**Ruin of Doriath - Pre-Revision speculation/proposal thread**

[Findegil]

Since the Discussions about Fog had been idle the last days, I couldn't resist and had put my hand one Maedhros stuff in the privat forum.
But since I wished to have that discussion here in the open forum, I have to find a way to strip it from most of its textual value. That's hard to do and takes some time. So please be patient if this comes up only bit by bit.
I will start in this thread with the "General changes" and since in that there is not text I will first give Meadhros post from the privat forum as Quote:

General changes

RD-01
Eärendel to Eärendil per QS77 and LR.

RD-02
Elfinesse to Elvenesse per Tolkien's general change of Elfin to Elven from earlier to later writings.

RD-03
Melko to Morgoth per QS77. After Bolt, Tolkien almost never uses Melkor in narration of events following Fëanor's invention of the name Morgoth, except in a back-reference to ancient times.

RD-04
Noldoli to Noldor per QS77. Noldoli, though possibly still a valid form, is not used at all in QS77 or late Tolkien writings.

RD-05
Gnome/Gnomes to Elf/Elves or Noldo/Noldor. "Gnomes" was dropped by Tolkien in LR and later writings, often replaced by Noldor. It would be better artistically to retain the original variation Gnome/Gnomes and Noldo/Noldoli which can be best done by replacing Gnome/Gnomes by Elf/Elves except where a general reference to Elves would not fit, as in "the Gnomes were exiles at heart, haunted with a desire for their ancient home that faded not." Then use Noldor.

RD-06
Nauglafring to Nauglamír per QS77.

RD-07
Úrin to Húrin per LR.

RD-08
Glorund to Glaurung per Wanderings of Húrin.

RD-09
Tinwelint to Thingol per LR.

RD-10
Hisilómë to Hithlum per The Shaping of Middle-Earth: The Sketch of Mythology
The six remaining sons of Fëanor (Maglor, Celegorm, Curufin, Damrod, Díriel, and Cranthir) ate encamped about the lake Mithrim in Hisilómë (Hithlum, or Dorlómin, the land of shadows in the North-west), when they hear of the march of Finweg and his men who have crossed the Grinding Ice.

RD-11
Rodothlim to elves of Nargothrond per QS77.

RD-12
Artanor to Doriath per QS30.

RD-13
Cûm an-Idrisaith (Mound of Avarice) to Cûm-nan-Arasaith per QS30. This need linguistic revision.

RD-14
Gwenniel to Melian per QS30.

RD-15
Angamandi to Angband per QS30.

RD-16
Nauglath (dwarves of Nogrod) to Firebeards per The Peoples of Middle-Earth, Note 24: My father refers here to four places of awakening of the Seven Ancestors of the Dwarves: those of 'the ancestors of the Firebeards and the Broadbeams', 'the ancestor of the Longbeards', 'the Ironfists and Stiffbeards', and 'the Blacklocks and Stonefoots'. (None of these names of the other six kindreds of the Dwarves has ever been given before. Since the ancestors of the Firebeards and the Broadbeams awoke in the Ered Lindon, these kindreds must be presumed to be the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost.)

RD-17
Indrafangs (dwarves of Belegost) to Broadbeams per Home 12 see RD-17.

RD-18
Umboth-muilin (Pools of Twilight) to Aelin-uial (Meres of Twilight) per QS77 and UT.

RD-19
Karkaras (Knife-fang) to Carcharoth ('the Red Maw') per QS77.

RD-20
i·Guilwarthon (the living-dead) to Dor Firn-i-Guinar ('Land of the Dead that Live') per QS77.

RD-21
Sarnathrod to Sarn Athrad per QS77.

RD-22
Lamp of Faëry to Silmaril (jewel of Fëanor) per Bolt II.

RD-23
Ausir to nothing ? Still in the works.

RD-24
Auredhir (son of Dior) to Eluréd and Elurín per QS77.

RD-25
Maidros to Maeðros per Home 10.

RD-26
Dinithel to Amras per QS77.

RD-27
Cranthor to Caranthir per QS77.

RD-28
Ermabwed to Erchamion per QS77.

RD-29
Mavwin to Morwen per QS77.

RD-30
Nienóri to Nienor per UT.

RD-31
Egnor to Barahir per QS77.

RD-32
Damrod to Amrod per QS77.

RD-33
Galweg to Orodreth per QS77.

RD-34
Teiglin to Taeglin per WH note 55:
Taeglin(d) better Taeglind
*taika (√taya mark, line, limit > tayak) mǽre, boundary, limit, boundary line.
linde 'singer / singing', name (or element in names) of many rivers of quick course that make a rippling sound.
mǽre is an Old English word of the same meaning. – It seems that the form chosen for the published Silmarillion should have been Taeglin rather than Teiglin (see p. 228, §28).

RD-35
Gwendelin to Melian per QS77.

RD-36
Silver Bowl to Dimrost (the Rainy Stair) per QS77.

Note : Changes 2 to 5 are the work of jallanite.

Most of this is without question but with some I have some trouble:

RD-19 & 17
I am not sure in the moment, but I think Nauglath is still valide word for Dwarves in general. So in most circumstances I would let it stand.
The association of the Firebeards and Broadbeams with the Dwarves of the Ered Luin is clear. But How did you come to the conclusion that the Broadbeams were the Dwarves of Belegost? I would take the Firebeards as take over from the Indrafangs or Longbeards just by the association of both with beards.

RD-26
The change it self is unquestionable. But is Amras still alive in our version of the story?

RD-34
Galweg was the father of Flinding in The Tale of Turambar. The proper update would be Guilin father of Gwindor and Gelmir.

So, that's it for this thread. I will open a new one for each section that Meadhros had propused.

Respectfully
Findegil

[ October 27, 2003: Message edited by: Findegil ]

[Maédhros]

Originally posted by Findegil
The association of the Firebeards and Broadbeams with the Dwarves of the Ered Luin is clear. But How did you come to the conclusion that the Broadbeams were the Dwarves of Belegost? I would take the Firebeards as take over from the Indrafangs or Longbeards just by the association of both with beards.

Well, it was basically because of the word order at the end of the note 24.

Originally posted by Findegil
The change it self is unquestionable. But is Amras still alive in our version of the story?

When I was making the changes, I was only preocuppied with the changes per se and not if they fitted in our latest version.

Originally posted by Findegil
Galweg was the father of Flinding in The Tale of Turambar. The proper update would be Guilin father of Gwindor and Gelmir.

Ok, I think that you are right, I will check it.

[Maédhros]

Other details that can be added to our Ruin of Doriath:
From The Peoples of ME: The Problem of Ros

and it was given by Elwing in memory of the great Hall of the Throne of Elwë in the midst of his stronghold of Menegroth that was called the Menelrond, because by the arts and aid of Melian its high arched roof had been adorned with silver and gems set in the order and figures of the stars in the great Dome of Valmar in Aman, whence Melian came.

and...

From Unfinished Tales: Description of the Land of Númenor

The King's sword was indeed Aranrúth, the sword of Elu Thingol of Doriath in Beleriand, that had descended to Elros from Elwing his mother. Other heirlooms there were beside: the Ring of Barahir; the great Axe of Tuor, father of Eärendil; and the Bow of Bregor of the House of Bëor. Only the Ring of Barahir father of Beren One-hand survived the Downfall; for it was given by Tar-Elendil to his daughter Silmarien and was preserved in the House of the Lords if Andunië, of whom the last was Elendil the Faithful who fled from the wrack of Númenor to Middle-earth. [Author's note.]—The story of the Ring of Barahir is told in The Silmarillion, Chapter XIX, and its later history in The Lord of the Rings Appendix A (I, iii and v). Of "the great Axe of Tuor" there is no mention in The Silmarillion, but it is named and described in the original "Fall of Gondolin" (1916-17, see p. iv), where it is said that in Gondolin Tuor carried an axe rather than a sword, and that he named it in the speech of the people of Gondolin Dramborleg. In a list of names accompanying the tale Dramborleg is translated "Thudder-Sharp": "the axe of Tuor that smote both a heavy dint as of a club and cleft as a sword."

Index:
Aranrúth: "King's Ire".

I was wondering if we could be more specific with these items as they were passed along in the story.

[Maédhros]

I wonder, now that it appears that our draft for the Fall of Gondolin seems to be over, dare I say it is time to tackle the previous chapter of the Ruin of Doriath in which much of the major work appears to be done by Findegil and myself?

[Findegil]

I also pondered that. But it could also be wise to run into the tale of Earendil first, since we had started a discussion on some points at the beginning of this tale as well.

Equally what we do, I would like to have a reminder of some small point which Aiwendil once brought up: Aiwendil did once criticise our styl of formating the edited text. He refered to a standard format agreed upon early in the project. I search for it but I have neither found the kritik of Aiwendil nor any early post were a format was agree upon. If some one could guide me to this I will rework my Fall of Doriath chapter and post a basic text for Of Eärendil and the War or Wrath (basic, because it is only the blend of the texts of Quenta Noldorinwa, Quenta Silmarillion and the emendations to the Later Quenta Silmarillion typoscript).

Respectfully
Findegil

[Maédhros]

Oh, what Aiwendil was referring was that the editorial additions by us should be between square brackets [], whereas the introduction of material from other sources: Book of Lost Tales, Narn, etc, should be in this type of brackets <>.
I had not implemented that because at that time, I had problems posting with those brackets and I used the square ones for the introduction of material as well as editorial additions.
This was later clarified by Mr. Underhill.

It is funny that we trying to finish first the last chapters instead of going in order. It has merit of course because it is the last chapters the ones that require the most work because of the state in which JRRT left them.

I wonder if we should go with Of Eärendil and the War of Wrath, instead of the Ruin of Doriath. We might as well go with Eärendil as to keep for the continuity.

[Aiwendil]

I think that after finishing the Fall of Gondolin it would be good to step back and discuss some general project issues and procedural things before immediately rushing into a new project.

I will open a new thread where we can discuss these things, as well as what our next project/projects should be.

[Findegil]

Reading this Post (and the following) it might seem that I had again to much time at my disposal. Properly that is the case, since I am in holyday at home in the moment. But on the other hand I did work for these posts for some time. The reason for this post was Meadhros Draft 4 for FoD, which he had send to me and which he hopped could be our working basis for the coming FoD discussions. But sad as it is I could not agree on this. Not only that some details of his text were not to my liking, I found also some points of the storyline he created to be not fitting my view of the story. While I was reading Maedhros draft I also marked some mistakes in the storyline of my own draft. Thus I thought that it would be best to discuss the storyline first. And this is the thread proposed to do it.
To do so we need to have a look at the sources, and I will in this post try to give an complete overview about all the storylines in the different sources we have for the Fall of Doriath. In some place I will only give short summary of the text to illuminate the Storyline. In other place were the source itself is more like a storyline or can only add to some particular points of interest I will give the source in full.

Since we agreed already on the beginning of our Tale to be the continuation of The Wanderings of Húrin I will start my research at the point were Húrin reached Nargothrond. In many cases (and also in our Tale) Húrin will have gathered by that time a band of “Outlaws” thus I will start with any storyline with a short description of that band.

