** General Comments on the Project & Sign Up Thread **

[Saraphim]

I have studied the Silmarillion, Lost Tales, and The Lays of Belariand extensivly, and I was hoping that there might be a place for me on this intruiging project.

I have read of the topics, and greatly wish to be apart of it.

Thank you for considering me!

[Aiwendil]

Welcome to the project.

Once you've read over the active threads and feel ready to contribute, please jump right in. The important threads right now are the "Fall of Gondolin part 3 structure", "Revised Fall of Gondolin part 4", and "The Problem of Rog" threads.

[Maédhros]

Saraphim, if you are serious in contributing to the proyect, I can provide you with the texts we are currently working on regarding the Fall of Gondolin. One can contribute to the threads without them but in my opinion, it is easier if one has the base text of the discussions. Let me know if you or someone else who may contribute to the project would like to have them.

[Eorl of Rohan]

This is a very interesting project, and I want to participate in it.

I am an avid and very fast reader, and read Silmarillion and Unfinished tales more then ten times, though I have not kept count.

Can I join?

[Aiwendil]

You may certainly join.

The first thing to do is to read the important threads on the forum.

As you may know, we are in the final stages of updating the old version of "The Fall of Gondolin" found in HoMe II to fit with the later Legendarium. This project began with the old Fall of Gondolin thread; it's not necessary that you read it, but if you wish to see the beginnings of this particular phase of the project, it's worth looking at.

The current discussion regarding the Fall of Gondolin is taking place in these threads: Revised Fall of Gondolin part 2 [the transition], Revised Fall of Gondolin part 5, and Proposed FoG Agenda.

That these are the currently active threads does not mean that they are the only place you're allowed to post, however. If you have any relevant comments on more general issues from other threads, feel free to post them.

[Petty Dwarf]

Well, I'm back.

Due to circumstances far beyond my control (ranging from a move from Queens to Brooklyn, transitions in and out of a job or two, to death) I've been sadly unable to post around here, just when I was starting to feel the project.

Thanks to things calming down I've been back a few times and have caught up with the feel of the current work. I'm happy to once again lend whatever assistance I can. I am extremely intrigued with the current Fall of Doriath revisions.

[Maédhros]

Welcome back.
If you have read some of the other threads posted by Aiwendil in his last post, we have decided that we would continue with the Of Eärendil and the War of Wrath chapter, instead of going back and working with the Ruin of Doriath.

I believe that as soon as Antoine posts our current draft of the Fall of Gondolin we will begin our work with the Eärendil chapter. It is to be noted that while we were working on the Fall of Gondolin, several facets of the Eärendil chapter have been discussed, such as: using the Lay of Eärendel as the beginning of the chapter, etc.

I believe that the King's writer Findegil is going to make a rough draft regarding the Eärendil chapter as a base for us to work on that part.

[Aiwendil]

Welcome back, Petty Dwarf. I'm sorry to hear about all the craziness in your real life lately.

We're moving on next to the Voyage of Earendil, which we will be starting as soon as the final draft of the Fall of Gondolin is done.

A few general discussions are going on now in Format/Notation Issues and What's Next?. Your comments on these issues would be most appreciated.

[Leyrana Silumiel]

Ah, the Ainulindale. Finally, something I'm a little more knowledgeable about (let's face it, I'm not much of an expert on the Fall of Gondolin, which would explain my rather vague participation on that part). So you can officially count me in now, Aiwendil. I'll get busy reading what's said now. ^_^

[Aiwendil]

I look forward to hearing what you have to say about the Ainulindale. Actually, I think that our revisions to it were very nearly complete, with only perhaps one or two small issues left to resolve. But please, if you have any comments on either the revisions we have made, the issues left unresolved, or anything else relating to the Ainulindale, don't hesitate to give voice to them.

Hello, everyone. I've been following this project for the last week or so, slowly trying to climb the learning curve before I posted anything too stupid.

I'm very excited by the project. Although I first heard about it at lotrplaza, I've been looking for just such a project to get involved in for a long time. I've read the Sil half a dozen times now, read the UT twice, and also owned and read all of HOME and Letters. (Admittedly, I do tend to skip over a lot CT's editorial comments when I go through HOME....)

I'm especially interested in doing something with Chapters 7-9 (Although, from the Outline it looks like you have the DoV finished already? I'd love to be able to comment on it if so) In the meantime, I suppose I'll be trying to make my presence felt in the Valaquenta/Ainulindale threads.

Well, I just wanted to say "hello", in hopes of getting my own ball rolling here.

[Findegil]

Welcome to the project Raumhir. Do not fear that anythink in DoV is fixed already. The thinks nearly done as jet are very limited: FoG I would count as such and Ainulindale and Valaquenta. But the two later are still under discusssion. And what ever you feel to need be discussed again (after reading the older discusssion) you should bring up (mostly it would be best placed in a new thread - which by the way anybody is fit to creat).

