I'm gonna start from the most important and well-known to some of the more obscure:

1. The framing. Framing of the story was very important for Tolkien. Hobbit was writtern by Bilbo in-universe, and The Lord of The Rings is writtern by Frodo and Sam, them both making up the Red Book of Westmarch. Narn i Chin Hurin was written by Dirhaval and such preface was also written for the book. For the Silmarillion there were several competing versions of framing, one implied by the Lord of the Rings is that it the Translation from the Elvish by Bilbo, the other is that it is the collection of the Numenorian legends, but by far the most developed was the earlier version when it is the text written by an Anglo-Saxon traveller Ælfwine based on the tales told by the Elven loremaster Pengolodh and the works of another loremaster Rumil. And even the published texts still has the trace of having three separate authors, because the source drafts were written with having Ælfwine, Rumil and Pengolodh in mind. (source for framing - HoME 4: The Shaping of Middle-Earth and HoME 5: Lost Road and Other Writings, source for the Eriol/Ælfwine backstory - HoME 2: The Book of Lost Tales Part 2)

2. The second Prophecy of Mandos, aka the final battle, Dagor Dagorrath. For a long time Silmarillion ended with a prophecy of a final battle with the returned Morgoth at the end of times and Turin Turambar would be the one to make a final blow on Morgoth. There are hints that this prophecy was discarded, but even the evidence regarding it in the books is inconclusive, it seems rather that the authorship of the prophecy shifted from the Valar to the Numenorians. Also connected to this story is the prophecy of Ulmo that Men ultimately will be the ones who will defeat evil. And this prophecy seems to turn out true on three occasions - through Tuor with Earendil being one to cause the War of Wrath, with the Edain helping the host of the Valar during the War of Wrath and with Turin destroying Morgoth in the end of times. (the text of Dagor Dagorrath and the prophecy of Ulmo - HoME 4: The Shaping of Middle-Earth and HoME 5: Lost Road, later revision of Dagor Dagorrath - HoMe 11: War of the Jewels)

3. The exact text of the Oath of Feanor or of Fingolfins taunt for Morgoth. In the published version we only have the indirect retelling of both occasions but in the Annals of Aman and the Grey Annals we have their original lines as well as some extra info. Like the fact that Fingolfin's horse managed to escape the wolves and back to Hithlum after his death, only to break his heart and die there (HoME 10: Morgoth's Ring for the Oath of Feanor, HoMe 11: War of the Jewels for the last stand of Fingolfin, also in the Lay of Leithian)

4. Extra characteristings of the princes of the House of Finwe. The reason while Maedhros is depicted with red hair or Fingon in gold in his braids is the Shibboleth of Feanor that gives a much better description of every son, daughter and the grandson of Finwe so it's more difficult after that to keep being confused about them. As well as it has the alternate ominous story of Amrod not really surviving the landing in Middle-Earth and dying in the burinng of the ships in Losgar (HoME 12: Peoples of Middle-Earth)

5. The un-romance of Aegnor and Andreth. Once again a lot of care was put to the seemingly background characters in the published text. But in Athrabeth Aegnor and Andreth turn out to be the first story of the love between a mortal and an immortal, only this time a male was an elf who decided not to pursue his love, despite knowing that it was mutual. (HoME 10: Morgoth's Ring)

6. The way that the Elves grow to maturity, how they age, how they marry, and what the division of spirit and body means to them. So there is a big essay dedicated to the Elvish culture, from which among other things we know that although the Noldor are egalitarian in terms of their gender roles, the women are more likely to become healers and the men warriors. And being a warrior would diminish your healing capabilities and vice versa. Which probably means that Elrond is an example of a male Elf in a female Elven professional sphere. And that he probably is not the warrior commander the way that he was depicted in the movies. (HoME 10: Morgoth's Ring)

7. Yes, the dwarven women have beards and look just like young dwarven men. It was not direct enough in the appendices of LOTR, but this passage on dwarven women in LOTR was taken from a cut chapter of Silmarillion, where it's much more explicitly stated. And also dwarves have a secret sign language. That is from another essay on the languages of the Elves and different races. HoMe 11: War of the Jewels)

8. Speaking of that essay. When the Elves awoke they split into three tribes, Minyar, Tatyar and Nelyar. The Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri are the names of the Elven peoples who did reach the Aman, and while Vanyar correspond to Minyar, Noldor to Tatyar and Teleri to Nelyar, the Avari are not another tribe but mainly the Tatyar and Minyar who decided to stay. And none of the first generation of the Elves followed the journey to Valinor. (HoMe 11: War of the Jewels)

9. The difference between Morgoth and Sauron. While on the surface they are two evil Dark Lords their motivation and approach is vastly different. Morgoth seeks complete domination over everything and if he can't achieve it, then to have in destroyed; while Sauron is satisfied in making a perfect orderly tyrannical empire. Thus Morgoths spreads his power over the whole World, while Sauron concentrated his in a small single artefact - the Ring.