The First account of the Fall of Doriath is given in The History of Middle-Earth; volume 2: The Book of Lost Tales 2; chapter II: Túrin Turambar and the Foaloke (TT) and chapter IV: The Tale of the Nauglafring (TN) I will give in this case an extracted Story line:
The Band of Húrin were here outlawed Elves “of the Hills”.
Húrin dealt Mîm (who was in that Tale unconnected to the earlier story of Túrin) to death because of the cruses Mîm did utter above the gold when Húrins Band bear it out of the hall.
Húrin brought his Band to carry the gold to Thingols halls.
There he cast the Gold at Thingols feet and left with an unknown fate. Later his soul is reported to hunt together with Morwens the forest of Brethil.
The Outlaws did bargain with Thingol and tried to cheat but were stopped by Elves that were already under the spell of the Dragon Gold.
The resulting fight in the hall was stopped by Thingols troops how killed the outlaws.
Ufedhin urged the King to sent part of the Gold to Nogord.
Thingol let bear half the gold to Nogord. Ufedhin is imprisoned as a security to get the gold back.
The Nauglath of Nogrod smith beautiful things for Thingol and bring them back.
Thingol imprisoned the dwarves to fashion the rest of the gold. The Dwarves make a second attempt at the gold. When they see that Thingol is happy with what they made they ask the favour to make the Nauglamir with the Silmaril.
When the Dwarves had fashioned the Necklace they do by the machinations of Ufedhin demand a unplayable price for all their labour.
The dwarves are humiliated, scanty paid and driven away with Ufedhin.
The Nauglath under their King Naugladur form an alliance with the Dwarves of Belegost under their King Bodruith and with the Orks. They hear of the death of Mîm and claim the gold to belong to the Dwarves.
The Dwarves pass the girdle by treachery of some Elves who are under the spell of the Gold.
Thingol is slain by the Nauglath during a hunt in which Mablung (also slain) and Huan take part. (Huan was in that version killed by Carcharoth but did reappear here without any explanation.)
Ufedhin with an Army of the Dwarves of Belegost and Orcs overruns Menegroth but is daunted by Melians eyes.
Naugladur comes to Menegroth bearing the Nauglamir and Thingols head on a pole. He let gather all the riches and tried to imprison Melian. But she leaves Menegroth wandering around without propose.
Naugladur left the rest of folk of Menegroth to the Orks and left with Ufedhin and all the Dwarves.
Huan brings the message to Beren and Lúthien (in Hithlum).
Beren gathers an Army of Green-Elves and pursuit the Dwarves.
Ufedhin tries to kill Naugladur and steal the Nauglamir, but is discovered by Bodruith whom he kills. Before he flees. A feud awakes between the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost and the Dwarves of Belegost are killed or driven away.
Ufedhin is captured by the Green-Elves and brought to Beren. He reveals the route that Naugladur will take to Nogrod.
Beren and his Green-Elves ambushes the Dwarves at the Ford Arosiach. Many Dwarves are killed by the Elven-archers, some fled away toward the mountains (nothing is told of their fate, if they are not identical with the later searchers who are killed by a flood.)
Beren assails Naugladur and his bodyguard. After he killed one of the guards the others fled. Beren fights with Naugladur. In the End he kills Naugladur with mere luck. Beren takes the Nauglamir but the treasure is cast in the River.
Lúthien wears the Nauglamir. When Melian appears, Ufedhin flies madden into the woods. After Melain is healed by Lúthien she tells the full tale and warns Beren and Luthien about the Nauglamir, so that Luthien does no longer wear it. Melain leaves toward Valinor.
After the early fading of Luthien her son Dior goes with his family and the Nauglamir to Doriath and re-established the Realm. When the Sons of Feanor hear of the Dior wearing the Nauglamir they send Curufin to Doriath and claim the Silmaril. The claim is rejected by Dior and Curufin send away with bitter words.
The Brothers assail Doriath. Dior and his Son Auredhir are killed. Elwing fled with the Nauglamir. A host of Diors Elves came lat into the battle and fell at the rear of Feanorians. In the text Maglor is slain by swords and Amras dies by wounds in the wild. Celegrom and Caranthir are shot with arrows. But the Feanorians won the day.
After some wandering in the woods Elwing gathers the remnant of the Elves and wanders to Havens of Sirion.

The next telling of the tale was The History of Middle-Earth; volume 4; The Shaping of Middle-Earth; chapter II: The Earliest ‘Silmarillion’ or Sketch of the Mythology (S). I will give it in full, since it is not much more than an outline:

Hurin and outlaws come to Nargothrond, whom none dare plunder for dread of the spirit of Glorung' or even of his memory. They slay Mim the Dwarf who had taken possession and enchanted all the gold. Hurin casts the gold at Thingol's feet with reproaches. Thingol will not have it, and bears with Hurin, until goaded too far he bids him begone. Hurin wanders away and seeks Morwen, and many for ages after related that they met them together in the woods lamenting their children.
The enchanted gold lays its spell on Thingol. He summons the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost to come and fashion it into beautiful things, and to make a necklace of great wonder whereon the Silmaril shall hang. The Dwarves plot treachery, and Thingol bitter with the curse of the gold denies them their reward. After their smithying they are driven away without payment. The Dwarves come back; aided by treachery of some Gnomes who also were bitten by the lust of the gold, they surprise Thingol on a hunt, slay him, and surprise the Thousand Caves and plunder them. Melian they cannot touch. She goes away to seek Beren and Luthien.
The Dwarves are ambushed at a ford by Beren and the brown and green Elves of the wood, and their king slain, from whose neck Beren takes the 'Nauglafring'(2) or necklace of the Dwarves, with its Silmaril. It is said that Luthien wearing that jewel is the most beautiful thing that eyes have ever seen outside Valinor. But Melian warned Beren of the curse of the gold and of the Silmaril. The rest of the gold is drowned in the river.
But the 'Nauglafring'(3) remains hoarded secretly in Beren's keeping. When Mandos let Beren return with Luthien, it was only at the price that Luthien should become as shortlived as Beren the mortal. Luthien now fades, even as the Elves in later days faded as Men grew strong and took the goodness of earth (for the Elves needed the light of the Trees). At last she vanished, and Beren was lost, looking in vain for her, and his son Dior ruled after him. Dior re-established Doriath and grew proud, and wore the 'Nauglafring', and the fame of the Silmaril went abroad. After vain bargaining the sons of Feanor made war on him (the second slaying of Elf by Elf) and destroyed him, and took the 'Nauglafring'. They quarrelled over it, owing to the curse of the gold, until only Maglor was left. But Elwing daughter of Dior was saved and carried away to the mouth of the river Sirion.(4)

Notes:
1. The name Glorung is not here emended, as in $13, to Glomund, but ad is written over the g, sc. Glorund (the earliest form of the name of the Dragon).
2. At the first occurrence only of Nauglafring, th is pencilled above, i.e. Nauglathring or Nauglathfring.
3. Above Nauglafring here my father wrote Dweorgmene [Old English, 'Dwarf-necklace']; this was struck out, and Glingna Nauglir substituted.
4 The conclusion of this section was changed very soon after it was written, since in §17 already as first written the Nauglafring is with Elwing at the mouth of Sirion:

After vain bargaining the sons of Feanor made war on him (the second slaying of Elf by Elf) and destroyed him. But Elwing daughter of Dior, Beren's son, escaped, and was carried away by faithful servants to the mouth of the river Sirion. With her went the Nauglafring.

The next step in the development is the last finished account of the event: The History of Middle-Earth; volume 4; The Shaping of Middle-Earth; chapter III: The Quenta Noldorinwa (Q30) Since even that text is very short I will again give the chapter in full:

Hurin gathered therefore a few outlaws of the woods unto him, and they came to Nargothrond, which as yet none, Orc, Elf, or Man, had dared to plunder, for dread of the spirit of Glomund and his very memory. But one Mim the Dwarf they found there. This is the first coming of the Dwarves into these tales(1) of the ancient world; and it is said that Dwarves first spread west from Erydluin,(2) the Blue Mountains, into Beleriand after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Now Mim had found the halls and treasure of Nargothrond unguarded; and he took possession of them, and sat there in joy fingering the gold and gems, and letting them run ever through his hands; and he bound them to himself with many spells. But the folk of Mim were few, and the outlaws filled with the lust of the treasure slew them, though Hurin would have stayed them, and at his death Mim cursed the gold.
And the curse came upon the possessors in this wise. Each one of Hurin's company died or was slain in quarrels upon the road; but Hurin went unto Thingol and sought his aid, and the folk of Thingol bore the treasure to the Thousand Caves. Then Hurin bade cast it all at the feet of Thingol, and he reproached the Elfking with wild and bitter words. 'Receive thou,' said he, 'thy fee for thy fair keeping of my wife and kin.'
Yet Thingol would not take the hoard, and long he bore with Hurin; but Hurin scorned him, and wandered forth in quest of Morwen his wife, but it is not said that he found her ever upon the earth; and some have said that he cast himself at last into the western sea, and so ended the mightiest of the warriors of mortal Men.
Then the enchantment of the accursed dragon gold began to fall even upon the king of Doriath, and long he sat and gazed upon it, and the seed of the love of gold that was in his heart was waked to growth. Wherefore he summoned the greatest of all craftsmen that now were in the western world, since Nargothrond was no more (and Gondolin was not known), the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost, that they might fashion the gold and silver and the gems (for much was yet unwrought) into countless vessels and fair things; and a marvellous necklace of great beauty they should make, whereon to hang the Silmaril.
But the Dwarves coming were stricken at once with the lust and desire of the treasure, and they plotted treachery. They said one to another: 'Is not this wealth as much the right of the Dwarves as of the elvish king, and was it not wrested evilly from Mim?' Yet also they lusted for the Silmaril.
And Thingol, falling deeper into the thraldom of the spell, for his part scanted his promised reward for their labour; and bitter words grew between them, and there was battle in Thingol's halls. There many Elves and Dwarves were slain, and the howe wherein they were laid in Doriath was named Cum-nan-Arasaith, the Mound of Avarice. But the remainder of the Dwarves were driven forth without reward or fee.
Therefore gathering new forces in Nogrod and in Belegost they returned at length, and aided by the treachery of certain Elves on whom the lust of the accursed treasure had fallen they passed into Doriath secretly. There they surprised Thingol upon a hunt with but small company of arms; and Thingol was slain, and the fortress of the Thousand Caves taken at unawares and plundered; and so was brought well nigh to ruin the glory of Doriath, and but one stronghold of the Elves against Morgoth now remained, and their twilight was nigh at hand.
Queen Melian the Dwarves could not seize or harm, and she went forth to seek Beren and Luthien. Now the Dwarfroad to Nogrod and Belegost in the Blue Mountains passed through East Beleriand and the woods about the River Ascar,(3) where aforetime were the hunting grounds of Damrod and Diriel, sons of Feanor. To the south of those lands between the river and the mountains lay the land of Assariad, and there (4) lived and wandered still in peace and bliss Beren and Luthien, in that time of respite which Luthien had won, ere both should die; and their folk were the Green Elves of the South, who were not of the Elves of Cor,(5) nor of Doriath, though many had fought at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. But Beren went no more to war, and his land was filled with loveliness and a wealth of flowers; and while Beren was and Luthien remained Men called it oft Cuilwarthien,(6) the Land of the Dead that Live.
To the north of that region is a ford across the river Ascar, near to its joining with Duilwen (7) that falls in torrents from the mountains; and that ford is named Sarn-athra,(8) the Ford of Stones. This ford the Dwarves must past ere they reached their homes(9) and there Beren fought his last fight, warned of their approach by Melian. In that battle the Green Elves took the Dwarves unawares as they were in the midst of their passage, laden with their plunder; and the Dwarvish chiefs were slain, and well nigh all their host. But Beren took the Nauglafring,(10) the Necklace of the Dwarves, whereon was hung the Silmaril; and it is said and sung that Luthien wearing that necklace and that immortal jewel on her white breast was the vision of greatest beauty and glory that has ever been seen outside the realms of Valinor, and that for a while the Land of the Dead that Live became like a vision of the land of the Gods, and no places have been since so fair, so fruitful, or so filled with light.
Yet Melian warned them ever of the curse that lay upon the treasure and upon the Silmaril. The treasure they had drowned indeed in the river Ascar, and named it anew Rathlorion,(11) Golden-Bed, yet the Silmaril they retained.
And in time the brief hour of the loveliness of the land of Rathlorion departed. For Luthien faded as Mandos had spoken, even as the Elves of later days faded, when Men waxed strong and usurped the goodness of the earth; and she vanished from the world; and Beren died, and none know where their meeting shall be again.(12)
Thereafter was Dior Thingol's heir, child of Beren and Luthien, king in the woods, most fair of all the children of the world, for his race was threefold: of the fairest and goodliest of Men, and of the Elves, and of the spirits divine of Valinor; yet it shielded him not from the fate of the oath of the sons of Feanor. For Dior went back to Doriath and for a time a part of its ancient glory was raised anew, though Melian no longer dwelt in that place, and she departed to the land of the Gods beyond the western sea, to muse on her sorrows in the gardens whence she came.
But Dior wore the Silmaril upon his breast and the fame of that jewel went far and wide; and the deathless oath was waked once more from sleep. The sons of Feanor, when he would not yield the jewel unto them, came(13) upon him with all their host; and so befell the second slaying of Elf by Elf, and the most grievous. There fell Celegorm and Curufin and dark Cranthir, but Dior was slain(14) and Doriath was destroyed and never rose again.
Yet the sons of Feanor gained not the Silmaril; for faithful servants fled before them and took with them Elwing the daughter of Dior, and she escaped, and they bore with them the Nauglafring, and came in time to the mouth of the river Sirion by the sea.

