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Re: Doriath's Vanishing Orc Battle

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  Posted by Stephen Geard on June 25, 1999 at 06:45:08
In Reply to: Doriath's Vanishing Orc Battle posted by Michael Martinez on June 24, 1999 at 17:50:07:



: Anyone who has studied the history of the story of Beren and Luthien understands what a mess of manuscripts, poetry, and notes Christopher Tolkien had to work with. He did not provide details on all the editorial changes, additions, and deletions he made to the story in preparing it for publication in THE SILMARILLION but it seems to me that he did mention somewhere that he chose to omit the battle with the Orcs in northern Doriath which distracted Thingol from his search for Luthien.

: Does anyone know where such a comment would be found in HOME? I've been looking but cannot find it. I am sure Christopher discussed it, perhaps in connection with the name Boldog (a great Orc-captain of the First Age). Boldog was originally sent by Morgoth to seize Luthien, but JRRT dropped this idea. Am I perhaps confusing that mention with the absence of the battle with the Orcs in THE SILMARILLION?

: Does any of this make sense? :)

The only discussion of this matter I am aware of is in CJRT's commentary of Section 10 of the Quenta (HoMe IV). I do not ever recall reading that CJRT exised Boldog's attack on Doriath from The Silmarillion. I thought JRRT had dumped the idea before then (there is no mention of Boldog in HoMe V).

Boldog does make a get a late mention in HoMe X. In the discussion of orkish mortality and the (late) decision to make Orcs descendants of Men, Boldog is named as one of the lesser Maiar who took the form of an Orc Captain in the Elder Days.


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