* *A New Project ~~~ Revising the Ainulindale* *

[Aiwendil]

Having given all this a little thought, I find myself wondering: why are we trying to create a veritable, "realistic" Ainulindale when, as Findegil has pointed out, we long ago decided not to create a "real" Quenta Silmarillion? Many of the issues we seem to be dealing with here arise largely or entirely from our demanding that the text we produce be the authentic text produced by a scribe in Middle-earth. Findegil seems already to have hit upon this, but I missed the point:

Originally Posted by Findegil

I am not sure that we can stick to the assumption that what we produce here is the existing Middle-Earth version of the Ainulidalë.

Suppose we were to drop this requirement. Then I think we would have solutions to both major issues:

1. The placement of the first war - the only difficulty here, as I see it, is that we are reluctant to revise an "authentic" Ainulindale with material from AAm. If, on the other hand, our goal were only to create a "true" narrative of events in Arda, there would be nothing wrong with combining two sources, as we have done elsewhere.

2. The whole issue of footnotes - with the stricter goal of creating an authentic text, all of this depends critically upon finding some motivation for the use of footnotes on the part of one of the authors or scribes. If the text is merely a true narrative, then footnotes become merely a matter of style. It would be simple enough, then, to re-structure the 'Yavanna as a tree' sentence to eliminate the first person (either in the body of the text or in a footnote).

Quickly glancing over Findegil's proposed revisions to incorporate AAm, I think they look good. But I must have a more careful look at the texts when I get the chance.

Findegil's revision of §42 to change rebirth to reincarnation also looks good.