Notes:
1. This is the first coming of the Dwarves into these tales > Now for the first time did the Dwarves take part in these tales
2. Eryd-luin > Ered-luin (late change).
3. Ascar > Flend > Gelion at the first two occurrences, but left un changed at the third.
4. This sentence emended to read: To the south of those lands between the river Flend [> Gelion ] and the mountains lay the land of Ossiriand, watered by seven streams, Flend [> Gelion], Ascar, Thalos, Loeglin [> Legolin ], Brilthor, Duilwen, Adurant. There lived, &c. (The rivers were first written Flend, Ascar, Thalos, Loeglin, Brilthor, Adurant. Duilwen was then added between Thalos and Loeglin; then Legolin replaced Loeglin and Duilwen was moved to stand between Brilthor and Adurant.)
5. Cor > Kor, as previously.
6. Men called it oft Cuilwarthien > Elves called it oft Gwenh-i-cuina (see $10 note 15).
7. Duilwen > Ascar (see p. 285, entry Dwarf-road).
8. Sarn-athra > Sarn-athrad.
9. ere they reached their homes > ere they reached the mountain passes that led unto their homes
10. Nauglafring > Nauglamir at both occurrences (late changes).
11. Rathlorion > Rathloriel at both occurrences (late changes).
12. Added here:
Yet it hath been sung that Luthien alone of Elves hath been numbered among our race, and goeth whither we go to a fate beyond the world.
A large pencilled X is made in the margin against the sentence in the typescript beginning For Luthien faded...; in my father's manuscripts this always implies that there is some misstatement in the text that requires revision.
13. The words The sons of Feanor, when were struck out, and the sentence enlarged thus:
For while Luthien wore that peerless gem no Elf would dare assail her, and not even Maidros dared ponder such a thought. But now hearing of the renewal of Doriath and Dior's pride, the seven gathered again from wandering; and they sent unto Dior to claim their own. But he would not yield the jewel unto them; and they came, &c.
14. Added here: and his young sons Eldun and Elrun (late change).

That is all we have in the form of a closed narrative. It might be of some interest, that this text was included in the typescripts of the LQ2 series in 1958, but Tolkien did not made any change to the text in that typescript.
It remain only the Annals with their scanty words and some hints given later in separate Notes.
Lets start with the earliest Annals The History of Middle-Earth; volume 4; The Shaping of Middle-Earth; chapter VII: The Earliest Annals of Beleriand (AB1)

200 … Here was born also Elwing the White, fairest of women save Luthien, unto Dior in Ossiriand.
Hurin gathers men unto him. They find the treasure of Nargothrond and slay Mim the Dwarf who had taken it to himself. The treasure is cursed. The treasure is brought to Thingol.
But Hurin departs from Doriath with bitter words, but of his fate and of Morwen's after no certain tidings are known.

201 Thingol employs the Dwarves to smithy his gold and silver and the treasure of Narog, and they make the renowned Nauglafring,(60) the Dwarfnecklace, whereon is hung the Silmaril. Enmity awakes (61) between the Elves and Dwarves, and the Dwarves are driven away.

202 Here the Dwarves invaded Doriath aided by treachery, for many Elves were smitten with the accursed lust of the treasure. Thingol was slain and the Thousand Caves sacked. But Melian the divine could not be taken and departed to Ossiriand.
Beren(62) summoned by Melian overthrew the Dwarves at Sarn-Athra (63) and cast the gold into the River Asgar, which afterwards was called Rathlorion (64) the Golden-bed; but the Nauglafring and the Silmaril he took. Luthien wore the necklace and the Silmaril on her breast. Here Beren and Luthien depart out of men's knowledge and their deathday is not known; save that at night a messenger brought the necklace unto Dior in Doriath, and the Elves said: 'Luthien and Beren are dead as Mandos doomed.'
Dior son of Luthien and Beren, Thingol's heir, returned unto Doriath and for a while reestablished it, but Melian went back to Valinor and he had no longer her protection.

203 The necklace came to Dior; he wore it on his breast.

205 The sons of Feanor hear tidings of the Silmaril in the East, and gather from wandering and hold council. They summon Dior to give up the jewel.

206 Here Dior fought the sons of Feanor on the east marches of Doriath. but he was slain. Celegorm and Curufin and Cranthir fell in battle. The young sons of Dior, Elboron and Elbereth, were slain by the evil men of Maidros' host, and Maidros bewailed the foul deed. The maiden Elwing was saved by faithful Elves and taken to Sirion's mouth, and with them they took the jewel and the necklace.

Notes:
60 Nauglafring > Nauglamir (later change); again in annal 202.
61 Enmity awakes is an early change from War ensues.
62 Later addition: and the Green-elves (cf. note 34).
63 Sarn-Athra > Sarn-Athrad (later change). The same change is made in Q[30] ($14, note 8).
64 Rathlorion > Rathloriel (later change). The same change is made in Q[30] ($14, note 11).

Farther developments took place in the next Annals The History of Middle-Earth; volume 5: The Lost Road; Part 2: Valinor and Middle-Earth before The Lord of the Rings; chapter III: The Later Annals of Beleriand (AB2)

500 … In this year was born also Elwing the White, fairest of all women save Luthien, unto Dior son of Beren in Ossiriand.
Hurin gathered men unto him, and they came to Nargothrond, and slew the dwarf Mim, who had taken the treasure unto himself. But Mim cursed the treasure. Hurin brought the gold to Thingol in Doriath, but he departed thence again with bitter words, and of his fate and the fate of Morwen thereafter no sure tidings were ever heard.

501 Thingol employed Dwarvish craftsmen to fashion his gold and silver and the treasure of Nargothrond; and they made the renowned Nauglamir, the Dwarf-necklace, whereon was hung the Silmaril. Enmity awoke between Dwarves and Elves, and the Dwarves were driven away unrewarded.

502 Here the Dwarves (41) came in force from Nogrod and from Belegost and invaded Doriath; and they came within by treachery, for many Elves were smitten with the accursed lust of the gold. Thingol was slain and the Thousand Caves were plundered; and there hath been war between Elf and Dwarf since that day. But Melian the Queen could not be slain or taken, and she departed to Ossiriand.
Beren and the Green-elves overthrew the Dwarves at Sarn-Athrad as they returned eastward, and the gold was cast into the river Ascar, which was after called Rathloriel, the Bed of Gold.
But Beren took the Nauglamir and the Silmaril. Luthien wore the Silmaril upon her breast. Dior their son ruled over the remnants of the Elves of Doriath.

503 Here Beren and Luthien departed out of the knowledge of Elves and Men, and their deathday is not known; but at night a messenger brought the necklace to Dior in Doriath, and the Elves said: 'Luthien and Beren are dead as Mandos doomed.'

504 Dior son of Beren, Thingol's heir, was now king in Doriath, and he re-established it for a while. But Melian went back to Valinor and Doriath had no longer her protection. Dior wore the Nauglamir and the Silmaril upon his breast.

505 The sons of Feanor heard tidings of the Silmaril in the East, and they gathered from wandering, and held council together. Maidros sent unto Dior and summoned him to give up the jewel.

506 Here Dior Thingol's heir fought the sons of Feanor on the east marches of Doriath, but he was slain. This was the second kinslaying, and the fruit of the oath. Celegorm fell in that battle, and Curufin, and Cranthir. The young sons of Dior, Elboron and Elbereth,(42) were taken captive by the evil men of Maidros' following, and they were left to starve in the woods; but Maidros lamented the cruel deed, and sought unavailingly for them.
The maiden Elwing was saved by faithful Elves, and they fled with her to the mouths of Sirion, and they took with them the jewel and the necklace, and Maidros found it not.

Notes:
41. Dwarves > Dwarfs (the only occurrence of the change in the text). See commentary on QS $122.
42. Elboron and Elbereth > Elrun and Eldun (a hasty pencilled change). See IV. 325 - 6 and the Etymologies, stem BARATH.

Last but not least we have the latest Annals ever made The History of Middle-Earth; volume 11: The War of the Jewels; part 3: The Wanderings of Húrin and other writings not forming part of The Quenta Silmarillion; chapter V. The Tale of the Years (I will give here all parts of the chapter that are concerned with the Fall of Doriath, since the content is in my view of essential importance, equally if it is JRR Tolkiens own script or Christopher Tolkiens comments. (TY)

The Tale of Years was an evolving work that accompanied successive stages in the development of the Annals. I have given it no place hitherto in The History of Middle-earth (but see X.49), because its value to the narrative of the Elder Days is very small until towards the end of the later (post-Lord of the Rings) version, when it becomes a document of importance; but here some very brief account of it must be given.
The earliest form is a manuscript with this title that sets out in very concise form the major events of the Elder Days. The dates throughout are in all but perfect accord with those given in the pre-Lord of the Rings texts 'The Later Annals of Valinor' and 'The Later Annals of Beleriand' (AV 2 and AB 2). Since this Tale of Years was obviously written as an accompaniment to and at the same time as those versions of the Annals, adding nothing to them, I did not include it in Volume V.
Much later a new version of The Tale of Years was made, and this alone will concern us here. It very clearly belongs with the major work on the Annals carried out in 1951( - 2), issuing in the last versions, the Annals of Aman and the Grey Annals. My father subsequently made a typescript text of it, but this obviously belongs to the same period.
…
Of the latter or Beleriandic part of The Tale of Years there is little to say until the last entries are reached. The chronology agrees closely with that of the Grey Annals, including the revised stories of the origins of Gondolin and of Eol, and the brief entries (agreeing with GA in such names as Galion for Galdor and Glindur for Maeglin) add nothing to the major text. …
But from the point where the Grey Annals were abandoned The Tale of Years becomes a major source for the end of the Elder Days, and indeed in almost all respects the only source deriving from the time following the completion of The Lord of the Rings, woefully inadequate as it is. As the manuscript was originally made (in which condition I will distinguish it as 'A') the entries from 500 to the end, very brief, followed the first (pre-Lord of the Rings) version of The Tale of Years (see p. 342) closely: my father clearly had that in front of him, and did no more than make a fair copy with fuller entries, introducing virtually no new matter or dates not found in AB 2 (V.141 - 4). It will make things clearer, however, to give the text of the entries for those years as they were first written.

500 Birth of Earendil in Gondolin.
501 Making of the Naugla-mir. Thingol quarrels with the Dwarves.
502 The Dwarves invade Doriath. Thingol is slain and his realm ended. Melian returns to Valinor. Beren destroys the Dwarf-host at Rath-loriel.
506 The Second Kin-slaying.
…
In the next stage, which I will call 'B', many corrections and interpolations and alterations of date were made to A; I give here the text in this form, so far as is necessary.

501 Return of Hurin.
502 After seven years' service Tuor weds Idril of Gondolin.
Making of the Naugla-mir. Thingol quarrels with the Dwarves.
503 Birth of Earendil in Gondolin.
The Dwarves invade Doriath. Thingol is slain and his realm ended. Melian takes Nauglamir to Beren and Luthien and then returns to Valinor. Celegorm and Curufin destroy the Dwarf-host at Sarn-athrad in Rath-loriel; and are wroth to find the Silmaril not there. Dior goes to Doriath.
505 (Spring) Second death of Beren, and Luthien dies also. Dior Thingol's heir wears Silmaril [struck out: and returns to Doriath].
509 (Spring) Second Kinslaying. …
…
The hastily made alterations and additions to the entry 503 (502 in A) introduced major new turns into the story as it had been told in all the versions: the tale of The Nauglafring (II.238), the Sketch of the Mythology (IV.33), the Quenta (IV.134), and AB 2 (V.141). There it was Beren, after his return from the dead, who with his host of Elves ambushed the Dwarves at Sarn-athrad, and took from them the Nauglamir in which was set the Silmaril; now it becomes Celegorm and Curufin who fought the battle at Sarn-athrad - but the Silmaril was not there, because Melian had taken it from Menegroth to Beren and Luthien in Ossiriand. In the old tale, Gwendelin (Melian), coming to the Land of the Dead that Live after the battle, was wrathful when she saw Luthien wearing the Necklace of the Dwarves, since it was made of accursed gold, and the Silmaril itself was unhallowed from its having been set in Morgoth's crown; while in the Sketch (probably) and in the Quenta (explicitly) it was Melian who told Beren of the approach of the Dwarves coming from Doriath and enabled the ambush to be prepared (her warning afterwards, when the Necklace of the Dwarves had been recovered, against the Silmaril being retained).
The entrance of Celegorm and Curufin into the story seems to have arisen in the act of emending the text; for my father first added to the original entry ('Beren destroys the Dwarf-host at Rath-loriel') the words 'and is wounded in battle', referring to Beren (cf. the Tale, II.237: 'Beren got many hurts'). He then at once changed 'Beren destroys' to 'Celegorm and Curufin destroy' and 'is wounded in battle' to 'are wroth to find the Silmaril not there'.
In the original entry in A 'at Rath-loriel' was just a slip for 'in'; but the replacement 'at Sarn-athrad in Rath-loriel' is strange, for Sarn-athrad was not a ford over that river (Ascar) but over Gelion, and so remained in the latest writing, though the name was changed (see p. 335).
In 505, the striking out of Dior's return to Doriath preceded its inclusion under 503. …

