* * Revised Fall of Gondolin pt 1 [General Revisions & 'Of Tuor' Revisions]* *

[antoine2]

I think it s time now to check each changes of our revised Fall of Gondolin

BoLT 1 The Book of Lost Tales 1 (HoME 1).
FG "The Fall of Gondolin" from The Book of Lost Tales 2 (HoME 2).
TE "The Tale of Eärendel" from The Book of Lost Tales 2 (HoME 2).
Q30 "The Quenta", written in 1930, from The Shaping of Middle-earth (HoME 4). Quotations are from §16 and from §17 in the Q2 version including later emendations as per the notes.
AB 2 "The Later Annals of Beleriand", written about 1936?, from The Lost Road (HoME 5). Unknown to Christopher Tolkien when he produced QS77.
Tuor "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin", written about 1951 from Unfinished Tales
TO refers to the brief notes given in note 59 to to the later Tuor in UT.
Elessar The Elessar from "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn" in UT.
TY "The Tale of Years", (1951-52), from The War of the Jewels (HoME 11)
PG The Parentage of Gil-galad, a long note by Christopher Tolkien appended to SF, containing material by his father on this matter.
SF "The Shibboleth of Fëanor", Feburary 1968 or later, in the chapter of the same name from "The Peoples of Middle-earth" (HoME 13).
QS77 Quenta Silmarillion as published in The Silmarillion edited by Christopher Tolkien in 1977.
TO refers to the brief notes given in note 59 to to the later Tuor in UT.


General changes

FG-01
Bansil to Belthil per QS77

FG-02
Cristhorn to Cirith Thoronath per QS77

FG-03
Eärendel to Eärendil per QS77 and LR.

FG-04
Elfinesse to Elvenesse per Tolkien's general change of Elfin to Elven from earlier to later writings.

FG-05 KO
Fountain to Fountains in any reference to Ecthelion per QS77 and "Huor and His Coming to Gondolin".

FG-06
Glingol to Glingal per QS77.

FG-07
Gondothlim to Gondolindrim per QS77.

FG-08
Indor to Galdor

FG-09
Inwë to Ingwë per QS77.

FG-10
Isfin to Aredhel per QS77.

FG-11
Kôr to Túna Per QS77. In BolT Kor corresponds to both the later Tirion and Túna, being the name of both the city and the hill on which it stands. In the sole mention in "The Fall of Gondolin" it is the hill that is mean.

FG-12
Malkarauki to Valaraukar per "Valaquenta" published with QS77.

FG-13
Meglin to Maeglin per QS77.

FG-14
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.

FG-15
Noldoli to Noldor per QS77. Noldoli, though possibly still a valid form, is not used at all in QS77 or late Tolkien writings.

FG-16
Orc/Orcs to Ork/Orks following Tolkien's stated preference and use in his latest writings.
The spelling change, if made, would be far less troublesome to readers than is Tolkien's change from goblin in The Hobbit to orc in LR.
In Morgoth's Ring (HoME 10), Myths Transformed, IX, Tolkien first indicates the change of spelling:
Its application (in all Elvish tongues) specifically to the creatures called Orks ** so I shall spell it in The Silmarillion ** was later.
And again, at the end of section X:
The word seemed in itself, very suitable to the creatures that I had in mind. But Old English orc in meaning ** so far as that is known ** is not suitable. Also the spelling of what, in the later more organized linguistic situation, must have been a Common Speech form of a word or group of similar words should be ork. If only because of spelling difficulties in modern English: an adjective orc + ish becomes necessary, and orcish will not do. In any further publication I shall use ork.
This was not a one-time impulse as essays in the following two HoME volumes show.
That this was a desired change by Tolkien, and that he would have made it had he published anything more during his lifetime, might be enough to convince.
The logic behind the change also should convince. But Tolkien covers it very hastily above.
Ork is should be an English word, as it stands for a word from Weston, the Common Speech, not from the Elvish tongues. But English words that end with a k sound are always spelled so as to end with the letter k (or ke), not c, unless they are loan words from Latin or another language. No native English word descended from pure Old English ends with c. If Old English orc had descended to us unbroken, then it would today be spelled ork, just as French porc became English pork. Ork feels right as an English word in a way that orc does not.
Ork is superior to Orc in much the same ways as Elven is superior to Elfin, or Dwarves to Dwarfs, or Elvenhome to Faërie, less artificial, stronger and more real. The taste of words does matter. There is magick in words.

FG-17
Peleg to Huor per QS77 and "Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin".

FG-18
Place of the Gods to Place of the Ainur. Tolkien almost entirely drops "Gods" as a English translation in later writings. One would normally change "Gods" to "Valar", but the Elvish form Gar Ainion specifically refers to the Ainur, that is, not just to the Valar but also to the Maiar and to the Ainur who remained outside Eä. The English translation should be equally wide. "Place of the Holy Ones" would be a full translation, but is perhaps too cumbersome.

