diseases and blows dealt in the dark, cruelty and bitter cold and anguish and their own folly bring them here; and {Fui}[Námo] reads their hearts.>

Wickedness

Omar and Nieliqui: I am out of that discussion, because I think it is most of all linguistic. If the names are still possible we can include them, if not we should not try to update them.

I had only time to follow the discussion, and not to analyse all the changes. So their might come farther comments. Sorry for that.

Respectfully
Findegil

[ArcusCalion]

VT-LQ-01.5: Ekkaia is in no way meant to be equivalent to "space." It is akin more to the ancient Greek and Indian mythological idea of the Sea that encircles the world, or the Biblical waters that were beyond the sky that God used to make the flood. In the earliest concept, there was no "space" as it was a simple flat earth with the stars and Sun and Moon being in "Ilmen" the narrow region of the atmosphere where the luminaries are said to be. However, in the new concept, Ea is introduced as true "space" beyond Arda, which is merely our world / solar system. Thus, the placement of the Walls of the World comes into question. In the old conception, their function was to separate Creation from Uncreation, and to bind the Valar and Maiar to Arda. however, with the introduction of Ea, the boundary between Creation and Uncreation is the place between Ea and the Void, and thus it seems to me that the Walls would be there. However, for this passage, the main point is that, regardless of the placement of the walls, there must be some mention of Ea and its vast spaces, as the passage as-is merely lays out the old cosmology, where it goes Vaiya(Ekkaia) -> Walls of the World -> The Void / Eldest Darkness. We must either replace the Void section with Ea, or insert and additional Ea reference. I suppose we do actually have to determine where the walls of the world are meant to be in the new conception as well.

VT-LQ-04b, VT-LT-06 & VT-LT-11.5: I agree with Fin here. The Gardens of Lorien are even said to wind "nigh to the feet of Silpion." They can thus be by Ezellohar and in the Gardens of Lorien and Vana at the same time.

VT-LT-13: I agree with Fin here, I think the judgement of Men is worth including, as the description used is of the Halls of Mandos, removing Fui would allow for us to use it.

[Findegil]

VT-EX-01b: Why did we skip “But the east-shores of Aman are the uttermost end of the Great Sea of the West”? Okay we have to end the sentence with a full point istaead of coneccting it to the next by a semi-colon, but is that alone enough?

VT-EX-01b & VT-LQ-01.5:
- Why did we skip “But the east-shores of Aman are the uttermost end of the Great Sea of the West”? Okay we have to end the sentence with a full point istaead of coneccting it to the next by a semi-colon, but is that alone enough?
- Are not “…;for its west shores looked upon the Outer Sea that encircled the kingdom of Arda, and beyond were the Walls of {the} Night. “ and “But on the further side lay the Outer Sea, which encircles the Kingdom of Arda, and is called by the Elves VT-LQ-02 {Vaiya}[Ekkaia]. How wide is that sea none know but the {gods}[Valar], and beyond it are the Walls of the World to fence out the Void and the Eldest Darkness.” redundant?
- I think, that it is no question that the “Walls of the World” separate Creation from Uncreation as you put it in all cosmologies. But Eä signifies all the Creation. So it can not be said that beyond Ekkaia is Eä, because Eä includes Ekkaia and the rest of Arda (if Ekkaia can still be called a part of Arda). Howsoever we do not have to explain the cosmology, we “just” have too make the sentence in question fit to what we know for sure about the cosmology we work with. But anyhow that sentence most not be an exact listing of all things between one point and the other and that the Walls of the World were beyond Ekkaia is no question.
So I think we should change all this probably in this way:

VT-EX-01c <AAm Thus ended the Spring of Arda. And the dwelling of the {Gods}[Valar] upon Almaren was utterly destroyed, and they had no abiding place upon the face of the earth. Therefore they removed from Middle-earth and went to the Land of Aman, which was westernmost of all lands upon the borders of the <AAm* ancient> world; for its{ west shores looked upon the Outer Sea that encircled the kingdom of Arda, and beyond were the Walls of the Night. But the} east-shores{ of Aman} are the uttermost end of the Great Sea of the West. VT-EX-02 <LT Then said Manwë: ‘Now will we make a dwelling speedily and a bulwark against evil.’ So they fared over {Arvalin}[Avathar] and saw a wide open space beyond, reaching for unknown leagues{ even to the Outer Seas}.> VT-LQ-01.5 <LQ But on the further side lay the Outer Sea, which encircles the Kingdom of Arda, and is called by the Elves VT-LQ-02 {Vaiya}[Ekkaia]. How wide is that sea none know but the {gods}[Valar], and beyond it are the Walls of the World to fence out the Void and the Eldest Darkness.>
VT-EX-03b <LT There, said Aulë, …

VT-EX-03b: posted by Aiwendil:

I also move the detail of the world rumbling in the gloom to what I feel is a more natural place.