The third stage was the striking out of the whole manuscript from the year 400 almost to the end, and its replacement by a new version ('C'), which I give here for the same period, from the return of Hurin from Angband: this is a clear text with some later changes to the dates (changes which largely return the dates to those in B).
501 Return of Hurin from captivity. He goes to Nargothrond and seizes the treasure of Glaurung.
502 Making of the Nauglamir. Thingol quarrels with the Dwarves.
503 The Dwarves of Belegost and Nogrod invade Doriath. Thingol is slain, and his realm ended. The Dwarves carry off the Dragon-gold, but Melian escaped and carried off the Nauglamir and the Silmaril, and brought it to Beren and Luthien. Then she returned to Valinor; but Luthien wore the Silmaril. Now Curufin and Celegorm hearing of the sack of Menegroth ambushed the Dwarves at the fords of Ascar and defeated them; but the Dwarves cast the gold into the river, which was after named Rathloriel. Great was the chagrin of the Sons of Feanor to discover that the Silmaril was not with the Dwarves; but they dared not assail Luthien.
Dior goes to Doriath and endeavours to reestablish the realm.
504 [> 502] Tuor wedded Idril Celebrindal Turgon's daughter of Gondolin.
505 [> 503] Birth of Earendil Half-elven in Gondolin (Spring).
Here a messenger brought the Silmaril by night to Dior in Doriath, and he wore it; and by its power Doriath revived for a while. But it is believed that in this year Luthien and Beren passed away, for they were never heard of again on earth: mayhap the Silmaril hastened their end, for the flame of the beauty of Luthien as she wore it was too bright for mortal lands.
511 [> 509] The Second Kinslaying. The Sons of Feanor assail[ed] Dior, and he was slain; slain also were Celegorm and Curufin and Cranthir. Eldun and Elrun sons of Dior were left in the woods to starve. Elwing escaped and came with the Silmaril to the Mouths of Sirion. …
…
… In the entries 400-499 in C (not given here) this text is so close in every date and detail of narrative to the Grey Annals as to be scarcely an independent document; and The Tale of Years was beginning to turn in on itself, so to speak, and to become 'Annals' again. In the entries given above, where we reach narrative not treated in GA and where AB 2 is otherwise the latest source, it is much to be regretted that my father did not allow this tendency even fuller scope, and did not extend into a more substantial narrative of Celegorm and Curufin at Sarn Athrad, the revival of Doriath, and the Second Kinslaying.
I add a few notes on particular points.
503 The ford at which the Dwarves were ambushed, not now itself named, is still over Ascar, not Gelion (see p. 347). The statement that the Dwarves 'cast the gold into the river' is at variance with the story told in the Sketch and the Quenta (where this was done by Beren and the Green-elves), and was perhaps a conscious return to the tale of The Nauglafring (II.237), in which the gold fell into the river with the bodies of the Dwarves who bore it, or else was cast into the water by Dwarves seeking to reach the banks.
505 With the changed dating of this entry the whole narrative of the invasion of Doriath, the battle at the ford, the coming of Dior to Doriath, the deaths of Beren and Luthien, and the bringing of the Silmaril to Dior, is comprised within the single year 503. - The brief revival of Doriath under Dior has not before been associated with the Silmaril; cf. what is said of its presence at the Havens of Sirion (pp. 351, 354). On the probable association of the Silmaril with the deaths of Beren and Luthien (though of an entirely different nature from that suggested here) see IV.63, 190.
511 On the fate of Dior's sons cf. AB 2 (V.142), where it is told that they 'were taken captive by the evil men of Maidros' following, and they were left to starve in the woods; but Maidros lamented the cruel deed, and sought unavailingly for them.' …

Finally, we come to stage 'D', the typescript of The Tale of Years; but before turning to the entries beginning with the return of Hurin there are two pencilled entries on the typescript at a slightly earlier point which must be noticed:

497 Dior weds of the Green-elves > Dior weds Nimloth.
500 Birth of the twin sons of Dior, Elrun and Eldun.

In connection with the first of these, there is an isolated note (it was written in fact on the back of the single page concerning the Dragon-helm of Dorlomin referred to on pp. 140, 143):
Dior born (in Tol Galen?) c.470. He appears in Doriath after its ruin, and is welcomed by Melian with his wife Elulin of Ossiriand.
On this note see p. 353, year 504. The fourth letter of Elulin is not perfectly certain. - In addition, the name of Dior's wife is also given as Lindis: see pp. 351, 353.
The name Nimloth was adopted in the published Silmarillion (see p. 234, where she is said to be 'kinswoman of Celeborn') on account of its appearance in the series of Elvish genealogies which can be dated to December 1959 (p. 229). This table gives the descendants of Elwe (Thingol) and of his younger brother Elmo, of whom it is said that he was 'beloved of Elwe with whom he remained.' On one side of the table (descent from Elwe) the wife of Dior Eluchil (Thingol's heir) is Nimloth 'sister of Celeborn'. Similarly on the other side, Elmo's son is Galahon, and Galahon has two sons, Galathil and Celeborn 'prince of Doriath', and a daughter Nimloth, wife of Dior Eluchil. But on the same table Nimloth wife of Dior also appears as the daughter of Galathil (thus in the first case she was the second cousin of Dior, and in the latter the third cousin of Elwing). It is clear from rough pencillings on this page that my father was uncertain about this, and it looks as if Nimloth as niece of Celeborn was his second thought. I referred to this genealogy in Unfinished Tales, p. 233, but did not mention the alternative placing of Nimloth as Celeborn's sister.
On the second of these late additions to the typescript, the birth of Eldun and Elrun in the year 500, see pp. 257 and 300, note 16.

I give now the text of the typescript of The Tale of Years in its concluding entries. At the end the typescript becomes manuscript, and it is convenient to distinguish the two parts as 'D 1' and 'D 2'.
501 Hurin is released from captivity. He goes to Nargothrond and seizes the treasure of Glaurung. He takes the treasure to Menegroth and casts it at the feet of Thingol.
502 The Nauglamir is wrought of the treasure of Glaurung, and the Silmaril is hung thereon. Thingol quarrels with the Dwarves who had wrought for him the Necklace.
503 The Dwarves of Belegost and Nogrod invade Doriath. King Elu Thingol is slain and his realm ended. Melian escapes and carries away the Nauglamir and the Silmaril, and brings them to Beren and Luthien. She then forsook Middle-earth and returned to Valinor.
Curufin and Celegorm, hearing of the sack of Menegroth, ambushed the Dwarves at the Fords of Ascar as they sought to carry off the Dragon-gold to the mountains. The Dwarves were defeated with great loss, but they cast the gold into the river, which was therefore after named Rathloriel. Great was the anger of the sons of Feanor to discover that the Silmaril was not with the Dwarves; but they dared not to assail Luthien. Dior goes to Doriath and endeavours to recover the realm of Thingol.
…
In the autumn of this year a messenger brought by night the Silmaril to Dior in Doriath.

Here the typewritten text D 1 ends abruptly near the head of a page, but is continued in very rough manuscript for some distance (D 2), though not so far as the end of version C (which itself did not go by any mean's so far as B).

503 Elwing the White daughter of Dior born in Ossiriand.
504 Dior returns to Doriath, and with the power of the Silmaril restores it; but Melian departed to Valinor. Dior now publicly wore the Nauglamir and the Jewel.
505 The sons of Feanor hearing news of the Silmaril that it is in Doriath hold council. Maidros restrains his brethren, but a message is sent to Dior demanding the Jewel. Dior returns no answer.
506 Celegorn inflames the brethren, and they prepare an assault on Doriath. They come up at unawares in winter.
506-507 At Yule Dior fought the sons of Feanor on the east marches of Doriath, and was slain. There fell also Celegorn (by Dior's hand) and Curufin and Cranthir. The cruel servants of Celegorn seize Dior's sons (Elrun and Eldun) and leave them to starve in the forest. (Nothing certain is known of their fate, but some say that the birds succoured them, and led them to Ossir.) [In margin: Maidros repenting seeks unavailingly for the children of Dior.] The Lady Lindis escaped with Elwing, and came hardly to Ossir, with the Necklace and the Jewel. Thence hearing the rumour she fled to the Havens of Sirion.
…
… A commentary on it [the text] follows.
501 In the original story of Hurin's coming to Menegroth in the Tale of Turambar (II.114 - 15) he with his 'band' or 'host' of 'wild Elves' brought the treasure of Nargothrond in a huge assemblage of sacks and boxes, and they 'cast down that treasury at the king's feet.' So also in the Sketch of the Mythology (IV.32) 'Hurin casts the gold at Thingol's feet', without however any indication of how the gold was brought to Doriath; but in the Quenta (IV.132) 'Hurin went unto Thingol and sought his aid, and the folk of Thingol bore the treasure to the Thousand Caves' (on the unsatisfactory nature of this version see IV.188). In AB 2 (V.141) 'Hurin brought the gold to Thingol.' See further p. 258.
503. Against 'The Dwarves of Belegost and Nogrod invade Doriath' my father pencilled an X and the single word 'cannot': i.e., the Dwarves could not pass the Girdle of Melian. In the old sources the protective magic was defeated by the device of a treacherous Elf (in the Tale) or Elves (in the Sketch and the Quenta); but since the Quenta the question had never again come to the surface. In this connection there is a page of rough notes, such as my father often made when meditating on a story at large, concerned with the 'Turins Saga' (such as 'An account of Beleg and his bow must be put in at the point where Turin first meets him', and 'Turin must be faithless to Gwindor - for his character is throughout that of a man of good will, kind and loyal, who is carried away by emotion, especially wrath ...'); and among these and written at the same time, though entirely unconnected, is the following:

Doriath cannot be entered by a hostile army! Somehow it must be contrived that Thingol is lured outside or induced to go to war beyond his borders and is there slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs, and the girdle being removed Doriath is ravaged by the Dwarves.

The word 'cannot' may well have been written against the entry for 503 in The Tale of Years at the same time as this.
The story that it was Celegorm and Curufin who ambushed the Dwarves at 'the Fords of Ascar' is repeated without change from the previous version C (p. 348). There is a passing reference to a similar story (for in this case it was Caranthir, not Celegorm and Curufin) in the post-Lord of the Rings text Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn. This was published in Unfinished Tales in a 'retold', somewhat selective form for the purposes of that section of the book; and in the passage (p. 235) saying that Celeborn had no love for any Dwarves, and never forgave them for their part in the destruction of Doriath ('passing over Morgoth's part in this (by angering of Hurin), and Thingol's own faults'), my father proposed rather than stated that only the Dwarves of Nogrod took part in the assault, and that they were 'almost entirely destroyed by Caranthir'.
This was not, however, his final view, as it appears. In a letter of 1963 (Letters no.247, p. 334) he wrote that he could 'foresee' one event in the Elder Days in which the Ents took a part:
It was in Ossiriand ... that Beren and Luthien dwelt for a while after Beren's return from the Dead. Beren did not show himself among mortals again, except once. He intercepted a dwarf-army that had descended from the mountains, sacked the realm of Doriath and slain King Thingol, Luthien's father, carrying off a great booty, including Thingol's necklace upon which hung the Silmaril. There was a battle about a ford across one of the Seven Rivers of Ossir, and the Silmaril was recovered ... It seems clear that Beren, who had no army, received the aid of the Ents - and that would not make for love between Ents and Dwarves.

In this it is also notable that the old story that the Dwarves took the Nauglamir from Menegroth reappears (see pp. 346-7).
Beneath the -loriel of Rathloriel my father wrote in pencil: lorion (Rathlorion was the original form of this river-name), but he struck this out and then wrote mallen, sc. Rathmallen (cf. Rathmalad (?) on the map, p. 191, §69).
504 Dior's return to Doriath has been given already under 503 in D 1, the typescript part of the text. - In the B and C versions (pp. 346-7) Melian brought the Silmaril to Beren and Luthien in Ossiriand and then departed to Valinor, and this is said also in D 1 (p. 350). The present entry in D 2, a year later, repeats that Melian went to Valinor, and the suggestion is that she was in Doriath when Dior came; cf. the note cited on p. 350: 'Dior... appears in Doriath after its ruin, and is welcomed by Melian'. This seems clearly to have been the story in AB 1 (IV.307) and AB 2 (V.141 - 2). But it is impossible to be certain of anything with such compressed entries.
506-507 Ossir: Ossiriand. - On Maidros' unavailing search for Elrun and Eldun see p. 349, year 511.
The Lady Lindis: Lindis appears elsewhere as the name of Dior's wife (see p. 257). The sentence 'Thence hearing the rumour she fled to the Havens of Sirion' presumably means that Lindis heard the rumour that the survivors of Gondolin had reached the Havens (an event recorded in this text under the year 511).
…
It would be interesting to know when this manuscript conclusion D 2 was written. It looks as if it belongs with some of the alterations and additions made to the typescript in earlier entries, particularly those pertaining to the story of Turin, and in these there are suggestions that they derive from the period of my father's work on the Narn. But this is very uncertain; and if it is so, it is the more remarkable that he should have based these entries so closely on the old pre-Lord of the Rings annals.

A note on Chapter 22 Of the Ruin of Doriath in the published Silmarillion.