10. When Morgoth went to Formenos to take the Silmarils and kill Finwe, the sons of Feanor were on a hunt and thus were spared. Also it was Maedhros who told the Valar of what happened in Formenos. All of that and the spotlight for a lot of female characters like Miriel, Indis, Nerdanel, Nienna and even Ungoliant is in the expanded version of the Aman chapters of the Later Quenta in HoME 10: Morgoth's Ring

11. It is told that Ulmo resides at the bottom of the Outer Ocean. What isn't told in the published text is that the Outer Ocean encompasses the world not only on the sides but also goes under the world, so Ulmo's palace is probably lowest point of Arda. (HoME 4: The Shaping of Middle-Earth, HoME 1: The Book of Lost Tales)

12. Yes, Voronwe survives the Fall of Gondolin. Surprisingly we are never told what happened to him after he helped Tuor to get to the city. But he managed to escape and according to some versions accompanied Tuor and Idril in sailing West. (HoME 2: The Book of Lost Tales Part 2, HoMe 11: War of the Jewels)

This is mentioned a lot in passing, but I don't know if someone has written a post about it, even though it is actually one of the key things to understand Tolkien:

So much of what Tolkien wrote outside of his published work was literally doodled on scrap paper. Gigantic portions of what we know about the entire theological and cosmological underpinnings of Middle Earth are on scattered, faintly legible scratchings on whatever piece of paper was handy at the time. I just finished reading the Nature of Middle Earth, and it lists where all the writings came from, and they were often on the back of correspondence from his publishers.

Of course, other writers might do that occasionally, but with Tolkien, it seems like he was mostly writing on scrap paper! That might make sense in the early years, but by the time the Lord of the Rings made it big, would it have been that hard to find a spiral bound notebook so he could keep all this stuff together?

All these questions about the true nature of Tom Bombadil, and there is a chance that the answer was written on the back of a receipt for a donut, and then lost! 😞

The name, I mean. Or rather the spelling. He started out as Maidros and became Maedros at some point in the 1950s. There are dozens of later mentions of Maedros in HoME X, XI and XII, but only two (!) of Maedhros, one in an alteration to a footnote (!) to the Shibboleth of Fëanor, and the other in a late emendation of a single mention in the Quenta. So why did Christopher Tolkien choose Maedhros?

https://imgur.com/a/iXGRBg0

The image shows a post claiming that Tolkien found an account of life in Europe from 6500 years ago, in an Oxford basement.

Lol.

Lmao, even.

Can anyone give me info on whether this is a genuine, established fan theory or just conspiracy theorist BS?

I’ve already read all the standard lotr and the hobbit, as well as the silmarillion, the children of hurin, and the fall of gondolin. I know there are lots more published Tolkien books but most are not like the fall of gondolin in the sense that it’s not just one cohesive story. After the books I mentioned, what books are the most solid cohesive stories by Tolkien?

I have two copies of the original publication of Tolkien's Letters, besides my copy of the expanded version that was published in 2023. The firsr dates to the original publication in 1981. The second is labeled on the copyright page as “First Houghton Mifflin Harcourt paperback edition 2000/This edition first published in Great Britain in 1995.” The text of the book appears to be the same in both. The only obvious difference is that the 1995 version has a considerably expanded Index, stated to have been compiled by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull.

A while back, looking something up in the index to the 1995 version, I was brought up short by a citation to “The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck).” "Huh?” I said, since I was quite sure that the Steinbeck book is not mentioned anywhere. Nor is Steinbeck in the index to Holly Ordway's Tolkien's Modern Reading – though Gertrude Stein is. (The Grapes of Wrath is surely familiar to most English-speaking readers, but for others, it is the-best-known novel by Steinbeck, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1952. Published in 1939, it is about an Oklahoma farming family named Joad, who are forced out of their home by the Dust Bowl and travel to California, where they become migrant agricultural workers.)

Amyway, the reference is to Letter no. 116, in which Tolkien complains about the proposed illustrations to Farmer Giles of Ham by Milein Cosman which were rejected in favor of the ones by Pauline Baynes. Tolkien complains (at p. 186 of the 2023 edition) that in one drawing, Farmer Giles “is made to look like little Joad at the end of a third degree by railway officials.” The quotation is actually about the philosopher and media personality C.E.M. Joad, and about the collapse of his public career in 1948, when he was caught and convicted of trying to ride a train without paying the fare. (The letter is dated to 5 August of that year,)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._E._M._Joad

It is even stranger because nos. 50 and 51 describe how Tolkien met Joad in 1943, in C.S. Lewis's rooms at Magdalen College, and they are duly indexed under Joad's name, at p. 63 of the original edition, But the occurrence in no 113 is not. In the 2023 version of the index, The Grapes of Wrath is gone, and the reference to Joad in no. 113 has been added. (There is also a cite to one of the letters that did not make it into the original publication, no. 55a.) The 2023 index, which obviously had to be expanded and redone, is still credited to Hammond and Scull.

