Chapter Text
According to a popular saying in Tirion, history is written by the survivors and edited by the dead. Our project acknowledges the descriptive truth of this saying, especially in regards to the mass casualty events so common in First Age Beleriand, but we argue that the historical record can only be enriched by considering the narratives of the dead in a space where they hold initial primacy.
(Non-historians might counter that the weavings of Vairë fulfill this need, but of course these records are profoundly non-narrative in form and never created for an audience of embodied incarnate beings, so we will address this argument no further).
At this point in time, enough of the dead have been rehoused that our project has the potential for representational accuracy. In practice, however, the growing collection skews toward certain groups and away from others: an analysis of reasons will be attached to the end of this sample. Some of the reasons for imbalance are obvious—for example, members of military forces are more likely to volunteer narratives than civilians—while other reasons are more complicated.
Please note that all participants were recently rehoused, but not extremely recently (this is regarded as unethical in our field). They have all had the opportunity to reflect on historical events after their death, both during their stay in the Halls and after being rehoused. We do not regard this as “contamination” of their recollection for our purposes, but rather as part of the normal process of narrative formation.
The Dagor Bragollach began in midwinter of FA 455 and ended with spring. We divided the mass casualty into eight stages by date range and chose twelve representative narratives to align with the stages. Feedback to this approach will help shape the release of the final project.