Apart from a few matters of detail in texts and notes that have not been published, all that my father ever wrote on the subject of the ruin of Doriath has now been set out: from the original story told in the Tale of Turambar (II.113-15) and the Tale of the Nauglafring (II.221 ff.), through the Sketch of the Mythology (IV.32 - 3, with commentary 61 - 3) and the Quenta (IV.132 - 4, with commentary 187-91), together with what little can be gleaned from The Tale of Years and a very few later references (see especially pp. 352 - 3). If these materials are compared with the story told in The Silmarillion it is seen at once that this latter is fundamentally changed, to a form for which in certain essential features there is no authority whatever in my father's own writings.
There were very evident problems with the old story. Had he ever turned to it again, my father would undoubtedly have found some solution other than that in the Quenta to the question, How was the treasure of Nargothrond brought to Doriath? There, the curse that Mim laid upon the gold at his death 'came upon the possessors in this wise. Each one of Hurin's company died or was slain in quarrels upon the road; but Hurin went unto Thingol and sought his aid, and the folk of Thingol bore the treasure to the Thousand Caves.' As I said in IV.188, 'it ruins the gesture, if Hurin must get the king himself to send for the gold with which he is then to be humiliated'. It seems to me most likely (but this is mere speculation) that my father would have reintroduced the outlaws from the old Tales (II.113-15, 222-3) as the bearers of the treasure (though not the fierce battle between them and the Elves of the Thousand Caves): in the scrappy writings at the end of The Wanderings of Hurin Asgon and his companions reappear after the disaster in Brethil and go with Hurin to Nargothrond (pp. 306 - 7)
How he would have treated Thingol's behaviour towards the Dwarves is impossible to say. That story was only once told fully, in the Tale of the Nauglafring, in which the conduct of Tinwelint (precursor of Thingol) was wholly at variance with the later conception of the king (see II.245-6). In the Sketch no more is said of the matter than that the Dwarves were 'driven away without payment', while in the Quenta 'Thingol... scanted his promised reward for their labour; and bitter words grew between them, and there was battle in Thingol's halls'. There seems to be no clue or hint in later writing (in The Tale of Years the same bare phrase is used in all the versions: 'Thingol quarrels with the Dwarves'), unless one is seen in the words quoted from Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn on p. 353: Celeborn in his view of the destruction of Doriath ignored Morgoth's part in it 'and Thingol's own faults'.
In The Tale of Years my father seems not to have considered the problem of the passage of the Dwarvish host into Doriath despite the Girdle of Melian, but in writing the word 'cannot' against the D version (p. 352) he showed that he regarded the story he had outlined as impossible, for that reason. In another place he sketched a possible solution (ibid.): 'Somehow it must be contrived that Thingol is lured outside or induced to go to war beyond his borders and is there slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs, and the girdle being removed Doriath is ravaged by the Dwarves.'

In the story that appears in The Silmarillion the outlaws who went with Hurin to Nargothrond were removed, as also was the curse of Mim; and the only treasure that Hurin took from Nargothrond was the Nauglamir - which was here supposed to have been made by Dwarves for Finrod Felagund, and to have been the most prized by him of all the hoard of Nargothrond. Hurin was represented as being at last freed from the delusions inspired by Morgoth in his encounter with Melian in Menegroth. The Dwarves who set the Silmaril in the Nauglamir were already in Menegroth engaged on other works, and it was they who slew Thingol; at that time Melian's power was withdrawn from Neldoreth and Region, and she vanished out of Middle-earth, leaving Doriath unprotected. The ambush and destruction of the Dwarves at Sarn Athrad was given again to Beren and the Green Elves (following my father's letter of 1963 quoted on p. 353, where the Ents, 'Shepherds of the Trees', were introduced.
This story was not lightly or easily conceived, but was the outcome of long experimentation among alternative conceptions. In this work Guy Kay took a major part, and the chapter that I finally wrote owes much to my discussions with him. It is, and was, obvious that a Step was being taken of a different order from any other 'manipulation' of my father's own writing in the course of the book: even in the case of the story of The Fall of Gondolin, to which my father had never returned, something could be contrived without introducing radical changes in the narrative. It seemed at that time that there were elements inherent in the story of the Ruin of Doriath as it stood that were radically incompatible with 'The Silmarillion' as projected, and that there was here an inescapable choice: either to abandon that conception, or else to alter the story. I think now that this was a mistaken view, and that the undoubted difficulties could have been, and should have been, surmounted without so far overstepping the bounds of the editorial function.

It remains at last to give a storyline in the chapter 22 The Fall of Doriath of The Quenta Silmarillion in the published The Silmarillion (Sil77). The changes introduce by Christopher Tolkien are mentioned already above, but I still will give a short storyline:

Hurin has no companions, when he reaches Nargothrond. He killed Mîm because of Mîms treason against Turin. The hoard is not crused further than being a dragon-hoard. Hurin only took the Nauglamir and brought it to Menegroth. Hurin is healed by Melian, but gave the Nauglamir nonetheless to Thingol who accepted it. Hurin left Menegroth and it is told that he cast himself in the western sea.
Some Dwarves of Nogrod are already in Menegroth and Thingol bid them to bring the Silmaril and the Nauglamir together. He is with the Dwarves during the smithy and when the work is done the Dwarves withheld the Nauglamir from him. Thingol scorned and denied the Dwarves any payment and is slain by them. The Dwarves take the Nauglamir and passed out Menegroth but were pursued and slain save two. The Nauglamir is brought back to Menegroth and guarded by Mablung. The two surviving Dwarves made it to Nogrod, and told there only that the Dwarves were slain by the command of Thingol to cheat them of their reward. The Dwarves of Nogrod ask the aid of Belegost but it is denied. A host of Nogord marched to Doriath.
After the death of Thingol Melain sends word to Beren and Luthien and left Doritah and went to Valinor.
The Dwarves invade Doriath and take Menegroth. There they kill Mablung and take the Nauglamir.
Beren with Dior and the Green-Elves of Ossiriand ambush the Dwarves at Saran Athrad. Dwarves that made it out of the battle are killed by the Ents. Beren kills the Lord of Nogord but he crused the Hoard. Thus Beren only takes the Nauglamir and the rest of the Hoard is drowned in the river Ascar.
Dior left Ossiriand and re-established Doriath. He receives the Nauglamir after the death of Beren and Luthien.
The Sons of Feanor claim the Silmaril but Dior made no answer. Celegorm stirred his brethren and they attack Doriath. The kill Dior in Menegroth. Celegrom is slain by Dior and Curufin and Caranthir are also slain. Nimloth is also killed and the Sons of Dior left to strafe in the woods.
But a few Elves fled before the Feanorians and with them was Elwing with the Nauglamir.

So fare with the sources. The next step it must be to bring them together to a storyline that we will adopt, and I will try that in the next post.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Findegil]

In this post I will try to develop a storyline that can be adopted for our Version of FoD. I will not recapitulate the storylines that were developed by Maedhros and myself for our drafts of the story. After we have found the storyline that we want we should make a intense comparison.
I will number the single entities I see in the storyline for better reference with FD-SL-ZZ (SL for storyline).

FD-SL-01 From the notes at the end of The Wanderings of Húrin it is clear that the Band that Húrin gathered were of four-fold origin: Asgons Outlaws of Hithlum, part of Manthors party in Brethil that were not willing to live under Avranc, some people of Brethil that despaired in defending Brethil and some of the Woodmen from south of Taeglin. (These groups are the key to explain their behaviour later on. In my view the Outlaws are a very divergent group with Asgon and Ragnir as voices of opposite positions. The followers of Manthor would take Húrin as their rightful ruler as the last know decedent of the Haladin. The other two groups would go with them to find some better life as they had have so fare. They would most likely side with the Ragnir party and would rather take their share in the treasure than humiliate Thingol with it.)

FD-SL-02 Húrin elected to go to Nargothrond.

FD-SL-03 Mîm and his death is the first hard part we have to overcome: Mîm is now bound up with the House of Hador. He had given away Túrin to the Orcs. In none of JRR Tolkiens tellings of Mîms death was this the case. In TT it is Húrin who kills Mîm after he had uttered bitter words and cruses over the Outlaws bearing away the gold. In the Q30 Mîm is slain by the Outlaws and Húrin would have stopped them. In Any other source no specific information is given. In Sil77 Húrin must kill Mîm since he is alone and does it by reason of Mîms treason to Túrin. But the scene in Sil77 seems not so well developed to me. Húrin is able of such violence as the killing of Mîm would be but in Brethil he showed it more in the fashion of outbursts of fury, and Mîm who was not willing to depart from a sack of roots (even if they were of gold as is suggested) would not give away the treasure of Nagothrond so easily. If Húrin did know of the treason of Mîm is not so clear to me. What would have reported would be the dead of Khîm and Túrins not fulfilled promise to pay a wergild for Khîm when ever he comes to some riches. Thus for me it would be thinkable that the Outlaws would kill Mîm despise the will of Húrin as in Q30.

FD-SL-04 The cruse of Mîm has clearly to be re-established in our version since Tolkien never discarded it.

FD-SL-05 That the outlaws died in quarrels on the road as in Q30 should not be used if we follow Christopher Tolkiens suggestions in TY that the outlaws are the the way to bring the treasure to Menegroth.

FD-SL-06 We must contrive some way for Húrin and the Outlaws to pass the girdle of Melian. At least they can not reach the doors of Menegroth unforeseen, as it is in the text of TT.

FD-SL-07 The conversation between Húrin and Thingol might need change but the outcome is clear: Húrin left Menegroth after he had cast the hoard at Thingols feed and blamed him for the death of Nienor and Morwen. That he was healed by Melain must go, since we have no trace of it in JRR Tolkiens text and it fit the tragedy of the Narn even better if he goes with out healing. In all full told versions he goes forth from Menegroth alone and I think now we should stick to that. His further fate is unknown safe the rumour that he had cast himself in the western sea.

The behaviour of the Outlaws was already discussed at length. But it is still the most clumsy part of the tale. Things that must be answered or left ambiguous in our Version:
FD-SL-08 - Was there a fight between them and the Elves? Probably not since that seemed the reason for the change in Q30 in which the Outlaws were removed completely.
FD-SL-09 - Did They take a part of the treasure out of Menegroth? The Asgon Party would probably not take any part of the treasure, but we are not so sure of Ragnir and the later two sub-groups discussed above. It might be best to be ambiguous in this point, but in a way that must allow some part of the treasure to be taken.
FD-SL-10 - What was their final fate or how could they overcome the cruse of Mîm? Meadhros argument that the cruse could not be laid aside by a more or less forced separating from the gold is valid. I think we must add some info on the fate of the outlaws that is ambiguous enough to be not a fan-fic but makes clear that they did (at least not all) overcome the cruse. It might be hard to work this out, but it seems to me really needed.

FD-SL-11 The next step is Thingols engagement with the Dwarves. Since the later Thingol was already rich the question must be answered why he lured for the hoard. Was he so easily overcome by Mîm’s cruse? In TN he was reluctant at first and was dragged to it by Ufedhin. I think that we need some one in Ufedhins role her to urge Thingol not to follow Melains counsel. And if we use such a role here, we might take that role also to suggest the engagement of the Dwarves.

FD-SL-12 The transporting of half the hoard to Nogord as in TN is out of question, thus the Dwarves most come to Menegroth and smith the gold there. But TN has one great advantage that was never gainsaid later but also never clearly used: the contract between Thingol and the Dwarves is never really set. Both sides do not ask the exact conditions they work under. Thus the trouble that awakes is here already sown.

FD-SL-13 In TN after they had fashioned many nice things the Dwarves asked Thingol to make the Nauglafring. In S and the Q30 it sounds more like Thingol asking them to make the Nauglamir but the text is very compressed and such detail might be lost by compression. Seeing in The Hobbit what a self-illuminated jewel does with the heart of a Dwarf I would rather go back to the old tale were it seemed already part of the plan of the Dwarves to get the Silmaril by bringing it together with the gold of doubtful ownership. At least I would like to have the request for the Nauglamir put after Dwarves showed their talent at the gold.

As we are given not much evidence at all what happened after the work of the Dwarves was finished, we can only conclude that:
FD-SL-14 - The Dwarves already plant treasury.
FD-SL-15 - Thingol scanted his promised reward.
FD-SL-16 - The Dwarves were driven away.
FD-SL-17 Further we have to decide if there was a battle between the dwarves and the elves. Q30 has such a battle. But we have to take into account the blame of the Dwarves against the Elves in The Hobbit:

“… In ancient days they [the Woodelves] had had wars with some of the dwarves, whom they accused of stealing their treasure. It is only fair to say that the dwarves gave a different account, and said that they only took what was their due, for the elf-king had bar- gained with them to shape his raw gold and silver, and had afterwards refused to give them their pay. …”

I think we must skip the battle or at least no Dwarf should be slain therein, since otherwise the Dwarves would blame the Elves to have killed their kin without justice. But can we think of a battle were Elves were slain and the Dwarves only driven away? Properly yes, but why should the grave of the slain Elves be call “the Mound of Avarice”?
In my view the battle has to go. There was “Thingols quarrel with the Dwarves” and the Dwarves were driven away without a fitting payment.