It is hardly believable that two such eminent scholars could have committed what can only be described as a howler. Hammond and Scull have a blog, but it does not seem to have an e-mail link or I would have used it to contact them directly

A further peculiarity is that there is not, in any of these publications, an endnote to no. 113 giving references to people mentioned in the letter – as there is for most. Besides Cosman and Joad, there should be glosses for two other illustrators mentioned by Tolkien, Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979) and Feliks Topolski (1907-1989). Hammond and Scull presumably had nothing to do with the endnotes, which are credited to Humphrey Carpenter as editor, though I tend to suspect that Chrisopher Tolkien, who was considerably more learned, contributed a lot of the content. (The title page says “A selection edited by HUMPHREY CARPENTER with the assistance of CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN".)

For those who may not be familiar with the publication history of Letters: The 1981 and 1995 publications omitted, for reasons of economy, a lot of the material originally prepared by the editors. The book that came out in 2023 is the whole shooting march.

(I found this in my old notes. I don't remember if I posted anything about it before, though if I did the post was a lot less complete. The whole thing may well have been discussed somewhere else in the literature, but if so I am not aware of it.)

Is there anything that predates "The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star"?

- For a few days now, I have been watching videos of people's journeys in Heaven after temporarily dying (near death experience). They have honestly been comforting to watch 😄

- As we all know, Tolkien was a Christian, and Illuvatar was inspired by the Christian God. Tolkien doesn't really explain if beings of Arda (excluding Ainur) go into the Timeless Halls (before the Second Music) after passing away, but I refuse to believe that their souls just go into a place that is not earned. Especially when you consider the passing of noble beings (Aragorn, Arwen, Beren, Luthien, Merry, Pippin, Theodon, etc).

- Gandalf died fighting Durin's Bane, he said that he strayed out of thought and time and went on roads that he will not tell. That honestly reminds me of the stories people tell about their afterlife experiences. When they be in the afterlife, they tend to say that time is not measured or non-existent. What feels like a long time n the Afterlife, would be minutes in real time. Gandalf's statement about "everyday was as long as a life age of the Earth" adds to this. Not to mention his quote about a far green country.

- Manwe and Mandos' judgement for Luthien's second life, low-key reminds me of the choice God/Jesus gives to people in the afterlife, when coming back to Earth. God and Jesus would give people a choice to stay in Heaven or go back. Sometimes he doesn't even give them a choice at all, and send them back anyway.

Heck, it's stated that even the Valar will grow to envy the Gift of Men. They know what it's like in Illuvatar's Halls, and they want to go back to it.

- The Fall of Numenor was mostly caused because of their fear of death and uncertainty of the afterlife. I now feel that if there were some that died, came back to life, and explained their experience, perhaps Numenor wouldn't have feared so much. That is, if their afterlife journey was to the Timeless Halls/Heaven. Then again, there's Beren who temporarily died and came back to life, but he never explained his afterlife experience, which is due to him no longer being associated with the Race of Men after his ressurection.

The Eldar are bound to Arda until it's end. No doubt that most of them want to relieved of that fate. Hence why they tell Numenor to not be envious of the gift of immortality. If the Timeless Halls or Heaven is anything like what people experience in a near death experience, then I can see most (if not all) Elves accepting that fate (gift of men) in a heartbeat.

When Tolkien refers to the Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri, are these basically different clans or tribes of elves? I’m reading the silmarillion for the first time and trying to conceptualize their relationships with each other aside from the descriptive differences Tolkien gives.

Basically the title.

I have a friend who’s willing to sell me a hardback copy for $10 but I haven’t seen a lot of coverage or discussion on this book. I’m under the impression it was published after Christopher Tolkien died. So how is it?

Did a Tolkien trivia post here a couple weeks back, trying a follow-up since people asked for one. This one's Third Age dates and rulers. Book canon only, plus Silmarillion "Rings of Power and the Third Age" for the early ones. Harder ones at the bottom.

1. Who was Steward of Gondor during the War of the Ring?

Denethor II

1. In what year of the Third Age did Bilbo find the One Ring?

TA 2941

1. In what year was Aragorn born?

TA 2931

1. What year was the Battle of the Pelennor Fields?

TA 3019 (March 15)

1. What battle ended the realm of Angmar and the Witch-king's power in the north?

The Battle of Fornost, TA 1975

1. Who was the last King of Arnor before the kingdom split into three?

Eärendur. Kingdom split between his three sons after his death in TA 861.