FG-19
Sorontur to Sorontar per "The Etymologies" (under THOR-, THORON-) and "The Wanderings of Hrúin" in The War of the Jewels (HoME 11).

FG-20
Thorndor to Thorondor per QS77 and LR.

FG-21
Tumladin to Tumladen per QS77.

FG-22
Amon Gwareth to Amon Gwared per The War of the Jewels (HoME 11), Part Two The Later Quenta Silmarillion, 12, "Of Turgon and the Building of Gondolin". Christopher Tolkien notes:
To this my father made some corrections: Nivrost to Nevrast as in the preceding chapters; Eryd Wethion to Eryd Wethrin; Handir to Huor (see above); and Amon Gwareth to Amon Gwared.

FG-23
Compare the similar and possibly related use of Echoriad instead of earlier Echoriath in "The Wanderings of Húrin". This needs investigation.

FG-24
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 refenence 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.

FG-25
house of the Swan to House of Hador

FG-26
Lothlim to Lothrim

FG-27
Salgant to Talagand per "The Eytmologies". Under the stem ÑGAN-,ÑGÁNAD- 'play (on stringed instrument)' which produces various forms meaning 'harp' or 'harp-playing', is found:
talagant harper (* tyalañgando), cf. Talagant [*/ ] of Gondolin [TYAL].
Under TYAL- 'play' is:
Cf. tyalañgando¯ = harp-player (Q tyalangan): N Talagand, one of the chiefs of Gondolin (see ÑGAN).
Christopher Tolkien adds a note to ÑGAN-, ÑGÁNAD-:
Talagant appears in no literary source, but cf. Salgant in the tale of The Fall of Gondolin, the cowardly but not wholly unattractive lord of the People of the Harp: II. 173, 190-1, etc.
Talagand was almost certainly Tolkien's planned replacement form for Salgant the lord of the People of the Harp.

FG-28
Thornhoth to Thoronhoth. This latter is the probable correct Sindarin form.

FG-29
Thorn Sir to Thoron Sîr. This updates the two elements for the name from Gnomish to their QS77 and LR Sindarin forms, but I'm not sure the syntax of this later name is valid.

FG-30
Bad Uthwen, the Elvish name of the "Way of Escape". "The Etymologies" gives:
BAT- tread. * báta : ON bata beaten track, pathway; EN bâd.
But does Uthwen still exist in Sindarin in any form? If kept, it probably should appear as Bâd Uthwen with the circumflex accent. Can be dropped as uncertain.

FG-31
Gar Ainion. I originally thought to retain this. The logic was that Gar Lossion 'Place of Flowers' occurs as the Gnomish name of Alalminórë, replacing an earlier Losgar. This would not necessarily mean Losgar was incorrect, rather that Tolkien had replaced one correct form with another using the same Elvish words, 'Flower-place' by 'Place of Flowers'. Since Losgar occurs in the later Silmarillion tradition as the name of the place where Fëanor burned the ships, presumably gar is still valid Sindarin meaning 'place'.
However upon closer examination the later 'Losgar' cannot mean 'Flower-place' which would be Lothgar. If gar means 'place' still, it might mean 'Snow-place' or 'Snow-white place'. But I find nothing anywhere indicating what meaning Tolkien intended for this place-name, and the fact that the first element must now have a different meaning does not give me any confidence that the last element has the same meaning as in Gnomish.
Indeed from "Etymologies" from GAR-, listed under 3AR-, there is only Noldorin/Sindarin garo- , gerin I hold, have; garn 'own', property.
Nothing indicating 'place', and no form gar. Accordingly should almost certainly be dropped. It only occurs twice, both times in apposition to "the Place of the Ainur", so removal creates no problems

FG-32
Gwarestrin. This must stand as there is nothing newer and nothing in published Sindarin corpus that helps in either determining its validity in Sindarin or in creating a possibly more correct Sindarin form. At least gwar- seems still valid as in Amon Gwareth/Gwared upon which Gondolin is built. Also valid is the stem TIR- which is contained in -estrin according to the explanation of the name in BoLT 1, Appendix.
- Nost-na-Lothion. Translated 'Birth of Flowers'. In "Etymologies" under NO¯- 'beget' occurs Noldorin form noss 'house', example Nos Finrod 'House of Finrod'. In BolT 1 under Duilin, appears nos 'house' as well as related forms nosta- 'be born', nost 'birth; blood, high birth; birthday', and nôs 'birthday'. Nost appears only in this citation and the name Nost-na-Lothion, none of the 'birth' forms appears later, so it is not at all clear that Tolkien would have considered it still valid. But no other words meaning "born" or "birth" are given by Tolkien, so this might still stand.