I am sorry, but that place doesn’t feel right to me. May be we should move it even more. What about:

VT-EX-03b <LT There, said Aulë, would be a place well suited to great building and to a fashioning of realms of delight; wherefore the Valar and all their folk first gathered the most mighty rocks and stones from {Arvalin}[Avathar] and reared therewith> <AAm upon the shores of the Sea {they raised} the Pelóri, the Mountains of Aman, highest upon earth. {And above all the mountains of the Pelóri was that height which was called Taniquetil,}> VT-EX-03.01<LT and the world rumbled in the gloom and {Melko}[Melkor] heard the noises of their labour.> VT-EX-03.02<LT Aulë indeed it was himself who laboured {for seven ages} at Manwë’s bidding in the piling of {Taniquetil} the greatest mountain,> VT-EX-03.03<AAm upon whose summit Manwë set his throne before the doors of the domed halls of Varda{.},> VT-LQ-02.5 <LQ Taniquetil the Elves name that holy mountain, and Oiolossë Everlasting Whiteness, and Elerrína Crowned with Stars, and many names beside. But the Sindar spoke of it in their later tongue as Amon Uilos.>

VT-EX-03.1: We can as well use here “Mountains of Aman” as in the paragraph before and “towered mightily between their land and the world the Valar drew breath”

VT-LT-06: If we replace “Murmuran” by “Lórien” then we should replace at the beginning of the sentence “Lórien” by “Irmo”, otherwise sentence reads awkward. But why do we remove “Murmuran”?
By the way: we used “Lóriën” up to now, at least for the place in Valinor and the Valar.
The reinsertion of Silindirin I would do in this way:

… them much in his enchantments. VT-LT-06.5 {Amidmost}[Within] of those pleasances was set {within}[amidmaost] a ring of shadowy cypress towering high that deep vat {Silindrin}[Silindirin]. There it lay in a bed of pearls, and its surface unbroken was shot with silver flickerings, and the shadows of the trees lay on it, and the Mountains of Valinor could see their faces mirrored there. Lóriën gazing upon it saw many visions of mystery pass across its face, and that he suffered never to be stirred from its sleep save when Silmo came noiselessly with a silver urn to draw a draught of its shimmering cools, and fared softly thence to water the roots of Silpion ere the tree of gold grew hot.>
VT-LT-07<LT Otherwise was the mind of Tulkas, …

I exchanged “amidmost” and “within” because Silindirin can no longer be “amidmost” of Lóriën.

VT-LT-11: I agree that we should not call Oromë any longer Yavanna’s son, but I think we can edit this in a lighter way:

VT-LT-11b{And}[Now] Oromë tamer of beasts <LT {Now Oromë} had a vast domain and it was beloved by him, and no less by {Palúrien}[Yavanna]{ his mother}. Behold, the groves of trees they planted upon the plain of Valinor and even upon the foothills of the mountains have no compare on Earth. …

VT-LT-11.5: Here we should add Culullin back in:

… Its innermost solitude is walled with roses, and this is the place best beloved of that fair lady of the Spring. VT-EX-11.7 Amidmost of this place of odorous air did Aulë set long ago that cauldron, gold {Kulullin}[Culullin], filled ever with the radiance of Laurelin like shining water, and thereof he contrived a fountain so that all the garden was full of the health and happiness of its pure light. Birds sang there all the year with the full throat of spring, and flowers grew in a riot of blossom and of glorious life. Yet VT-EX-13 was none ever of that splendour spilled from the vat of gold save when Vána's maidens led by {Urwen}[Árië] left that garden at the waxing of Silpion to water the roots of the tree of flame; but by the fountain it was always light with the amber light of day, as bees made busy about the roses, and there trod Vána lissomly while larks sang above her golden head.>

The Tree of Amalion
VT-LT-12b<LT So fair were these abodes …

VT-LT-13b: I am inclined to move the following section from Valaquenta about Nienna to the end of the actual chapter:

Her halls are west of West, upon the borders of the world; and she comes seldom to the city of Valimar where all is glad. She goes rather to the halls of Mandos, which are near to her own; and all those who wait in Mandos cry to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns sorrow to wisdom. The windows of her house look outward from the walls of the world.