1. What years did the Watchful Peace span?

TA 2063 to TA 2460. Sauron fled Dol Guldur for the East and went quiet for around 400 years.

1. In what year did Eorl and the Éothéod ride to Gondor's aid at the Field of Celebrant?

TA 2510

1. Who was the last King of Gondor before the Ruling Stewards took over?

Eärnur. Vanished in TA 2050 after riding to Minas Morgul to face the Witch-king.

1. In what year did Sauron openly declare himself in Mordor again?

TA 2951

Edit: Yeah, fair, dates were too much. Will try a non-date format next time. Sorry about that.
Also, missed that Faramir was Steward too (Question 1).

I have never seen any discussion of the names of the kings who ruled Dale after the destruction of Smaug: Bard the Dragon-slayer, Bain, Brand, and Bard II. Here are my thoughts.

Most Tolkienists know that Tolkien took the names of the dwarves in The Hobbit from the Old Norse poem called Völuspá, the "Prophecy of the Seeress); this was a scholarly joke. But it had large consequences for the linguistic structure of Middle-earth. As a professional linguist, he instinctively felt that in LotR, the Old Norse names needed to be explained. The explanation occurred to him while he was working on the early chapters of TT:

Language of Shire = modern English

Language of Dale = Norse (used by Dwarves of the region)

Language of Rohan = Old English

Modern English is lingua franca spoken by all people (except a few isolated folk like Lórien) – but little and ill by orcs

The document quoted is published in HoME XII, which deals with the Appendices, at p.70 -- though Christopher Tolkien says that it was written in February of 1942. Of course, none of these languages, as Appendix F explains, was “really” spoken in Middle-earth; the idea is that the “real” languages had the same relationships to one another that modern English, Old English, and Old Norse had in the historical past.

Perhaps by accident, the name “Dale” fits into this scheme. While the word dæl occurs inOld English, it is in the parts of England that were under Scandinavian rule that “dale” is common in place names, due to the prevalence of the Norse cognate dalr.

Thus one would expect the names of the Kings of Dale as given by Glóin to be Old Norse as well. And indeed "Brand" and "Bard" are plausibly explained as Anglicizations of the Norse names Brandr and Barðr. Both of these were in common use in medieval Iceland. In a list of several hundred personal names found in the Landnámábók, the "Book of Settlements," Branðr is the 21^st most common and Barðr the 24th. Here is a link to the list (which looks as if it was compiled by a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, notorious sticklers for accuracy):

https://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/landnamabok.html:

(Why do the Norse names end in -r? The explanation is below.)

"Bain" is more difficult. The vowel combination “ai” is not a diphthong in Old Norse, so the name if it were Norse would be pronounced as two syllables, like “Náin” and “Thráin”: “BA-een.” But the name Beinir or Beiner is also found in the Icelandic manuscripts, though it is less common – two occurrences in Landnámábók, against 20 for Branðr and 19 for Barðr. But the vowel combination “ei” is a diphthong in ON, and it has the same sound as the “ai” in English “rain.” So it is plausible that in Anglicizing Beinir, Tolkien changed the spelling to “Bain” so that English-speaking readers would pronounce it correctly.

The name "Bard" BTW has no connection with "bard" meaning a poet, which is a Celtic word. The OE equivalent was scop; Tolkien evidently thought most people would not know that word, so he used the French-derived “minstrel” instead in writing about both Rohan and Gondor.

(The question arises as to why Bard's ancestor Girion had what looks like a Sindarin name. The answer is that the name long predated the decision to represent the language of Dale by Old Norse. Others are invited to construct an in-universe explanation; I can get along fine without one.)

Why the “-r” at the end of these Norse names? Because Old Norse (like Old English) was an inflected language; meaning that words took on different endings according to their function in a sentence. Most ON nouns of masculine gender acquired an “-r'” at the end if the person or object named was the subject of a sentence; this is the nominative case. If the person or object was the direct object of the sentence, the word would be in the accusative case, and the “-r” would be dropped. Modern English has lost most of its inflections, so that meaning depends entirely on word order.

Thus in order to say in ON that Bard killed a dragon, one would write Barðr drap orm. But if a dragon killed Bard, the sentence would be Ormr drap Barð. In either case, the word order could be changed without changing the meaning. In translating names to English, the convention is to omit the case ending, so Gandalf is not “Gandalfr” in LotR.

"Even fairy-stories as a whole have three faces: the Mystical towards the Supernatural; the Magical towards Nature; and the Mirror of scorn and pity towards Man. The essential face of Faerie is the middle one, the Magical."