FG-33
Tarnin Austa, the Elvish name for the festival "Gates of Summer". Neither of the elements appears in extant later Sindarin. But there is also no conflict. (The place name Tarn Aeluin is a mixed form in which tarn is the English word meaning 'small mountain lake'.) Sindarin tarn meaning 'gate' might exist. Austa is not impossibly an alternate name for 'summer' alongside laer. Can be dropped as uncertain.

FG-34
Gloomweaver to Ungoliant

FG-34
Legolas Greenleaf to Laegolas


Of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin

RS-TCG-01
Letter k in the phrase Anar kaluva tielyanna! and the name Elemmakil to be changed to c following JRRT's decision, after the writing of this manuscript but before actual publication of LR, to always use c in Elvish in Latin latter transcriptions of Elvish words and names (except it would seem for names of the Valar (Melkor, Tulkas, Kementári).

RS-TCG-02
Echoriath to Echoriad per The War of the Jewels (HoME 10), "The Wanderings of Húrin". Warning: I have NO explanation for this change!

RS-TCG-03
Possibly remove the words I have underlined from the following passage:
They are the folk of Thorondor, who {dwelt once even on Thangorodrim ere Morgoth grew so mighty, and} dwell {now} in the Mountains of Turgon {since the fall of Fingolfin}.
Christopher Tolkien has a note on this passage which concludes:
In all probability the conception of Thorondor's dwelling at first upon Thangorodrim, which is found also in an early Silmarillion text, was later abandoned.
In particular Christopher Tolkien points out that in the chapter "Of the Ruin of Beleriand" in QS77 Thorondor is already described as having "his eyrie among the peaks of Crissaegrim" when he rescues Fingolfin's body. Therefore, if Thorondor had changed his dwelling, it must have been before before Fingolfin's death, not after.
Also, at the beginning of the earlier chapter "Of the Noldor in Beleriand" there has been reference to the vale of Tumladen being surrounded by "a ring of mountains tall and sheer, and no living thing came there save the eagles of Thorondor." This suggests that even then Thorondor's eagles dwelt in those mountains. But perhaps only some did.
But before the breaking of the Siege and death of Fingolfin it is difficult to find any point where "Morgoth grew so mighty" that Thorondor felt he had best remove himself from Thangorodrim for that reason.
Thorondor might have moved after Dagor Agloreb, the Glorious Battle, which was indeed a great victory for the Noldor, but could have proved less happy for Thorondor when "fire came from fissures in the earth, and the Iron Mountains vomitted flame."
We could restore the phrase "dwelt once even on Thangorodrim" and the word "now" and leave vague when and why Thorondor changed his dwelling.
That is currently my preference on the principle that if you don't have to remove it, then keep it.
It seems to me to be equally valid to remove "ere Morgoth grew so mighty" and "now" and "since the fall of Fingolfin" from Voronwë's speech, or to remove "from Crissaegrim" from the QS77 account. In the late LQ 1 and LQ 2 manuscripts Tolkien often did correct word-forms without properly correcting the story, while "Of Tuor" is a fully considered revision and a full account (not a summary) to which in every other respect all later material is brought into accord. (I may say that it also seems more sensible that Thorondor would fly a short distance from an eyrie on Thangorodrim or the Iron Mountains to the battlefield then all the way from Crissaegrim. What tidings would have come to him in time that he would know to make that flight?)

RS-TCG-04
In note 13 to "Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin" Christopher Tolkien notes that his father had indicated elsewhere that Turgon maintained a secret refuge on the Island of Balar, but later rejected that idea. The reason for this note is Voronwë's account that Turgon had sent a few folk to Sirion's mouth who had built some ships and established lonely dwellings on the Isle of Balar.
But there is actually no contradiction here. Though JRRT rejected the idea that Turgon founded a permanent refuge on Balar and that Círdan's people later mingled with Turgon's people there, none of his published writings oppose a settlement on Balar during Turgon's failed attempt to build seaworthy ships. That is all that Voronwë's account mentions. He says nothing that even suggests that the settlement was more than temporary. The reference should be kept unchanged.



[ September 22, 2002: Message edited by: antoine2 ]

[ September 22, 2002: Message edited by: antoine2 ]

[ September 22, 2002: Message edited by: antoine2 ]

[ September 22, 2002: Message edited by: antoine2 ]

[ September 22, 2002: Message edited by: antoine2 ]
-moderator note-
please Note I edited the Title of the thread to reflect a splitting up of the sections of FoG into their own threads so they do not become an unmanagable sprawl of corrections and counter corrections.

[ October 10, 2002: Message edited by: lindil ]