Respectfully
Findegil

[Aiwendil]

Welcome, Raumohir!

Findegil is quite correct about DoV - I imagine we'll eventually be starting the whole thing over from scratch.

I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions regarding the Ainulindale and Valaquenta. Also, as Findegil said, feel free to bring up any topics you have something to say on, or to revive any old threads.

[Fingolfin II]

Hey guys,

This is a great project and I'm very keen to make form of comments and suggestions in various parts of this project. I've read some of the HoME serious, as well as the Silmarillion several times and UT. I hope that's enough.

Cheers,

Fingolfin.

[Findegil]

Welcome Fingolfin II!

Please feel invited to comment were ever you like and contribute were ever you feel you can do some thing.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Nirvana II]

After reading most of the threads, I believe I can contribute to the Project.


Yes,me.

I haven't read the Lays of Beleriand, but if you need me to I will go out and get it right now. Most of the time I carry around the Silmarillion with me.

I can research topics well and organize my thoughts.

[Aiwendil]

Familiarity with The Lays of Beleriand is not required - though of course, it can't hurt (and it's a very enjoyable book as well).

Please feel free to comment anywhere you feel you have something to contribute. Welcome to the project.

[Celebdil]

Hi,

After reading some of the threads here, it seems that as of 3 years ago, the FoG was in "final stages". Is there a way I could get a copy of the final draft so I can read it?

[Maédhros]

I have a clean copy of the Fall of Gondolin, you can PM me if you would like it. The only thing that I would say is that, if you really want it, please read it. I say this because there was another person who asked me for a part of our proyect, and didn't even bother to read it.

[Findegil]

I think it time to try a rescue of this project before it is completely forgotten by all its former active members.

Since I believe all of us need an update were we stand I will give an overview here. I try to keep the order in which we started the work on the chapters, but don’t take that to serious:

The Fall of Gondolin (FoG): Done. With some new comments on the Names of Rog and Laegolas, but nothing that was convincing so fare.

The Darkening of Valinor (DoV): Done.

Ainulindalë (AINU): Done. (Even the Yavanna as a tree discussion has found an end, even so I do not yet know exactly why the version we settled at was superior to a footnote.)

Valaquenta (Vala): Done.

Of the Voyage of Eärendil & Of the Great Battle and the War of Wrath (VE): Done.

Of the Ruin of Doriath (RD): Done. With the single exception of the question of Andróg as member of Húrins Band, which is discussed in Narn I Chîn Húrin 1: Túrins Fostering.

Narn i Chîn Húrin (Narn; NA): Changes from The Children of Húrin are proposed but not yet discussed. Some further adds are proposed but although not yet discussed. In this chapter obviously the point to restart the project.

Narn Beren ion Barahir or Narn e•Dinúviel (BL): Done.

For the Silmarillion chapters up to „11 Of the flight of the Noldor“ and the chapter “21 Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin” I have drafts ready for posting. But I will not undertake the wok to bring them in postable form before the discussion of the Narn is not done.

That is were we are. Is there still enough interest in the project to keep it alive?

For my part the question is answered with a clear yes, but I don’t see myself doing it alone. I know very well that had I done the work so fare alone it would have be much less good than the results of the group work.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Maédhros]

You are not alone Findegil, but so far, you are the one that has done most of the work.
I happen to have a certain amount of time now that I will put forth in the project. Remember Findegil that we had exchanged our drafts from different parts of the Sil.
I will post later this week my sugestions regarding the changes that you have proposed in the Narn. Sadly, I have received my new Children of Húrin this last month, so now I have the tools to look them up.

[Aiwendil]

Thanks for the prod, Findegil. I certainly am still interested in the project but have (quite typically) let it fall by the wayside. I will make an effort to get back into things.

[Findegil]

Puh, I am glade you two are still at my side.

I am not anxious of doing the text work, which Maedhros call "most of the work". It flows easy from my hand than, I anticipate that restricting my wild ideas and bind me with the rules of the project is much harder.

Looking forward to interesting discussions.

Respectfuly
Findegil

[Aaront596]

Hi I started making my own piecing together of the fall of Gondolin and in researching it I found where you guys had be working on one and so I want to join so I can read it and many other stories such as beren and luthien. I don't know how much help I’ll be but I would love to and I mean love to be able to read the work you guys have done. Can I sign up and get access to the writing you guys have produced?
Please let me know how. Thanx
Sincerely,
Aaron Smith

[emrys]

Greetings to everyone,

Not so much time ago I finally decided to complete my readings of Tolkien material with a new reading of HoME and consequently I started to organize my Tolkien ebook collection tryng to do a job very similar to what you all are doing with this fantastic project.

Than I discovered this site and found that you guys have already done an amazing work! so first of all let me congratulate with all of you.

