Incanus or Outcanus… canon who?

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galin

For me, Tolkien-published* text is canon.

And as the posthumously published stuff seems to raise the very question, again for me, that seems an easy division. Were we ever supposed to see any of these texts in the forms that we find them today? Even those texts that seem finished don't have that final stamp of author-approved . . .

Coming back to this with the looming presence of RoP series 2 coming towards us: this means that "Tom Bombadil was imprisoned by talking badgers" is more canonical than "Feanor is dead". Which is hilarious - but also true, because even long-standing "draft ideas" did change late in Tolkien's lifetime, whereas there was no walking back the fact that the Bucklanders had poems about the adventures of Tom Bombadil.

hS