I think that the passage about Nienna in the Valaquenta can stand without this it would read then:

… and often the Valar come themselves to Lóriën and there find repose and easing of the burden of Arda.
Mightier than Estë is Nienna, sister of Vala-04.2 {the Fëanturi}<Vq2 Námo>; she dwells alone. She is acquainted with grief, and mourns for every wound that Arda has suffered in the marring of Melkor. So great was her sorrow, as the Music unfolded, that her song turned to lamentation long before its end, and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the World before it began. But she does not weep for herself; and those who hearken to her learn pity, and endurance in hope. Vala-04.3{Her halls are west of West, upon the borders of the world; and she comes seldom to the city of Valimar where all is glad. She goes rather to the halls of Mandos, which are near to her own; and all those who wait in Mandos cry to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns sorrow to wisdom. The windows of her house look outward from the walls of the world.}
Greatest in strength and deeds of prowess is Tulkas, …

In Of Valinor and the two Trees I would add it thus:

VT-LT-12b<LT So fair were these abodes and so great the brilliance of the trees of Valinor that {Vefantur}[Námo] and {Fui}[Vairë] his wife and his sister Nienna of tears might not endure to stay there long, but fared away far to the northward of those regions, where beneath the roots of the most cold and northerly of the Mountains of Valinor, that rise here again almost to their height nigh {Arvalin}[Avathar], they begged Aulë to delve them a hall. Wherefore, that all the {Gods}[Valar] might be housed to their liking, he did so, and they and all their shadowy folk aided him. Very vast were those caverns that they made stretching even down under the Shadowy Seas, and they are full of gloom and filled with echoes, and all that deep abode is known to {Gods}[Valar] and Elves as Mandos. There in a sable hall sat {Vefantur}[Námo]{, and he called that hall with his own name Vê}. It was lit only with a single vessel placed in the centre, wherein there lay some gleaming drops of the pale dew of Silpion: it was draped with dark vapours and its floors and columns were of jet. Thither in after days fared the Elves of all the clans who were by illhap slain with weapons or did die of grief for those that were slain - and only so might the Eldar die, and then it was only for a while.{
}There Mandos spake their doom, and there they waited in the darkness, dreaming of their past deeds, until such time as he appointed when they might again {be born into their children}[take body], and go forth to laugh and sing again.>
VT-LT-13b<LT{The}And another hall {that she loved best}there was, one yet wider and more dark than {Vê}[the first]{, and she too named it with her own name, calling it Fui}. Therein before {her}Namo’s black chair burnt a brazier with a single flickering coal, and the roof was of bats' wings, and the pillars that upheld it and the walls about were made of basalt. Thither came the sons of Men to hear their doom, and thither are they brought by all the multitude of ills that {Melko}[Melkor]'s evil music set within the world. Slaughters and fires, hungers and mishaps, diseases and blows dealt in the dark, cruelty and bitter cold and anguish and their own folly bring them here; and {Fui}[Námo] reads their hearts.>

Wickedness
VT-EX-39 <Ainu {Her}Nienna’s halls are west of West, upon the borders of the world; and she comes seldom to the city of Valimar where all is glad. She goes rather to the halls of Mandos, which are near to her own; and all those who wait in Mandos cry to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns sorrow to wisdom. The windows of her house look outward from the walls of the world.>

I think that now I have catched all points I see in this chapter.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Aiwendil]

Just a few thoughts for now - more will follow.

VT-LQ-01.5: The cosmology is a thorny problem. I tend to think that the project of explicitly defining the cosmology in our version (which is to say, the cosmology as envisioned in the early 1950s) is quite hopeless. It's a shame that there is no later version of the Ambarkanta; without one, I don't think we can build up a completely clear and coherent picture.

In AAm, Christopher Tolkien notes the following statements with cosmological implications:

§1 Ëa is 'the World that is'; the Valar are 'the Powers of Ëa'.
§11 After ages of labour 'in the great halls of Ëa the Valar descended into Arda in the beginning of its being'.
§13 Tulkas came to Arda 'out of distant regions of Ëa'.
§17 Melkor gathered spirits 'out of the voids of Ea.'; and he 'drew near again unto Arda, and looked down upon it'.
§18 The Valar did not perceive the dark shadow 'cast from afar by Melkor'.
§19 Melkor 'passed over the borders of Ëa' > 'passed over the Walls of the Night upon the borders of Arda' > 'passed over the Walls of the Night' (note 19).
§23 The Outer Sea 'encircled the kingdom of Arda, and beyond were the Walls of the Night'.