That sayd, if there is some work to do to give a contribute to the project I will be very happy to join.

[Findegil]

Hello and a heartly welcome to Aaront596 and emry!

To join the project is very simple: read in the threads here in the forum and start commenting on the changes we proposed.

In time when you have shown a real interest you will get a password for the members only forum, which will give you access to some helpful compilations. This access is not a must have for the discussions it is only a helpful addition. In former times a simple message likes your would have been sufficient to get the password but we ended up with a long list of members which never became active. Therfore we only give it now after a time of active participation in the discussions.

See posting 100 in this thread for an oferview of were we are. When we considre a chapter done, that does not mean that you might not start a new discussion on it, but it might be easier to start with a still open topic. Therefore I would recomment to start with reading the following threads:
Narn I Chîn Húrin 1: Túrins Fostering
The Narn i Chîn Húrin: Beleg & Falivirn
Narn i Chîn Húrin 3: The End of the Narn

Respectfully
Findegil

[Aiwendil]

Welcome to both of you!

As you may have noticed, this project tends to crawl along rather slowly. Please don't let that dissuade you from participating. Take a look at the threads Findegil linked to and if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, go ahead and post them.

By the way, I do hope to get back into this in the near future.

[Tar-Telperien]

Hello, everyone.

I have looked at many of the threads here and am impressed by your work. I would like to join this project. I have studied the Elvish languages a fair amount and am fairly well versed in linguistics (as it is my course of study). In addition, I have a fairly detailed knowledge of Tolkien's works which could be put to use here.

The slow pace does not bother me at all, as I am often quite busy. But I will check in when I can. What exactly are the current projects? This is not quite clear to me. It seems that the Ainulindalë is finished. Is The Fall of Gondolin the current focus?

[Findegil]

Welcome Tar-Telperien!

First of all, it doesn't matter which is considered an active project right now. If you have any comment to any part of text or discussion will will apprieciate to read it.

My posts #100 and #106 above are still valid more or less. But active discussions are in the moment concerned with the Ruin of Doriath.

Respectfuly
Findegil

[thelotrfreak1]

Hello Everybody,

First of all, a late Merry Christmas and I wish you all good luck. I have always been an avid fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium. Furthermore, I always wished to accomplish some kind of project pertaining to the author's writings with the community. After stumbling upon this forum (Having long been reading the Minas Tirith Forum), I found the perfect chance and I hope there is still something I could do in The Translation from the Elvish. Finally, it is important to note that I possess great knowledge regarding Tolkien's books, having read them several times, and I adhere to the requirements.

Thank you,

Thelotrfreak1

P.S. Could anyone just give me a general idea on the progress so far (How much is done and how fast is the work being done). Estimated percentage would help. Indeed, even an approximate deadline would.

[Findegil]

Welcome to the project thelotrfreak1 and all good whishes for the new year for you to!

Now I will try to answer your questions as good as I can.

I hope there is still something I could do in The Translation from the Elvish.

There is still a lot of work ahead. But most of the work are long winding and slow discussion of minor details.

Could anyone just give me a general idea on the progress so far.

Well, still my postings #100 and #106 are still valid and give an nice overview of were we stand right now.

How fast is the work being done?

Slow. It is an very easy task to produce a draft version of a chapter. But that does not accomplish much. It is the agreement in this forum that definies what is considered finished. The project has ever since now worked in waves. The last year was a very long, very quiet time, and only recently new people have brought some new movement.

Estimated percentage would help. Indeed, even an approximate deadline would.

There is and will definitley never be any deadline! In my view that would be contarey to the soul of the project. Estimated precentages are also very dificult to me. I have no idea how much discussion will be needed in chapters not jet started. That means oferall I have no clou at all. (So refering to our general plan we have only worked on a part of book 1 of "The Tranlations from the Elvish".)
For the chapters reffered to in posting #100, I would say that "done" means 97 % (some changes are always possible).
While the work on the Narn i Chin Húrin is done to about 80 %, since the changes introduced by The children of Húrin are not yet fully discussed.
At least their are the drafts worked out by myself and not yet under discussion. For this I would say 5 % to 10 % of the work might be the production of the draft.
But even if the chapter is considered done, some new ideas brought up, followed by an realisation of "the truth" by the group could change a lot.
Oferall some of the hard parts are done but their is still much work ahead.

Respectfuly
Findegil

[coopergondor]

Hello.
As a start after looking and reading alot of posts i have noticed many missing letters and quiet a few spelling mistakes.So i would like to offer my services in this area to get me started.
Please don't take this the wrong way but i think you will agree that making sure of all spelling and missing words is very important when dealing with Tolkien's work.
Would it be possible for me to make a start with the new Silmarillion threads, is it possible for me to do those already posted there.
I would very much like to help and mean this in the nicest possible way.