FD-SL-18 The plotting of revenge that the Dwarves of Nogrod made must be without the Dwarves of Belegost following the material in Unfinished Tales and it is the savviest way to skip the Orks TN as well. Thus the only fighting forces were the Dwarves of Nogrod. FD-SL-19 But I think that the message about Mîms death during the taking of the treasure from Nargothrond cold be used. It would add some new wrath to hearts of the Dwarves.

FD-SL-20 Treachery of some Elves should be included in the plot, since it was prominent in the early plot and would add plausibility to the later idea. If we don’t want to add fan-fictional elements the plot could only deal with the writings given. Thus Naugladur must gain knowledge of the traditional hunt by treachery and use this occasion to his advantage.
FD-SL-21 Beyond that we only have: “Somehow it must be contrived that Thingol is lured outside or induced to go to war beyond his borders and is there slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs, and the girdle being removed Doriath is ravaged by the Dwarves.” We could skip the part “or induced to go to war beyond his borders” when we use the scene with the traditional wolf-hunt but we should not invent further details of how it was contrived.
FD-SL-22 Further details of the killing of Thingol could be added since it is most likely that he and Mablung behaved brave during the fight and were the last to die and that Naugladur did not risk a direct confrontation. But it is thinkable that he meddled with the dead body of Thingol (at least to fetch the Silmaril). And “the head on a pole” is attested for Dwarves that look for revenge (see the treatment with Azog after the battle of Azanulbizar).

FD-SL-23 In all versions of JRR Tolkien Melian played a part in the story after the death of Thingol. She mostly is seen as escaping the Dwarves and bringing the message of the first ruin of Doriath to Beren and Luthien. And later she seems to play a part in the resurrection of Doriath at least in welcoming Dior to the realm. But I think that this parts have to go. The above given quote is all we have concerning the way the girdle of Melian was passed by the hostile army of the Dwarves. And I think that we have to take it literal. Thingol is “slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs”. What a state of mind could we contrive for her to remove the girdle so that the Elves of Doriath could be killed in heaps and than go to Beren and tell him about it which would clearly led him to revenge the death of Thingol? Or are we really going to tell that she wandered witless and found Lúthien by mere luck? That would be thinkable, but not very likely. It is to long a way from Menegroth to Tol Galen for a witless wandering even for a Maiar to reach Beren in time. We even have to ask if she was smart enough to send a message to Beren and Lúthien.
I think that it would be savviest to let her go at once after Thingols death. The message to Beren and Lúthien could be made anonym or maybe send by some servant who got wind of the events by talking to Melian while she felt the death of Thingol (Nielthi in TN).

FD-SL-24 Berens fight with the Dwarves and the part taken by the Green-Elves and the Ents was Christopher Tolkiens way to deal with Letter no. 247 of 1963 and I think we should retain his plot here but possibly add some details of the fight from TN.
FD-SL-25 It would be difficult to use the Letter more strictly and cut out the Green-Elves completely. In this respect I think we should regard the words “Beren has no army” of the Letter as a planed reconstruction not workable with the text we have. The only thing we could do is make the number of Elves as small as thinkable. We could use the counter-attack of the dwarves told in TN led them into the woods were they were attacked by the Ents instate or in addition of the flight of a company as it is in Sil77. In that way we could (implicit not explicit of course) reduce the Green-Elves to a very small band just great enough to make the Dwarves furious enough to rush into a fight against them.

FD-SL-26 The fight of Beren and Naugladur is well told in TN and as jet I can’t see any reason not to use it.

FD-SL-27 It remains one critical point: How did the gold come into the River Ascar? In TN the Ascar was the name of the later Gelion and then in some later accounts the ford was changed to led over the River Ascar and Gelion after there amalgamation (see the eastward extension of the first Silmarllion map). But in the second Silmarllion Map the Dwarf-road led north of the River Ascar into mountains and Sarn athrad is again the ford over Gelion. Thus we can not use the picture of TN were the treasure was cast in the river by the Dwarves when they take to flight or fell in to the river when the dwarves who bore it were killed. The Elves must have removed it actively to the river Ascar und flung it into that river. We have to introduce that to our text.

FD-SL-28 The description of Lúthien wearing the Nauglamir is similar in many accounts. We can choose here the latest and add maybe some details of wording if we like.

FD-SL-29 Dior is in TY seen as leaving Tol Galen soon after the Battle of Sarn Athrad. And the description of his family would also come in here at best.

FD-SL-30 The message of second death of Beren and Lúthien as recorded in Sil77 is based on TY as it seems. And we should take that account even if it is constructed by Christopher Tolkien.

FD-SL-31 That Dior wore the Silmaril in public and that the jewel help him in restoring Doritah should be in-cooperated from TY.

FD-SL-32 Also we should mention that Maedhros restrains his brethren in the fist council. In TN the messenger sent to Dior was Curufin himself. There are some reason against that but I don’t think they are overwhelming and I would re-establish the conversation between Curufin and Dior from TN in our version.

That it was Celegrom who inflamed the brethren in the second council should also be in cooperated. The Details of the fight in Midwinter should be told:
FD-SL-33 The Feanorians won a battle against Dior at the east marches but Celegrom was slain there by Dior how was killed also. Curufin and Caranthir are also slain.
FD-SL-34 Then the Feanorians sacked Menegroth but did not find the Silmarill since Elwing had fled away with it, while the sons Dior were captured and left to strave in the woods.
FD-SL-35 The Feanorians were attacked by a late coming company of the Sindar and Feanorians were in the end “masters of field of dead”.

FD-SL-36 Last of all we have to recount the further flight of Elwing. In TY her mother is with her and they first go to Ossiriand and later when they hear of fugitives of Gondolin they join them at the Mouth of Sirion.

So fare what I think should be our storyline. I hope it will help to create a version of tale that we all can go with.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Maédhros]

FD-SL-06 We must contrive some way for Húrin and the Outlaws to pass the girdle of Melian. At least they can not reach the doors of Menegroth unforeseen, as it is in the text of TT.

Ever since our last discussion of the Ruin of Doriath, I have thinked about this and I think that there is a simple way to do this. We can move the scene that Húrin and the Outlaws reached the doors of Menegroth and change it so that they reached some outside part of the Girdle of Melian and that they are transported into Menegroth. That change would involved minimal editorial alterations by our part.

FD-SL-08 - Was there a fight between them and the Elves? Probably not since that seemed the reason for the change in Q30 in which the Outlaws were removed completely.
FD-SL-09 - Did They take a part of the treasure out of Menegroth? The Asgon Party would probably not take any part of the treasure, but we are not so sure of Ragnir and the later two sub-groups discussed above. It might be best to be ambiguous in this point, but in a way that must allow some part of the treasure to be taken.
FD-SL-10 - What was their final fate or how could they overcome the cruse of Mîm? Meadhros argument that the cruse could not be laid aside by a more or less forced separating from the gold is valid. I think we must add some info on the fate of the outlaws that is ambiguous enough to be not a fan-fic but makes clear that they did (at least not all) overcome the cruse. It might be hard to work this out, but it seems to me really needed.

I still think that as Aiwendil suggest way back and CT did is that it would be best for us not remove that battle.
As for the treasure, I would make them take some bits of it as Thingol offered in the Tale.
I tried to make ambiguous the fate of the outlaws in my latest draft.

.} [Now though] {D}[d]oughty were those outlaws and great wielders of sword and axe from their warfare with Orcs [, they departed from Doriath, fearing the strength of Menegroth. About the fate of the outlaws, no tales tells, yet it is said by some that the curse came upon them, and they died or were slained in quarrels upon the road].

FD-SL-11 The next step is Thingols engagement with the Dwarves. Since the later Thingol was already rich the question must be answered why he lured for the hoard. Was he so easily overcome by Mîm’s cruse? In TN he was reluctant at first and was dragged to it by Ufedhin. I think that we need some one in Ufedhins role her to urge Thingol not to follow Melains counsel. And if we use such a role here, we might take that role also to suggest the engagement of the Dwarves.

I entirely disagree with this. We have already a precedent in the Of Beren and Lúthien story that Thingol is able by himself to disregard the counsel of his wife Melian, and besides using a character such as Ufedhin who would be a true traitor, even bigger than what Maeglin was in the Fall of Gondolin and to have no real background of him besides even JRRT wrote this:

Doriath cannot be entered by a hostile army! Somehow it must be contrived that Thingol is lured outside or induced to go to war beyond his borders and is there slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs, and the girdle being removed Doriath is ravaged by the Dwarves.

It would have been very simple for JRRT to simply return to the old story of using a traitor in there but he didn't, and I think that we cannot either.

FD-SL-12 The transporting of half the hoard to Nogord as in TN is out of question, thus the Dwarves most come to Menegroth and smith the gold there. But TN has one great advantage that was never gainsaid later but also never clearly used: the contract between Thingol and the Dwarves is never really set. Both sides do not ask the exact conditions they work under. Thus the trouble that awakes is here already sown.

I think that we are forgetting one very important point in here. The gold that we are talking about here as in the Tale of the Nauglafring was the gold of the simple Rodothlim that were in no way comparable as to the later Ñoldor of Nargothrond. Remember that in the Tale the gold was not worked but it would seem to me unthinkable that the horde of Nargothrond under Finrod Felagund would be in such state. I'm not really sure how much worked that gold would need. To me it would be very beautiful pieces of gold.
Such a great worked gold would definitely would make Thingol think twice before throwing it away.
Perhaps this could work into our advantage in that the dwarves were only summoned to make the Nauglamír and some other little smitting of the gold. And the quarrel of the dwarves and Thingol is to be because of differences in the amount of gold that Thingol is to paid them and we would cut the other types of payment that the dwarves wanted from the Tale.

I will comment on the rest of it later.

[Maédhros]

As we are given not much evidence at all what happened after the work of the Dwarves was finished, we can only conclude that:
FD-SL-14 - The Dwarves already plant treasury.

What is plant treasury?

FD-SL-15 - Thingol scanted his promised reward.
FD-SL-16 - The Dwarves were driven away.
FD-SL-17 Further we have to decide if there was a battle between the dwarves and the elves. Q30 has such a battle. But we have to take into account the blame of the Dwarves against the Elves in The Hobbit:
Quote:
“… In ancient days they [the Woodelves] had had wars with some of the dwarves, whom they accused of stealing their treasure. It is only fair to say that the dwarves gave a different account, and said that they only took what was their due, for the elf-king had bar- gained with them to shape his raw gold and silver, and had afterwards refused to give them their pay. …”

I think we must skip the battle or at least no Dwarf should be slain therein, since otherwise the Dwarves would blame the Elves to have killed their kin without justice. But can we think of a battle were Elves were slain and the Dwarves only driven away? Properly yes, but why should the grave of the slain Elves be call “the Mound of Avarice”?
In my view the battle has to go. There was “Thingols quarrel with the Dwarves” and the Dwarves were driven away without a fitting payment.

I see no reason as to not have a battle between the dwarves and the Elves of Doriath. It can be seen that there was a quarrel between the Elves and dwarves that ended up in a battle between them. It seems perfectly logical thinking about the curse of the gold.

FD-SL-18 The plotting of revenge that the Dwarves of Nogrod made must be without the Dwarves of Belegost following the material in Unfinished Tales and it is the savviest way to skip the Orks TN as well. Thus the only fighting forces were the Dwarves of Nogrod. FD-SL-19 But I think that the message about Mîms death during the taking of the treasure from Nargothrond cold be used. It would add some new wrath to hearts of the Dwarves.

Agree on this.

FD-SL-20 Treachery of some Elves should be included in the plot, since it was prominent in the early plot and would add plausibility to the later idea. If we don’t want to add fan-fictional elements the plot could only deal with the writings given. Thus Naugladur must gain knowledge of the traditional hunt by treachery and use this occasion to his advantage.

I don't think that treachery of the elves should be used, instead I would use the idea of Naugladur would know about the hunt. I mean the dwarves had already worked in Menegroth before and it is very plausible that they would know about certain customs in Menegroth, as the hunt.

FD-SL-21 Beyond that we only have: “Somehow it must be contrived that Thingol is lured outside or induced to go to war beyond his borders and is there slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs, and the girdle being removed Doriath is ravaged by the Dwarves.” We could skip the part “or induced to go to war beyond his borders” when we use the scene with the traditional wolf-hunt but we should not invent further details of how it was contrived.
FD-SL-22 Further details of the killing of Thingol could be added since it is most likely that he and Mablung behaved brave during the fight and were the last to die and that Naugladur did not risk a direct confrontation. But it is thinkable that he meddled with the dead body of Thingol (at least to fetch the Silmaril). And “the head on a pole” is attested for Dwarves that look for revenge (see the treatment with Azog after the battle of Azanulbizar).

