Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

William Cloud Hicklin · 03-22-2007, 06:31 PM

"to publish the version he probably wishes went in the Silmarillion proper."

No, he doesn't. He has always wished to publish it as a standalone book; but the Sil. proper was always viewed (by JRRT and CT both) as a compendium, a rather compressed history, and this is precisely what JRRT produced when he wrote a deliberately abridged version of the later Narn into the Grey Annals.

03-22-2007, 06:31 PM	#11
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	"to publish the version he probably wishes went in the Silmarillion proper." No, he doesn't. He has always wished to publish it as a standalone book; but the Sil. proper was always viewed (by JRRT and CT both) as a compendium, a rather compressed history, and this is precisely what JRRT produced when he wrote a deliberately abridged version of the later Narn into the Grey Annals.