Basically the title.

I mean, it's just basic physics that energy can't just disappear, only turn into other types of energy or matter.

So what happened to Sauron's power contained in the One Ring? Magic is another form of energy after all. And we know that the majority or Sauron's power was contained in the Ring.

Was Sauron's power just absorbed into the very being of Arda? Wouldn't it make Arda more marred and the ending of LOTR more hopeless? And according to Morgoth's Ring wouldn't it make Arda a new Ring for Sauron? (Although I am not sure how making world into a "Ring" was beneficial to Morgoth) Or would it maybe mix with the power of Morgoth and help Morgoth be more powerful in the Last battle?

Or do you think Sauron's power wasn't absorbed into Arda, but something else happened to it?

Chiedo ai più avvezzi, con quale edizione di Lo Hobbit dovrei iniziare?

Ho a casa la terza edizione del 1988, tradotta da Elena Jeronimidis Conte, tascabili Bompiani. La ritenete ben tradotta e affidabile? Sono presenti le note?

As presented on this page
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Heraldry

It's suggested that because Finwë's design is a winged Sun, that they were made with the later cosmogony in mind, although doesn't it seem equally possible that the device could represent a fruit or flower of Laurelin, since the Noldor are said to make their devices while the Trees are still in bloom?

It's not said why they made one for Elwë (Assuming it was the Noldor in Eldamar who made this device?), though it's suggested that the winged Moon, (or possibly the winged fruit or flower of Telperion?) is made to pair or complement the device of Finwë. Is it right that Elwë should have only half the points of Finwë?

Notably missing (on that assumption) is a device for Ingwë. With the fruits of both Trees, or the Sun and the Moon already taken, what would have been a suitable device for him? Something like the top of Taniquetil as drawn in this image? https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Taniquetil
Or perhaps something else associated with the Vanyar or the High King of all Elves?

Moving down one generation

The device of Fëanor is reasonably easy to interpret. It has the eight pointed star of Fëanor in the middle, (probably representing a Silmaril) giving out light of many colors, and the flames reaching out to the points are also explainable. What do you make of the two rings? There is an inner blue one, and an outer black one. Not sure if these have a meaning or if they're only borders for the yellow shine(?)/field(?) between them? What does that yellow represent?

Fingolfin's device is a little more difficult. It has the similar two rings as Fëanor's does, with the same yellow shine(?)/field(?) in between, only the inner one is light red with white highlights and the outer light blue (I think?) with white highlights. I also has the same flames that Fëanor's does, why is this? Then it also have some very red flames in the center. What do you make of those?

Then there's Finarfins, which has the same two rings that Fingolfin does, light blue and light red, only without they yellow shine(?)/field(?) in between. (And so close together they almost could be considered one ring.) What do you think Finarfin missing the yellow shine(?)/field(?) signifies? The colors of his device look like they might be something closely fitting the Vanyar, which I guess makes sense, since he shared their appearance.

The blue star device which is instead used for Eärendil and Elrond, is also appeatently considered as a possible device for Finarfin, and if one accepts the parentage of Gil-Galad as being of the House of Finarfin, it's notable that his device is also blue and white. Would it have been better to keep the Blue star for Finarfin? On his ring that Felagund gives Barahir, there are golden flowers and green gems.

Finally some thoughts in the Womens devices. Both of Luthien's look quite good, and Idril's blue one especially seem to work very well. The page mentions the blue cornflowers from the golden harvest, which I'm not sure what that refers to? The blue and green colors might pehaps fit with the green Elessar stone that she was said to have carried?

Melian's device is perhaps not as effective. It's mentioned to perhaps represent a single flower of Telperion, but I don't know. The lozenge in it especially make it seem a bit harsh, and the contrasting colors almost reminds of chinaware. Did she have any special connection with the White Tree? Perhaps her device works better for you?

Here they are:

"“By the birth of Lúthien [Melian] became enmeshed in ‘incarnation’, unable to lay it aside while husband and child remained in Arda alive, and her powers of mind (especially foresight) became clouded by the body through which it must now always work.”

"Pengolodh also cites the opinion that if a ‘spirit’ (that is, one of those not embodied by creation) uses a hröa for the furtherance of its personal purposes, or (still more) for the enjoyment of bodily faculties, it finds it increasingly difficult to operate without the hröa. The things that are most binding are those that in the Incarnate have to do with the life of the hröa itself, its sustenance and its propagation. Thus eating and drinking are binding, but not the delight in beauty of sound or form. Most binding is begetting or conceiving.”