Thank you.

[Aran e-Godhellim]

Mae govannen, mellyn! (estelion )

I would like to offer my services to help with this amazing project. I am very well acquainted with The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales. I have also read all of the HoME series, and am most familiar with the last three books, though I am conversant in the others. My primary interest is Tokienian linguistics, though, so I especially enjoy things in that topic. I have studied Quenya, Sindarin, and Adunaic (as far as one can, courtesy of HoME and Ardalambion!) with special emphasis on Sindarin.

I can't say how much time I'll be able to put into this project, but I'll be glad to pitch in wherever I can. I really hope this project succeeds.

[Aiwendil]

I think I (finally) have some time to devote to the project again. Findegil, can you help me remember where we were? I think we had almost finished the Narn i Chin Hurin, is that right? I will look through the Narn threads and try to identify any outstanding issues.

[Findegil]

That is good news!

I think that we were done with the Narn chapters and started the discussion of The Ruin of Beleriand. Reading again in that thread, I found that I never explained any of the changes introduced, other than the once that were comented by others. It seems that can't be helped now. Because it is so long since I made that draft-version, I remember near to nothing about it.

In addition I think we have some open points in the General changes in TftE thread.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Ekimeniso]

I've already posted a bit in the"Ruin of Beleriand" thread, but I'd like to "formally" introduce myself.

I first stumbled over this site six years ago, when I was trying to compile my own version of the legendarium (in German at that point, similar maybe to gondonwes Spanish version). While I didn't post here back then, I took many ideas and discussions from these threads and used them for my own compilation. The major difference of my work to what is being done here was that it was mainly to please my own taste and thus I took the liberty to edit the original texts quite heavily. I also did some (bad, in retrospect) creative writing, for example, I made (awful) prose translations of those parts of the Lay and Narn I included in my long versions of the Túrin and Beren sagas. The whole work was to be cyclical rather than continuous in the end, with several "books" that were closely connected with each other but could also stand on their own.

Well, it didn't work out...I was rather disgusted with my own inability to finish this project and create some stylistic coherence, and I didn't touch anything to do with Tolkien for several years - but now I'm under his spell again. That's why I'm here and would like to join in this project. For now, I would like to just join in discussions wherever I think I can offer some thoughts - I hope that later on I can do more (regarding drafts and other major work, what is left to do?)

Cheers

[gondowe]

Welcome Ekimeniso, reading your last post, I feel identified.

I don't know if you read all the posts of my thread about my Spanish version, there's a complete structure that is feel final (I hope), but with continual internal revisions (change names, passages, etc) due to the discussions in this forum and my own new ideas.

I'm (due to the last considerations in the homonym thread of this forum)) now considering introduce poem in the VoE part, with the final consequent adding of this part where belongs, thas is, Narn e dant Gondolin, ( adding at last )ar orthad en el.
Possibly disbalanced (for that reason I didn't do before) but to finaly complete the desire of the master.

Greetings

[Findegil]

Ah! Another German making its way down to this barrow!

Herzlich Willkommen und viel Spaß bei den Diskussionen!

I wonder how many of us have a history of failed Tolkien-projects.
I once tried to make a 'Historic Atlas' like that of Karen Wayne Fonstad but as elaborated in the First Age as that one is for the Third. When I had made a lot of maps (by hand mind you) I found that as necessary input for that work I would need an exact timeline of all events. My version of the Tale of the years is still handy some times, but since I never added source information and since it only based on the German translations and because my Meta-theory was very bad at that time it is now worthless. (The finished work of our project would be a nice starting point for a new start on that time-line.)
Beside that I made a German line by line translation of The Lay of the Children of Húrin and started into the rest of HoME 3.

Respectfuly
Findegil

[Aiwendil]

Welcome to the project, Ekimeniso! I too had started putting together my own version of the Silmarillion before I found this project (almost ten years ago now!).

I've been travelling and busy with other things for the past few weeks, but I will have time to look at the latest comments this week, and see if we can finish up the Ruin of Beleriand.

[watson107]

Hello,

The amount of work that has been put into this project is nothing short of amazing! I am a huge fan of Tolkien, and was inspired to search the very daunting WWW forest for anyone who had taken it upon themselves to reconstruct The Silmarillion in way that was closer to what JRRT would have wanted. As someone who is pursuing a career in literature studies, I have always been fascinated by Tolkien's thoroughness. While The Silmarillion is a fascinating read, I was disappointed by the gaps left in ME's mythology by rushed editing and hindered access to JRR's unpublished pieces. I applaud your group for its dedication to such a task!

That being said, if you ever need a helping hand, I would be more than willing to assist. For credentials (which seem to pale in comparison to some of the board members), I have studied The Silmarillion, Lost Tales, earlier volumes int he HoMe series, The Children of Hurin, The Hobbit, and LoTR.


watson107