I'm no good judge of that, of course - I'm so involved myself that I sometimes think I see foreshadowing where none is intended.

"For long" in Elvish terms, probably. "Man, is he moving again? He's only been in town for five yéni, WTF." I know I certainly exaggerated it in my take on this prompt. But then, maybe he didn't do much forgecraft while out and exploring. After the Palantíri and the Silmarils, what was left? ;)