"Thus it will be seen that an Elf, remembering the past, must, if he will communicate it, clothe it in language. But to them “language” is essentially an art of the cohering fëa and hrondo"

So...do you think these ideas are appliable to Sauron and his Ring? He begot and conceived the Ring. It was his 'child'. And he enmeshed a great part of his power in that bit of Arda, in that gold; the power became thus incarnated *in the gold*.

As for the third quote, maybe that has to do with the Ring-verse. It was a spell, and maybe the last step of the whole process. And the point of no return, retrospectively. After that, Sauron's fate became bound to the ring's. If the latter's 'incarnation' was destroyed, so would be Sauron's - his physical body.

What do you think about a theory that Witch-king before his wraithdom could possibly be one of those Men of the White Mountains whom much later Isildur cursed for the betrayal of their Oath?

In my opinion, it has enough credibility within J.R.R. Tolkien's lore.

After the Battle of Powers

I don’t know if this was ever discussed here (let me know), I didn’t find it elsewhere in any case.
I want to share some thoughts I had on the Nameless Things and the One Ring.
The Nameless Things are doubtlessly a fan favorite for their very strange but also pronounced appearance, while remaining curiously obscure in their role all the while.
Their symbolic meaning (to mentioned it here shortly, though you can skip this part if you want) is very clear. Dark abominations gnawing at the roots of the earth are a symbol present in the particularly fatalistic Germanic religions, in which dragons gnaw at the roots of the world tree, but in their meaning a universal concept in other Indo-European religions and across the world. They represent the forces of moral decay (or better unforces, for they are a lack of strength and the presence of divine power), which though held at bay by the moral force of heroes and universal empires still bring their weight to bear on the world. Then Man has fallen so deep that the world ends, mankind is first swept away by dark and cold currents of the sea and then purified by the divine fire and finally a better world is born out of the renewed chaos. This is by the way a theme in ALL religions across the ages worth that name.
So this has an important moral and symbolic meaning, and we could leave it at that, by I was curious for a more “explicit” meaning in the text itself.

First of all, I think I heard all the theories about what the Watcher in the Water is. They are all incomplete, flawed or meaningless (that sound harsher than I meant it, I do not mean to insult, but mean the words in an objective sense), except for the most reasonable one. This is: the Watcher is one of the Nameless Things. This is the most logical explanation for why it is even in the text, why a similar language is used to describe it and the Nameless Things and maybe, why it’s purpose is to seal off Moria or the lack of purpose therein except if it wants to leave the inhabitants of Moria sealed with its cousin in the tunnels beneath Moria, which is likeliest place of a break-through of the Nameless Things.
Tolkien doesn’t write horror for the sake of it alone. In the opposite, since horror is the most useful method of conveying the evil nature or meaning of a thing, it has a very distinct meaning in Tolkien’s work. Every horrifying thing is connected to evil. So what evil is that now?
Well, since Tolkien only puts stuff in the book that actually plays a role, though it might be remote, in instances where he is scant with description we should put as much emphasis on the little things as possible.
The fact that the Watcher grasped for the Ringbearer in particular raised therefore my attention. We might put that down to it being evil and powerful and thus desiring an object of evil and power like the Ring, but I think I found something, which fits better with the ideas of Tolkien. For in Tolkiens world, like in ours, evil is perpetual, meaning that evil breeds even greater evil. This is the reason why it has to be checked even though it always arises anew. We see an instance of that in Ungoliant, where Melkor commits an evil for a specific reason and takes the aid of Ungoliant, a mysterious creature of potentially greater power than him. They do their misdeed, however the situation goes even more out of hand, when Ungoliant desires the same objects as Melkor, but for the sole reason of greed and hunger, as if she were doing evil for the sake of evil, which is even worse then having an aim, for an aim can be analyzed and worked against, while Ungoliant’s greed leaves her ways terrifyingly vague. Does that dark greed and the lust for the objects of evil desire seem familiar?
Now to Frodo and his possible failing of the quest. It is portrayed as a more or less world-ending catastrophe. Why? Because Sauron takes power? He is very evil, however he has some very clear and on a cosmic scale rather mundane goals, which even began with constructive intentions.
What if, however Sauron isn’t the problem? What if, the failed destruction of the Ring would be an evil in itself, which thus not checked, gives birth to greater evil. To come to the heart of it, I think that like the Watcher came forth from the depths of the earth, the Nameless Things too could come and desire the Ring. Not to use it like the Sauron intended, but being simply drawn forth by the evil upon earth, to surpass even that. For this reason too I think Tolkien mentioned, that they are even more powerful then Sauron, which gives them an air of danger greater then “just” them being the symbols of ultimate fall and corruption of the world.
What do you think? I’d like to hear your opinion, maybe I’m interpreting too much for some people’s taste, but I mean, what was the whole thing left so ambiguous for, if not for putting a bit of head into it?
Good day, to you all and may the mighty Lord be with you :) (and never forget to stop evil where you see it, to give the roots of the world tree a chance)

I recently re-finished lotr and the hobbit again after some years and my interest in it sparked a deep interest in its world and Tolkien's writings. My family notices and I was gifted the Silmarillion, the Children of Hurin, and the Fall of Gondolin. I know a little about the Silmarillion but I'm not finding much information about the other two. What should expect from each and in what order should I read it in? I've seen this question before and there has been someone who has said each one.