It seems then to me that the Walls of Night (or Walls of the World) enclose Arda, not Ea. §23 would suggest that we have Arda - Outer Sea - Walls of Night - other parts of Ea.

Christopher Tolkien's further discussion of the cosmology here has great bearing on our issue, especially:

Amid all the ambiguities (most especially, in the use of the word 'World'), the testimony seems to be that in these texts the Ambarkanta world-image survived at least in the conception of the Outer Sea extending to the Walls of the World, now called the Walls of the Night - though the Walls have come to be differently conceived (see also p. 135, §168). Now in the revision of 'The Silmarillion' made in 1951 the phrase in QS §12 (V.209) 'the Walls of the World fence out the Void and the Eldest Dark' - a phrase in perfect agreement of course with the Ambarkanta – was retained (p. 154). This is a central difficulty in relation to the Ainulindalë, where it is made as plain as could be wished that Ëa came into being in the Void, it was globed amid the Void (§§11, 20, and see pp. 37-8); how then can the Walls of Arda 'fence out the Void and the Eldest Darkness'?
A possible explanation, of a sort, may be hinted at in the words cited above from AAm §17: Melkor gathered spirits out of the voids of Ëa. It may be that, although AAm is not far distant in time from the last version (D) of the Ainulindalë, my father's conception did not in fact now accord entirely with what he had written there; that (as I suggested, p. 39) he was now thinking of Arda as being 'set within an indefinite vastness in which all "Creation" is comprehended', rather than of a bounded Ëa itself set 'amid the Void'. Then, beyond the Walls of the Night, the bounds of Arda, stretch 'the voids of Ëa'. But this suggestion does not, of course, clear up all the problems, ambiguities, and apparent contradictions in the cosmology of the later period, which have been discussed earlier.

So we have what may be shifting cosmological ideas between the various texts of this phase - but it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell what exactly those shifts are, since we have only isolated clues in the texts. However, it seems to me quite plausible that the central problem is merely one of nomenclature: 'void' could be used in two senses. There is the Void in the sense of that beyond Ea, the place or thing within which Ea is globed; and then there is the Void of Ea, the vast empty space in which Arda and the innumerable stars are set.

All this is to say that I don't necessarily see a contradiction between the LQ's "Void and Eldest Darkness" and the cosmology of the Ainulindale and AAm. Now, whether we might want to err on the side of caution and eliminate a possible contradiction is an open question, and one on which I haven't quite decided where I stand.

In any case, I do agree with Findegil that we have a redundancy here, and I also agree that we can include the part of a sentence that I skipped. So with the caveat that we may still want to think about changing "Void and Eldest Darkness", I agree with Findegil's suggestion here.

VT-EX-03b: I like Findegil's proposal.

VT-EX-03.1: I like using "Mountains of Aman" here. I'm just the tiniest bit uncertain about replacing the other "Valinor" here with "Aman" ("they towered mightily between Valinor and the world"), since the mountains are after all part of Aman. But this is only a slight imprecision, and maybe it doesn't matter.

[ArcusCalion]

This first paragraph by Fin looks good. I think that the walls of the world, as shown by Aiwendil, are actually enclosing Arda. Therefore, the issue lies in the confusion of the Void with the Spaces of Ea, and I think now that such a distinction is less material her than needs to be. We could change it, or eliminate it though, in an effort to formalize a cosmological system.

For your Silindirin addition Fin, "Amidmost of" should be changed to "Within." I.E. the "of" should be removed too. The "within" should also be replaced by "amid," not "amidmost." I also agree about adding in Murmuran, but then we must have a sentence that calls the Gardens Lorien.

For the Nienna bit I actually decided to do it differently.

VT-LT-14<LT {for she}[But Niënna] labored {rather} at the distilling of salt humors whereof are tears, and {black} clouds she wove and floated up that they were caught in the winds and went about the world, and {their lightless webs}[they] settled ever and anon upon those that dwelt therein. Now these tissues were {despairs and hopeless mourning,} sorrows and {blind} grief, [pity and endurance in hope]. The hall {that she loved best}[where she dwelt] was {one yet wider and more dark than Vê}[west of West], and she {too} named it {with her own name, calling it} Fui. {Therein before her black chair burnt a brazier with a single flickering coal, and the roof was of bats’ wings, and the pillars that upheld it and the walls about were made of basalt.}>