Sils and Morgoth

[Thingol]

Good point Kuruharan, Tolkien stated that when the Fea reconstructs its hora it must reconstruct an hora similar to its original state. From the evidence you pointed out it is reasonable to assume the same is true of Maiar. As for the History of Middle Earth series as being even more reliable than the Silm, that is a matter of opinion. While the HoME series contains some of Tolkien’s most recent thoughts on certain matters it also contains some outdated material (perfect example being The Fall of Gondolin). Just because certain ideas were Tolkien’s latest opinions doesn’t mean that he would have changed things he had already envisioned, even if nothing was published at this time. The reason that the Silm is so truncated is because Chris Tolkien only put in it what he felt J.R.R. Tolkien was sure about keeping and excluded anything that his father was still unsure about (an example being the exclusion of a detailed account of the Fall of Gondolin). The rest of the information that was available to Chris Tolkien but wasn’t included in the Silm is in the HoME series. I have only finished one and a half volumes of the HoME series, so my opinion might change, but so far I tend to view the Silm as more reliable than the HoME series because I feel that Chris Tolkien knew his father’s wishes best, and only included what he felt his father was sure about. By sifting through the myriad of Tolkien’s material in the HoME series I believe that one can make educated guesses on what Tolkien would have included in a finished Silmarillion if he had lived long enough to make one. The new Silm project is trying to do just that; create a completed Silmarillion based on logical conclusions taken from material in the HoME series and other sources. However, I do not believe that anything in the HoME series can be included as “cannon” above the published Silmarillion. Again I haven't read the entire series so my opinion might change as I gain more insight into the mind of Tolkien.
But for now I remain a steadfast Silm fan.

[ January 28, 2002: Message edited by: Thingol ]