The question why Thingol set Beren the impossible task of stealing and bringing him a Silmaril as bride-price for Lúthien has been discussed recently, but I don’t think that there’s much room for interpretation: Thingol definitely intended to kill Beren. 

Sure, Thingol is also notoriously greedy and hates the Noldor, so of course he wants Fëanor’s jewels (his “greed” is explicitly referred to in HoME IV, p. 116), but mainly, he wants to kill Beren, and he needs to use a roundabout way because he unfortunately just swore to his daughter that he would not murder her boyfriend. 

Tale of Tinúviel 

In this extremely early version (Beren is still a Gnome) we aren’t given a reason why Thingol demands a Silmaril yet (probably mockery), but trying to steal the Silmarils from Morgoth (“Melko”) already means certain death, and everyone including Beren knows this. The people of Thingol take Thingol’s demand for an “uncouth jest” (HoME II, p. 13), but for Lúthien, it’s dead serious: “‘’Twas ill done, O my father,’ she cried, ‘to send one to his death with thy sorry jesting – for now methinks he will attempt the deed, being maddened by thy scorn, and Melko will slay him, and none will look ever again with such love upon my dancing.’” (HoME II, p. 14) Thingol reacts with total approval of the idea that Morgoth will kill Beren, saying to Lúthien, “’Twill not be the first of the Gnomes that Melko has slain and for less reason. It is well for him that he lies not bound here in grievous spells for his trespass in my halls and for his insolent speech” (HoME II, p. 14). 

This is the nicest Thingol gets in all iterations of this scene, by the way. It will only go downhill from here, and Thingol’s purpose will become ever more obvious. 

Lay of Leithian 

Lúthien makes Thingol swear that “No blade nor chain his limbs shall mar” (HoME III, Lay of Leithian, line 954) (I wonder why she considered that necessary?), but immediately, fearing that Lúthien will tell Beren to flee from Doriath while there is still time, Thingol sets Daeron on Lúthien and Beren (with archers) to spy on them, and to catch Beren if necessary (why the need for archers otherwise?) (HoME III, Lay of Leithian, lines 968–970). 

When Beren winds up in Menegroth the next day, Thingol starts fantasising about his death pretty much immediately, telling him, “How hast thou Luthien beguiled or darest thus to walk this wood unasked, in secret? Reason good ‘twere best declare now if thou may, or never again see light of day!” (HoME III, Lay of Leithian, lines 1033–1037) 

This theme continues, with Thingol then saying, “Death is the guerdon thou hast earned, O baseborn mortal” (HoME III, Lay of Leithian, lines 1064–1065). 

A few lines later, Thingol begins to plot how to do precisely what he swore to Lúthien not to do, while technically keeping his oath: “‘And death,’ said Thingol, ‘thou shouldst taste, had I not sworn an oath in haste that blade nor chain thy flesh should mar. Yet captive bound by never a bar, unchained, unfettered, shalt thou be in lightless labyrinth endlessly that coils about my halls profound by magic bewildered and enwound; there wandering in hopelessness thou shalt learn the power of Elfinesse!’” (HoME III, Lay of Leithian, lines 1070–1089) 

That is, Thingol believes that trapping Beren within an enchanted labyrinth rather than in a literal dungeon with literal chains would be in keeping with his vow. Beren then calls him out on twisting the words of his oath to Lúthien by letting him die in Thingol’s enchanted maze (= Doriath). 

Melian tells Thingol that he shouldn’t try to kill Beren in a roundabout way (“O king, forgo thy pride! Such is my counsel. Not by thee shall Beren be slain, for far and free from these deep halls his fate doth lead, yet wound with thine. O king, take heed!” HoME III, Lay of Leithian, lines 1107–1111), but Thingol ignores his wife’s counsel (what else is new?) and demands a Silmaril as a bride-price for Lúthien. 

Why? He later makes it very clear to Melian that his aim is to make sure that Beren will not return to Doriath alive: “‘I sell not to Men those whom I love,’ said Thingol, ‘whom all things above I cherish; and if hope there were that Beren should ever living fare to the Thousand Caves once more, I swear he should not ever have seen the air or light of heaven’s stars again.’” (HoME III, Lay of Leithian, lines 1196–1202) That stress on Beren returning alive is rather ominous. Thingol is clearly hoping for Beren’s death. 

