So I'm entering the final stretch of my lengthy and leisurely re-read of the Silmarillion, now past the Akalabeth.
I've been a little OCD about delving into an expanded perspective of The Silmarilliion, and part of this was an excursion into the different versions of The Ruin of Doriath, looking at The Wandering of Hurin and The Nauglafring (and other similar parallel re-tellings from the various earlier iterations of Silmarillion writings/drafts) to compare with the published Silmarillion. This is because I came across details of the composition of The Ruin of Doriath chapter.
I got the impression from surveying The History of Middle-earth volumes that the Akalabeth gets looked at as part of The Silmarillions developement as part of the Legendarium. However, as I reached Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, I was puzzled to discover an apparent absence of details about Of the Rings of Power.
After all of the notes detailing multiple drafts of sections of The Silmarillion, including extensive notes about many inserted slips with revised sentences and passages. And also after something of a confession and expression of regret about the composition of The Ruin of Doriath chapter, the complete absense of composition details about Of the Rings of Power is really suprising.
Am I overthinking this? Was this an area where there wasn't ambiguity, editorial decisions were much reduced or non-existant? Are you, fellow readers, and loremasters of Tolkien, able to discern the sources of this final section of the published Silmarillion?
I've been a little OCD about delving into an expanded perspective of The Silmarilliion, and part of this was an excursion into the different versions of The Ruin of Doriath, looking at The Wandering of Hurin and The Nauglafring (and other similar parallel re-tellings from the various earlier iterations of Silmarillion writings/drafts) to compare with the published Silmarillion. This is because I came across details of the composition of The Ruin of Doriath chapter.
I got the impression from surveying The History of Middle-earth volumes that the Akalabeth gets looked at as part of The Silmarillions developement as part of the Legendarium. However, as I reached Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, I was puzzled to discover an apparent absence of details about Of the Rings of Power.
After all of the notes detailing multiple drafts of sections of The Silmarillion, including extensive notes about many inserted slips with revised sentences and passages. And also after something of a confession and expression of regret about the composition of The Ruin of Doriath chapter, the complete absense of composition details about Of the Rings of Power is really suprising.
Am I overthinking this? Was this an area where there wasn't ambiguity, editorial decisions were much reduced or non-existant? Are you, fellow readers, and loremasters of Tolkien, able to discern the sources of this final section of the published Silmarillion?
