Going with the idea that the Silmarillion is a flawed recounting of First Age history, what is the *funniest* thing it could be wrong about?
Celegorm tried to kidnap and marry *Beren,* not Luthien
Maeglin didn't actually exist
Thingol didn't die, he and Melian just got lost in the woods for 200 more years
Fingon and Galadriel are the same person, somehow
"Maedhros" is actually three different people
Findis is also Miriel's child but everyone forgets her :(
Finarfin was married to Eonwe, not Earwen
Beren, Barahir, and Beor have all had their names and roles mixed up
Most of the stated genders in the Silmarillion are wrong
I can elaborate on these if people want, but here are my short explanations for how I think these could've happened:
Celegorm and Beren: Celegorm is not even a little interested in Luthien's ethereal, perfect beauty. On the other hand, Beren is rocking the scruffy, unwashed look that Aragorn would later make a trend in Fourth-Age Gondor. He's vaguely feral, he looks a fair bit like some of Orome's favorite incarnate forms, and Celegorm is smitten the instant he lays eyes on him (somewhere, Finrod is laughing at him). While Celegorm does spend a few days trying to convince Beren to marry him, he eventually relents and willingly gives Beren Huan to aid on his quest. Later rewritten because the Sindar were offended that anyone could consider *anyone* more marriageable than Luthien, and because anything that portrayed Celegorm even vaguely positively was a no-go after the Second Kinslaying.
Maeglin: Gondolin was often haunted by the howling of wargs and the chanting of orcs searching the mountains for the city, as well as the screams of those they captured, starting at sundown. Because of this, "children of twilight" became a common euphemism for "dark things" that people didn't want to name. The (somewhat) poetic retelling of Aredhel's return to Gondolin that talks about "Lomion" being the result of her and Eol's (unwilling) Union isn't talking about a literal child, it's just a less disturbing way of referring to what she suffered at Eol's hands. Likewise, when they say that "Lomion" felled Gondolin, they're talking about Morgoth's armies, not an actual elf named Lomion. For translation-error related reasons, the name "Lomion" got connected to the Lord of the Mole, who was completely unrelated to Turgon or the fall of Gondolin, and whose title was mistranlated as "Maeglin."
Thingol and Melian: Look, sometimes you just really need to get away from the stresses of being a king and accidentally wreck your entire kingdom by leaving your teenage grandson in charge instead, alright? They showed back up years after Doriath's fall and had no idea what had happened. Rewritten for obvious reasons; because it makes Thingol and Melian look really, really bad.
Fingon and Galadriel: This happened because of incomplete records and because Noldor family geneologies are sometimes very unclear (Fingon is listed under the name given to him by Fingolfin, Galadriel is listed under the name given to her by Finarfin). In actuality, when Galadriel realized they wanted a male named as well as a female one, they asked their uncle to name them, and Fingolfin named them Fingon. They also worked under him as an apprentice for years and Fingolfin and Finarfin's children spent lots of time together to begin with, so Fingolfin basically viewed them as another child and often said so, resulting in the mix up.
"Maedhros:" This happened for standard shoddy-record-keeping reasons; the fall of places like Himring and Gondolin destroyed a *lot* of First Age records. The "Maedhros" we know in the Silm is an amalgamation of three elves. Nailfin, the oldest son of Feanor and infamous military leader and kinslayer. "Maidros," a close friend of Fingon who went to Beleriand with the Feanorians, who Fingon rescued from the cliff, and who would later be Fingon's standard bearer– smote at his side in the Nirnaeth. The third elf is Maglor– this is why he often seems strangely passive in the Silm, because some of his actions are being attributed to Maedhros instead.
Findis: Poor Findis! She went out to the countryside to weave quietly in honor of her mother (and Vaire) and because of that, no one really remembers her. Despite this, she does actually have a lot of Feelings about her mother (who named Findis for Indis, who was, at the time, her BEST FRIEND) and Finwe's remarriage. She's very close with Feanor, and plays the fun aunt (and third parental figure) to all of his kids. During the Second Age, she is the one who goes to the Valar to argue that Feanor and his sons should be released.
Finarfin and Eonwe: This would explain why the Finarfions seem mostly unfazed by the Third Kinslaying. Also why Finrod and Galadriel are so cool, how Galadriel was able to learn from Melian, and why Aegnor's hair defies the laws of gravity. The mistake in the historical record happened because Earwen and Eonwe have similar sounding names and are both often referred to with bird-related titles. Earwen is the "swan" or "gosling" princess, and while Eonwe is technically "heald of Manwe, the king's falcon, etc, etc." Finarfin is very fond of calling him "silly goose." :)
Beren/Barahir/Beor: It's easy to see how three people with similar names from the same family could get mixed up. There are a lot of ways you could slice it, and all I can think about is that most of them are really tragic for Finrod. If you meld Barahir and Beor, you have someone who Finrod met on a beautiful night under the stars, who would go on to save his life in battle, to live with him for years, and then to die; probably before Finrod was even really able to comprehend mortality. Any mashup of Beor and Beren or Barahir and Beren opens up the distinct possibility that Finrod was in love when he went on the quest which is just... poor guy.
Genders: Look, elves have a complicated gender system, okay? There's gender-indicating braids, a dozen different ways to alter your gender presentation, and a complex pronoun system that, to this day, hasn't been properly translated into any human language. The poor guy in charge of translating the Silmarillion from elvish slapped a bunch of "he" pronouns on anyone who seemed male-ish and "she" pronouns on the rest. They were frequently wrong, and often completely ignored elves who had identities more complicated than "cis man" and "cis woman." This is also why there's such a gender imbalance in the Silmarillion.
ended up drawing a few of these!