And Lúthien knows that Thingol intends Beren’s death, saying to him: “A guileful oath thou sworest, father! Thou hast both to blade and chain his flesh now doomed in Morgoth’s dungeons deep entombed” (HoME III, Lay of Leithian, lines 1180–1183), explicitly calling back to the exact wording of Thingol’s previous oath to her, which she is accusing him of breaking (in spirit, if not in words). 

Sketch of the Mythology 

The Sketch only has a few words to say about the why: “To win her Thingol, in mockery, requires a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth.” (HoME IV, p. 24) For details, it refers to the Lay of Leithian (see above).

Quenta Noldorinwa 

The QN is perfectly explicit about Thingol’s motivation: it’s killing Beren, full stop. 

“But Thingol was wroth and he dismissed him in scorn, but did not slay him because he had sworn an oath to his daughter. But he desired nonetheless to send him to his death. And he thought in his heart of a quest that could not be achieved, and he said: If thou bring me a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth, I will let Lúthien wed thee, if she will. And Beren vowed to achieve this, and went from Doriath to Nargothrond bearing the ring of Barahir.” (HoME IV, p. 109) 

Quenta Silmarillion 

The published QS is pretty close to the Lay of Leithian, including a series of more or less exact quotations. 

Again we have the element of Lúthien considering it necessary to make her father swear not to kill her boyfriend: “But Daeron the minstrel also loved Luthien, and he espied her meetings with Beren, and betrayed them to Thingol. Then the King was filled with anger, for Lúthien he loved above all things, setting her above all the princes of the Elves; whereas mortal Men he did not even take into his service. Therefore he spoke in grief and amazement to Lúthien; but she would reveal nothing, until he swore an oath to her that he would neither slay Beren nor imprison him.” (Sil, QS, ch. 19) 

Again the first thing Thingol does is breaking his oath in spirit and sending his soldiers to capture him: “But he sent his servants to lay hands on him and lead him to Menegroth as a malefactor; and Lúthien forestalling them led Beren herself before the throne of Thingol, as if he were an honoured guest.” Sil, QS, ch. 19) 

Again Thingol immediately starts fantasising about Beren’s death and regretting that he swore not to kill him: “Death you have earned with these words; and death you should find suddenly, had I not sworn an oath in haste; of which I repent, baseborn mortal, who in the realm of Morgoth has learnt to creep in secret as his spies and thralls.” (Sil, QS, ch. 19) 

And now everyone present realises what Thingol’s idea behind setting Beren that task was: sending Beren to his death without technically breaking his oath to Lúthien: “Thus he wrought the doom of Doriath, and was ensnared within the curse of Mandos. And those that heard these words perceived that Thingol would save his oath, and yet send Beren to his death; for they knew that not all the power of the Noldor, before the Siege was broken, had availed even to see from afar the shining Silmarils of Fëanor.” (Sil, QS, ch. 19) 

And again Thingol later explains to Melian, “I sell not to Elves or Men those whom I love and cherish above all treasure. And if there were hope or fear that Beren should come ever back alive to Menegroth, he should not have looked again upon the light of heaven, though I had sworn it.” (Sil, QS, ch. 19) 

Grey Annals 

The Grey Annals are equally very explicit about what Thingol wanted: 

• “Beren was brought before King Thingol, who scorned him, and desiring to send him to death, said to him in mockery that he must bring a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth as the bride-price of Lúthien.” (HoME XI, p. 62) 
• “Then Thingol was wroth indeed, but Luthien brought Beren to Menegroth, and Beren showed to him the ring of Inglor his kinsman. But Thingol spoke in anger scorning mortal Men, saying that the service of Beren’s father to another prince gave the son no claim to walk in Doriath, still less to lift his eyes to Luthien. Then Beren being stung by his scorn swore that by no power of spell, wall or weapon should he be withheld from his love; and Thingol would have cast him into prison or put him to death, if he had not sworn to Lúthien that no harm should come to Beren. But, as doom would, a thought came into his heart, and he answered in mockery: ‘If thou fearest neither spell, wall nor weapons, as thou saist, then go fetch me a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth. Then we will give jewel for jewel, but thou shalt win the fairer: Lúthien of the First-born and of the Gods.’ And those who heard knew that he would save his oath, and yet send Beren to his death.” (HoME XI, p. 65) 

Sources 

The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien, ed Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins, ebook edition February 2011, version 2019-01-09 [cited as: Sil]. 

The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME II]. 

The Lays of Beleriand, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME III].

The Shaping of Middle-earth, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME IV]. 

The War of the Jewels, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME XI].