Subject: Yes. That is how drafts work.
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Posted on: 2016-02-19 14:49:00 UTC

Things change while writing, and the tale grows in the telling - and yes, names change around, too, especially if you're a linguistics professor with a profound appreciation for the sound of words. But that is in no way the same thing as not knowing what you're doing.

Tolkien wrote copious notes on where he expected LotR to go, and rewrote them on multiple occasions. A lot of the ideas in them got thrown out. New ones came in along the way - "I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but here he came walking into the woods of Ithilien". But at no point was he just sitting there going 'meh, dunno, let's just write some words'.

I have read the entire History of Middle-earth cover-to-cover. I promise I know what I'm talking about. ;)

hS

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