"The placing of Hildorien 'in the uttermost East of Middle-earth that lies beside the eastern sea' was changed to: 'in the midmost parts of Middle-earth beyond the Great River and the Inner Sea, in regions which neither the Eldar nor the Avari have known'.
Many phrases have been used of the site of Hildorien. In the 'Annals' tradition it was 'in the East of the world' (IV.269, V.118, 125), but this was changed on the manuscript of AV 2 to 'in the midmost regions of the world' (V.120, note 13). In the Quenta it was 'in the East of East' (IV.99), and in QS, as cited above, 'in the uttermost East of Middle-earth': in my commentary [ceux de Ch. Tolkien] on QS (V.248) I suggested that this last was not in contradiction with the changed reading of AV 2: 'Hildorien was in the furthest east of Middle-earth, but it was in the middle regions of the world; see Ambarkanta map IV, on which Hildorien is marked (IV.249). 'In the texts of the post-Lord of the Rings period there is the statement in the Grey Annals (GA) $57 that it was 'in the midmost regions of the world', as in the emended reading of AV 2; and there is the new phrase in the revision of QS, 'in the midmost parts of Middle-earth beyond the Great River and the Inner Sea' (with loss of the mention in the original text of 'the eastern sea'). This last shows unambiguously that a change had taken place, but it is very hard to say what it was. It cannot be made to agree with the old Ambarkanta maps: one might indeed doubt that those maps carried much validity for the eastern regions by this time, and wonder whether by 'the Inner Sea' my father was referring to 'the Inland Sea of Rhun' (see The Treason of Isengard pp. 307, 333) - but on the other hand, in the Annals of Aman (X.72, 82) from this same period the Great Journey of the Elves from Kuivienen ('a bay in the Inland Sea of Helkar') is described in terms that suggest that the old conception was still fully present. Can the Sea of Rhun be identified with the Sea of Helkar, vastly shrunken? - Nor is it easy to understand how Hildorien 'in the midmost parts of Middle-earth' could be 'in regions which neither the Eldar nor the Avari have known'. In LQ 2 most of the revised passage is absent, and the text reads simply: 'in the land of Hildorien in the midmost parts of Middle-earth; for measured time had come upon Earth ...' If this is significant, it must depend on a verbal direction from my father. On the other hand, the revision was written on the manuscript in two parts: 'in the midmost parts' in the margin and the remainder on another part of the page, where it would be possible to miss it; and I think this much the likeliest explanation."
On comprend la difficulté de localisation pour l'auteur de l'Atlas of Middle-Earth, Karen Fonstad (mais je ne l'ai pas sous la main pour dire si elle s'en explique)...
Silmo