Sauron... the Elf!

[galadriel]

I have in my possession an old, 1976 edition, pre-Silmarillion Tolkien guide called "The Tolkien Companion". Although charmingly written, the author has an unfortunately tendency to make unsupported assumptions and, I sometimes suspect, fabricate information entirely. I thought I'd share some of the more amusing mistakes with you.

Lorien: the oldest of all names for the Golden Wood. It is a Silvan (i.e. Wood-elven) word, and its original meaning has not been recorded.)

Actually Lorien is actually the most recently created name for the Golden Wood, is Quenya, not Silvan, and means "dream".

Gondolin is described as the 'Hidden City,' and its fall evidently pre-dates that of Nargothrond; therefore, one may assume that the hill of Gondolin was an outpost in enemy held lands.

I'm trying to see the logic here... but I just can't.

Finwe: The House of Finarphir; a royal Line of the Noldor begun with Finarphir of Eldamar, far back in the Elder Days. The Finwe were the only Elves of any sort to possess, as a hereditary trait, shining golden hair.

This would be almost forgivable if Thranduil wasn't blond... and if all of the Vanyar weren't blond... and if Finwe, who is a person, not a house, wasn't dark-haired!

House of Turin: The Second House of the Edain

I'm not sure where the author got the idea to call the families of the Edain "First", "Second", etc. At any rate, what made him think that Turin, whose sole offspring is the unborn child of Niniel, had a House of his own, is beyond me.

...it seems not unlikely that Turgon was the heir of Feanor of the Noldor; at all events, many Elves of Feanor's House continued to dwell in Gondolin during the War of the Great Jewels....

Again, I completely fail to see where this idea came from.

Many of these inaccuracies are partially understandable, even if they are gross misassumptions, not just misinterpretations. But this one really gets me:

...it may therefore be hazarded that [Sauron] was in origin one - and probably the greatest - of those High-elves suborned to Morgoth's purpose.

I always suspected Sauron had pointy ears!