Endless untold stories
Whilst looking for something else entirely (as is always the case), I came across a reference to Celebrimbor in Letters (No 96, p 110 in my copy). Not Celebrimbor the elf, but 'Celebrimbor' as the title of a story. What happened to this? Did it eventually become 'Of the Rings of Power'? Or did it become the partly paraphrased stories in 'The History of Galadriel & Celeborn'? It might even have been dribbled out, with parts appearing in the Silm and POME.
The letter was written in 1945, by which time Tolkien was at work on what would become TTT. In some of his very late writings, he seems to have forgotten that Celebrimbor's association with the House of Fëanor was fixed indelibly by the presence of Fëanor's star on the West Door. However, the star appears in the early revisions of FOTR, making it seem likely that at the time Celebrimbor was written, he was somehow associated with Fëanor.
Does the text still exist, and if so, was all of it was published, in some form or another? It might contain some of that lost detail of the Second Age (though Tolkien tells Christopher that it 'conveys a sense of endless untold stories'). At very least, we might hope that there is still more that could be published by someone - if not by Christopher Tolkien, then by his son or someone like Wayne Hammond.
The letter was written in 1945, by which time Tolkien was at work on what would become TTT. In some of his very late writings, he seems to have forgotten that Celebrimbor's association with the House of Fëanor was fixed indelibly by the presence of Fëanor's star on the West Door. However, the star appears in the early revisions of FOTR, making it seem likely that at the time Celebrimbor was written, he was somehow associated with Fëanor.
Does the text still exist, and if so, was all of it was published, in some form or another? It might contain some of that lost detail of the Second Age (though Tolkien tells Christopher that it 'conveys a sense of endless untold stories'). At very least, we might hope that there is still more that could be published by someone - if not by Christopher Tolkien, then by his son or someone like Wayne Hammond.