Using the hunt is the way that Thingol is killed outside his borders. I agree on the further details part.

FD-SL-23 In all versions of JRR Tolkien Melian played a part in the story after the death of Thingol. She mostly is seen as escaping the Dwarves and bringing the message of the first ruin of Doriath to Beren and Luthien. And later she seems to play a part in the resurrection of Doriath at least in welcoming Dior to the realm. But I think that this parts have to go. The above given quote is all we have concerning the way the girdle of Melian was passed by the hostile army of the Dwarves. And I think that we have to take it literal. Thingol is “slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs”. What a state of mind could we contrive for her to remove the girdle so that the Elves of Doriath could be killed in heaps and than go to Beren and tell him about it which would clearly led him to revenge the death of Thingol? Or are we really going to tell that she wandered witless and found Lúthien by mere luck? That would be thinkable, but not very likely. It is to long a way from Menegroth to Tol Galen for a witless wandering even for a Maiar to reach Beren in time. We even have to ask if she was smart enough to send a message to Beren and Lúthien.
I think that it would be savviest to let her go at once after Thingols death. The message to Beren and Lúthien could be made anonym or maybe send by some servant who got wind of the events by talking to Melian while she felt the death of Thingol (Nielthi in TN).

Again, I completely disagree.

Doriath cannot be entered by a hostile army! Somehow it must be contrived that Thingol is lured outside or induced to go to war beyond his borders and is there slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs, and the girdle being removed Doriath is ravaged by the Dwarves.

When Thingol is killed we can follow the TN where Melian feels that her husband is dead, her power of the Girdle is gone, she fleds to find her daughter. JRRT quote doesn't necessarily mean that Melian willingly removed the girdle but as CT imply in his version, that her power over it was gone, and that is why she fled. As to call her witless after such an event is to me unthinkable. Why wouldn't a maiar like her, who had not the restrictions that the later Istari had, would not be able to find her own daughter? I don't see any pressing evidence as to why Melian should not be the messenger.

FD-SL-24 Berens fight with the Dwarves and the part taken by the Green-Elves and the Ents was Christopher Tolkiens way to deal with Letter no. 247 of 1963 and I think we should retain his plot here but possibly add some details of the fight from TN.

I think that this works very good. I would not dismiss the green elves either.

FD-SL-26 The fight of Beren and Naugladur is well told in TN and as jet I can’t see any reason not to use it.

I think that it should be used.

FD-SL-27 It remains one critical point: How did the gold come into the River Ascar? In TN the Ascar was the name of the later Gelion and then in some later accounts the ford was changed to led over the River Ascar and Gelion after there amalgamation (see the eastward extension of the first Silmarllion map). But in the second Silmarllion Map the Dwarf-road led north of the River Ascar into mountains and Sarn athrad is again the ford over Gelion. Thus we can not use the picture of TN were the treasure was cast in the river by the Dwarves when they take to flight or fell in to the river when the dwarves who bore it were killed. The Elves must have removed it actively to the river Ascar und flung it into that river. We have to introduce that to our text.

I had not thought of that. Good point.

FD-SL-28 The description of Lúthien wearing the Nauglamir is similar in many accounts. We can choose here the latest and add maybe some details of wording if we like.

FD-SL-29 Dior is in TY seen as leaving Tol Galen soon after the Battle of Sarn Athrad. And the description of his family would also come in here at best.

FD-SL-30 The message of second death of Beren and Lúthien as recorded in Sil77 is based on TY as it seems. And we should take that account even if it is constructed by Christopher Tolkien.

FD-SL-31 That Dior wore the Silmaril in public and that the jewel help him in restoring Doritah should be in-cooperated from TY.

FD-SL-32 Also we should mention that Maedhros restrains his brethren in the fist council. In TN the messenger sent to Dior was Curufin himself. There are some reason against that but I don’t think they are overwhelming and I would re-establish the conversation between Curufin and Dior from TN in our version.

I'm ok with this.

That it was Celegrom who inflamed the brethren in the second council should also be in cooperated. The Details of the fight in Midwinter should be told:
FD-SL-33 The Feanorians won a battle against Dior at the east marches but Celegrom was slain there by Dior how was killed also. Curufin and Caranthir are also slain.
FD-SL-34 Then the Feanorians sacked Menegroth but did not find the Silmarill since Elwing had fled away with it, while the sons Dior were captured and left to strave in the woods.
FD-SL-35 The Feanorians were attacked by a late coming company of the Sindar and Feanorians were in the end “masters of field of dead”.

FD-SL-36 Last of all we have to recount the further flight of Elwing. In TY her mother is with her and they first go to Ossiriand and later when they hear of fugitives of Gondolin they join them at the Mouth of Sirion.

I'm ok with this too.

[Man-of-the-Wold]

Having begun this thread, I am pleased to have so much to comment on now that I've finally completed the entire HoME. I must say that with the exception of these RoD issues (and the omission of relatively finished texts found in Vol X and other defensible if unfortunate abridgements), I think C Tolkien did a fine job with S`77 in publishing the book that his father might have done and wanted to publish in the mid-1950s (apart from never finished matters like the FoG), and he is too hard on himself.

What his father could have had in mind over the succeeding 15 years in terms of a better quality and fully LoTR-congruent work---but was never going to write beyond bits & pieces---is pure speculation. My recent readings of Shippey's and Clyde Kilby's books lead me to believe that JRRT, besides being overwhelmed by fundamental questions of adaptation, was not really interested, much less motivated, in concluding his work on earlier Ages. In short, I wonder about the point and propriety of the New, Revised Silmarillion.

Nevertheless:

1. Húrin had a following. Unless I'm forgetting much from Turambar and The Foalókë; I'm not sure of what is written about the intrigue and debates among the followers as it might relate to their membership as indicated in “Wanderings,” which suggests that the appellation of ‘outlaws’ is unfair; they were homeless and sometimes misguided, but still decent Men, mainly of the 2nd and 3rd Houses, when Beleriand was devoid of "laws."

2. Mîm's guarding the treasure of Nargothrond is a critical element of the Legendarium. It can merely be stated that he was slain, with a concluding comment that "some say it was done contrary to Húrin's wishes, others that Húrin did it himself out of vengeance for the wrongs against his kin." Both are believable, but the latter has greater credence in light of "Wanderings".

3. It seems an obvious device that the treasure and those that handle it are cursed, and it is reasonable that (most of) Húrin's men might have later suffered madness, cruel fates and so forth, whether they kept or not any trinket or portion, given not only the power that Mîm might have possessed as the last of his kind, but also the fact that it was unredeemed Dragon-gold, already imbued with so much treachery and woe.

4. To say that they transported it to Doriath and not to Menegroth, and that Húrin's following (for the most part) did not enter Doriath, but that (all/most/large part of) the treasure was delivered over to the March Wardens at Húrin's command and transported by those Elves to Menegroth, combines elements of both traditions, and nicely avoids the awkwardness of conflict between his followers and the Elves.

5. Húrin, of course, presents the treasure in mockery to Thingol. Though apparently an invention of C Tolkien, the fact that the Melian could and would lift the spell and deceptions of Morgoth seems highly plausible, and it is the one (presumed) invention that I might retain, at least in the sense “that by some reports, Húrin ...".

6. After that, Húrin is only known to have left Doriath, and he was never heard from again. It is not even reported if he rejoined his followers, "but it is said….”

7. That Thingol became unwise and greedy in keeping the gold and having the Silmaril fitted to the Nauglamír, against counsel of Melian, is perfectly reasonable: his arrogance is still part of the later tradition, the treasure is cursed, and his own mind afflicted by grief, regrets and anger. No special device or character seems necessary.

8. The Dwarves naturally lust after the accursed treasure, and in being exposed directly to a Silmaril (regardless of whether they are already at or summoned to Menegroth) they can't help but to be seduced by its glory, and like Thingol, fall under the Doom of Mandos---the underlying thread of destiny in the Beleriandic stories.

9. Upon being met with their demands and seeing their desire for the Silmaril, Thingol becomes enraged in ways analogous to Fëanor, and has them forcibly expelled from Doriath without even their customary recompense for smithy-work.

10. I agree that the action should be limited to the Dwarves of Nogrod. The Dwarves of Belegost are regularly depicted as nobler. In view of what is said in The Shibboleth of Fëanor about the Great Dwarves’ attitude towards the petty-dwarves, Mîm’s murder can hardly be retained as a motivating factor or even a disingenuous excuse.

(Lastly, although the passage in The Hobbit [“Flies and Spiders”] is arguably directed at these First Age events, I’ve often felt that it refers just as well to another conflict more proximate to Thranduil’s realm and more recent than 6,000 years, in that the “elf-king” in question is Thranduil [or maybe Oropher], with the noninvolvement of “Thorin’s family” being explained by the Woodland Realm having been in contact with the next of the seven Dwarven folk to the east, at a time when Moria’s commercial dominance across Rhovanion had ebbed)

11. Even if JRRT struggled with the question, the invincibility of the Girdle of Melian is not necessarily absolute. We see the Sindar still needing to exert considerable effort to defend their frontier, and there are secret gates and pathways into the ‘hidden realm’ that certain Elves could have helped one through, even if Thingol/Melian would have been more or less aware of it. (Thingol is also somewhat responsible for the Girdle, and his capacities may be failing)

12. Likewise, I also question the premise that all of the Doriathrim are above reproach. It seems perfectly acceptable given the influences of curses, avarice and Morgoth's espionage, that some became corrupted or confused, and that betrayal (once again) reared its ugly head, even among Thingol's people, consistent with the tradition that JRRT never actually abandoned. Some may even have been Noldorin Avari or otherwise "Dwarf-friends" like Eol, and/or inhabitants of the borderland of Arthórien beyond Aros.

13. In any event, the Nogrodrim need only attempt (however vainly) to attack Doriath; thusly is Thingol ‘lured’ to the Marches to repulse/punish them. Then the challenge is how with the Girdle intact are the Dwarves able to lay low not only the tallest of the Eldar, but one who is also described as the greatest next to Fëanor. Again, I might combine sketchy traditions (to paraphrase): ‘some say in his confidence and fury that Thingol underestimated the resolve and tenacity of the Dwarves in battle, engaging them with too little force well beyond the confines of Doriath, while others claim in those dark and wicked days that treachery and the lies of Morgoth had entered even into Doriath, so that Thingol and his company were ambushed by Dwarves, who had penetrated parts of the Girdle with the help of greedy Elves ensnared by the Treasure of Nargothrond, or resembling Eol in having long trafficked with the Dwarf kingdoms, and to whom had been promised great reward. What is certain is that Thingol fell, and Mablung beside him, an unfathomable blow to the defenders of Doriath.’

14. To me it seems perfectly appropriate that Melian would have been immediately aware when Thingol’s fea departed from Middle-Earth, and that she and her powers would have rapidly fled, as well. Not only do we see limitations on what Maiars like Olórin or Iarwain Ben-adar are supposed to do in Middle-Earth, but also her existence and authority in Doriath was entirely bound up in her Union with Thingol. Break that Union within Endor, and she has hardly any business being there in a material way. So, while it might be nice for her to visit Lúthien or to have waited on Dior’s taking the throne, I find those storylines at best awkward and unnecessary, and her transporting the Nauglamír untenable in the later traditions (even though it must still get to Beren & Lúthien somehow). Finally, she has to be totally overcome by grief.

15. Therefore, to say that she abandoned her people is unfair. Aside from her obvious and overwhelming grief and the probable passing of her earthly authority to maintain the Girdle, they were her people only by the sacred grace of her marriage to Thingol. I’d also be concerned about exaggerating any wanton destruction or ravaging by the Dwarves as a holdover from the very early tradition of Dwarves as an evilly inclined race. With Thingol’s forces in apparent disarray, the Nogrodrim would have been concerned only with raiding the treasury, which might have been defended (even if not by Mablung).

16. I agree that word of these events should non-specifically reach the Laiquendi, as well as Beren and Lúthien. Tolkien may have wanted to keep Beren hands clean of further blood, but for him to avenge the killing of his father-in-law, and the Green-elves, their ultimate lord, is entirely proper. So, I’m happy to see that the role of Celegorm, Caranthir and/or Curufin is rejected, especially as it would make untenable the alliance of Moria and the fëanorian Elven-smiths in the Second Age.

17. The battle, while significant, need not be seen as a major one. The Dwarves ought to be very much reduced in number, and the Green-elves have the element of surprise as the Dwarves struggle up the eastern bank of Gelion, even as they are lightly armed and of modest size, while nevertheless led by Beren (along with Dior?). Otherwise, as much as possible can be inserted from The Nauglafring, with the Treasure being buried under the Ascar by Beren, and the Ents finishing off the routed Dwarves, as nicely devised by C Tolkien in S`77.

Finally, please note that the above points are not suggested for actual insertion into any text, but rather as arguments for choosing one plot option or another. They might only be used as a suggestion, rumor or allusions in the flow of the text (even in the form of a footnote) where some sort of explanation or justification for events was found to be indispensable for the reader's sake.

[Findegil]

Let's try to come back into that chapter by answering (and ordering) Man of the World's post. First I would like to comment in short to the observation

... I think C Tolkien did a fine job with S`77 in publishing the book that his father might have done and wanted to publish in the mid-1950s (apart from never finished matters like the FoG), and he is too hard on himself.
... In short, I wonder about the point and propriety of the New, Revised Silmarillion.

I agree fully with te first part. But that does not necessarily led to the abandonment of revising we do here. In short, in is Forum a group has formed of members that all like to work out a fuller Silmarillion. The reasons for each member are different but the final goal is similar enough to make us cooperate. The question if the final result is need by anyone does not matter. As long as we like to create it (for what ever reason) we will work on.

Now to the points form Man of the World:

FD-SL-01 / Note 1: So we all agree that Húrin had a band with him. The Naming might be objectively wrong, but the cores of the group were the companions from Hithlum and Tolkien ever called them outlaws. Thus, I think we could use that name for Húrin following still.

FD-SL-03 / Note 2: We could clearly give different accounts of Mîm's death in the way Man of the World suggested it. But if we do that as often as suggested we will break the narrative to peaces. And I don't think it is needed her. Q30 is the last source of the event, and even if the motives of Húrin are changed we can still find good reasons for him not to promote or deal out Mîm's death.

FD-SL-10 / Note 3: The fate of the outlaws is discussed already at length in this thread. And we all seem to agree that they could not overcome (at least not all) the cruse of Mîm. How we can make that clear in our text is the difficult part and can, as I think, only be worked out with the text-editing.

FD-SL-05 / Note 4: I don't see the advantage in the storyline Man of the World suggested. Beside the fact that we have no source for it so that it would be pure fan-fiction, we would also ruin the gesture as in Q30 if Elves of Doriath would carry the treasure into the hall. If we are going to accept that awkwardness than we should use the story of Q30 because it would settle the fate of the outlaws nicely.

FD-SL-7 / Note 5: The healing of Húrin is, in my view, not in line with context of the tragedy call Narn. Beside that I even do not see the ability for Melian to do that. Could she have lifte the cruse than she would have done it earlier with Túrin, Morwen and Nienor who were all for some time under her protection. I think Húrin must depart in bitterness. Thus his free death in the western-sea, reported as a rumour, is much more likely.

FD-SL-10 / Note 6: Yes, such a device might be in order for the later fate of the outlaws, but I don't think it will be told from Húrins point of view.

FD-SL-11 / Note 7: I already gave in concerning this point. But if we come to the text we will discuss if we can use Melains advise to through the treasure into Esgalduin at this point or not, and I think we can not if we have not counterpart for the temptation of Thingol.

FD-SL-12 / Note 8: I think we all agree here with Man of the World.

FD-SL-14 to FD-SL-17 / Note 9: I agree with the statement of Man of the World, but to create a text for it we make this more difficult.

FD-SL-17 to FD-SL-19 / Note 10: Agreed in general, but I don't think the passage in The Hobbit can be read like Man of the World does read it. Even in the later position of Thranduils realm in north Mirkwood all his dwarven neighbours were of Dúrins house (Ered Mithrim, Erebor, Ered Engrin) in the former location in southern Mirkwood they were even nearer to the main city of Dúrins Folk. Thus if the family of Thorin was not involved in that incident than the passage must refer to some other realm.

FD-SL-23 / Note 11: I don't think that the girdle could be overcome by treachery at all, and I think Maedhros and Aiwendil agree with me in this point. What the Warriors of Doriath did protect were parts of Thingols realm not included in the Girdle, like Dimbar were Túrin and Beleg fought. People that were rescued from starving in the decides of the Girdle and let in by Elves like Beleg did with Túrin or like Húrin were, at least, thought of by Melian as being in freindly terms with Thingol. And they all were led in as "guarded guests". Clearly it is possible to tell a fan-fictional story were some Elves of Doriath feign to make the army of Naugladur prisoners and thus gained a passage for, but that would by fare beyond the border of the limits set by our rules. And in addition the Dwarves did not need some Elves to show them the way into Doriath, they had visited it many times before. But still JRR Tolkien wrote concerning the Dwarves: "Doriath cannot be entered by a hostile army!"

FD-SL-20 / Note 12: It is nice to have someone on my side concerning the treachery of the Elves of Doriath, even if we do not agree in the way it affected the storyline.

FD-SL-21 / Note 13: What Man of the World did suggest her is not useable for the project as it is again hardly fashionable within the rules of the project.

FD-SL-23 / Note 14: I agree on this point, but Maedhros still has an other view.

FD-SL-23.5 / Note 15: Agreed on the first part, but I don't see why the dwarves would not be able for such violence as the ravening of Menegroth. The pitiless fight of the Dwarves against the Orks in the third age is an example for such violence on the side of the Dwarves.

FD-SL-23 / Note 16: Again I agree to Man of the World here but Maedhros seems to have still some objections.

FD-SL-24 to FD-SL-27 / Note 17: It seems we all agree her.

Originally I would have liked to continue now with the discussion of the points in the storyline were Maedhros, Aiwendil and I disagree. But my time for today is running out and I had not have the time to reread all the posts from #49 onward. Also I was the last to make some comments in post #58 thus I could have added not much (I think). The agruments raised in that post at least still stand unanswered.
If I get some time for it in the near future I will try to work out the basic-text from which to start with addition mention in post #58 (with variants for the points of the storyline were we did not jet find an agreement).

Respectfully
Findegil

[Maédhros]

Posted by Findegil
I agree fulheartedly on the first part and I will try to answere the second part: If Melian does not remove the girdle and goes after the death of Thingol to Ossiriand to find Beren and Lúthien and then departes we have a timeline problem: during the time that elapsed between Thingols death and Melians depeature, what would the dwarves do? linger on the border of Doriath? That would ruin the surprise effect that is in my view needed for their success. If we have Melian by choice remove the girdle before she goes to Beren than we create a problem of motive: Why should she remove the girdle or if she did why should she then send Beren to a revenge. Thus the only logical explanation as Maedhros has understood for Melian to bring the meassage to Beren would be that she loosed here ability to protect Doriath and sought his help to rescue what ever could be rescued.
This would in my view mean that when we let Melian bring the message to Beren we would however ambiguous our text might be implicitly state that Melian lost her power with the death of Thingol. I do not say that this is impossible, but I would avoid any statement in that direction even if only given implicit.
For that reason I find it safest to let her depart without a visit in Ossiriand as it is in Sil77.

We have from the Tale of Years

Doriath cannot be entered by a hostile army! Somehow it must be contrived that Thingol is lured outside or induced to go to war beyond his borders and is there slain by the Dwarves. Then Melian departs, and the girdle being removed Doriath is ravaged by the Dwarves.

Let me try and clarify my reasons for wanting to retain the part as stated in the Tale and the Q30.
The Girdle is in place and somehow Thingol is lured outside of it and is killed. How does Melian notices that Thingol is dead? I think that it is safe to assume that the both of them are linked in some way that would allow Melian to know wether or not his hröa is destroyed or not.
Is the Girdle at this time automatically removed or do we need for Melian to leave for it to be gone?
1. If she would need to leave in order for the Girdle to be removed, why not warn the Elves of Menegroth about the slaying of their king in order to prevent an attack, surely they would all be aware of the dispute between them and the Dwarves of Nogrod. This would surely in some way lessen the surprise attack that Findegil posted above that seemed essential to their success.

2. If she was powerless to retain the Girdle, then the surprise element would indeed be in there and we would have no problem with her going to Ossiriand to warn Beren and Lúthien as she does in the Tale and the Q30.

Consider option 1 for a moment, if she still has the power to retain the Girdle, and she chooses to depart, why then can't she go to Ossiriand and warn Beren and Lúthien? To speak for the last time to her daughter and warned her about what happened in there? Does Melian has to be physically in Doriath in order for the Girdle to work?

Consider option 2, if she is powerless over the Girdle, there is no reason then for her not to go and warn Beren and Lúthien about what just happened.

My reason for wanting Melian to go to Ossiriand is that if we do not make the assumption that when Thingol was killed, Melian lost her powers over the Girdle, then in our text it would mean that Melian walked out on Menegroth, in a moment of great need, and I don't think that a great queen like she, would do that. To me it would diminish her character in a way that seems not right to me.

Of course, we also have the possiblity to assume that when JRRT says that Melian departs, it doesn't mean exactly that she must go to Valinor, but she could have make a stop in Ossiriand to warn Beren and Lúthien first.

Posted by Findegil
My reason to go back to a storyline discussion was very similar to that: Working on the text it self one is often carried way by the details and lose the validity out of sight. I see the further work done on this chapter now in quiet a nother way than before: First I saw that we would take a draft from Maedhros or my one and start working form that, but now I would rather take Q30 change what must be change to create the storyline produced here and then start to add details in accordance to our rules form whatever source. Our preliminary drafts will in the end only help to identify the materials that could be added for the sake of details.

I can live with this, but the Material from Q30 is very limited.

[Findegil]

Going back to front:

I can live with this, but the Material from Q30 is very limited.

I am myself not sure if any sentence of Q30 will survive unchanged in our final version. But when we worked out our drafts without a fixed storyline to bind us, I at least did in some places change the storyline for the sack of detail (even if unintentional). As Aiwendil pointed out that is clearly unwanted. And in addition we did discuss much more textual details than the real problematic storyline issues when working with our drafts. Both problems seem to be cured now.

How does Melian notices that Thingol is dead? I think that it is safe to assume that the both of them are linked in some way that would allow Melian to know wether or not his hröa is destroyed or not.

Agreed.

Is the Girdle at this time automatically removed or do we need for Melian to leave for it to be gone?

I think we are not going to answer that question if we can in any event avoid it. To do so would be interpreting JRR Tolkiens text and is clearly something we should leave for our readers. If we could leave that ambiguous and have Melian bring the message to Beren and Lúthien, I would not have any objection against that. But I can't in the moment see that work out.

In addition I don't see why she would not warn the people of Doriath as you suggest in your option 1. If a message was send to Beren and Lúthien by some one else than Melian than the Elves of Doriath would have had a warning. The Elves were without a leader (especially if we take the hunt, with many of the Lords slain beside Thingol) and in addition the march-wardens of the north that had as jet fought a war out of a effective protection would now need to protect the realm by their own strength. In such a situation a warning immediately before the attack would not help much. It would lessen the surprise but not so much as to save the day for the Elves. (If Thingol had planed a war against the Dwarves, thinks would have been otherwise.)

Respectfully
Findegil

[Aiwendil]

Findegil wrote:

I think we are not going to answer that question if we can in any event avoid it.

I think this may be the best way to go, if possible.

I agree, though, that in either case Melian could still warn Beren and Luthien in Ossiriand before departing.

About Man of the Wold's points:

Note 1 - Agree with Findegil; "outlaw" is fine.

Note 2 - I'm still a bit torn about Mim's death. It is said in the extension of GA that preceded "Wanderings" that "Hurin comes to Nargothrond and slays Mim the petty-dwarf". Of course that could simply be compression. I suppose I still lean toward the Q30 version, though I can't say for sure that I won't change my mind.

Note 3 - The fate of the outlaws still strikes me as the most difficult point in the chapter, and I can think of nothing to add to what has already been said about it.

Note 4 - I'm not sure that Man of the Wold's suggestion "ruins the gesture" the way the Q30 version does. But there is no source for it. Also, it appears to be completely unnecessary, as the outlaws would still have to be kept alive up to that point.

Note 5 - I don't think the healing by Melian can be justified in our text at all.

Note 6 - Nothing to add here.

Note 7 - I agree with Man of the Wold here; Thingol's desire for the gold seems fine to me.

Note 8 - Again agreement.

Note 9 - I think that, if all else fails, we can always fall back on the single sentence of Q30 for the quarrel, so the story point definitely stands.

Note 10 - Certainly the Dwarves of Belegost play no part. As for Mim's death - I don't see it necessarily as unusable even as a disingenuous excuse.

Note 11 - I actually half agree with Man of the Wold here. I don't think that the power of the Girdle was necessarily absolute. Perhaps it could have been overcome by treachery. But I think that in our version it must be the case that it was not in fact overcome by treachery. The note that Findegil mentions makes that plain.

Note 12 - I think it's possible for some of the Elves of Doriath to be treacherous. But, again, I don't think that it's useable in our version.

Note 13 - I agree with Findegil - we cannot use a version like that.

Notes 14, 15 and 16 - I addressed these points briefly above and can think of nothing to add. Is there still a disagreement between Findegil and Maedhros here?

Note 17 - Agree.