Will a "definitive" version of The Silmarillion ever be released? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Mithalwen · 01-05-2012, 06:47 AM

Did Tolkien have a final and definitive concept of the Silmarillion? It seems to me he was working things out about his creation pretty much to the end - and I wonder if he would have sought to adjust the LOTR to fit a "finished" Silmarillion in the same way as he made the alterations to the Hobbit to fit the needs of the LOTR.

I sometimes wonder if JRRT had had the use of a word processor and could have implemented name changes throughout a script in seconds and the like, if he would have been able to finish it or delve deeper but I suspect he was too much of a Niggle to ever finish and he would have tinkered to the end no matter how long he had lived and we would have been deprived of the insight into the development provided by the drafts.

01-05-2012, 06:47 AM	#2
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,459	Did Tolkien have a final and definitive concept of the Silmarillion? It seems to me he was working things out about his creation pretty much to the end - and I wonder if he would have sought to adjust the LOTR to fit a "finished" Silmarillion in the same way as he made the alterations to the Hobbit to fit the needs of the LOTR. I sometimes wonder if JRRT had had the use of a word processor and could have implemented name changes throughout a script in seconds and the like, if he would have been able to finish it or delve deeper but I suspect he was too much of a Niggle to ever finish and he would have tinkered to the end no matter how long he had lived and we would have been deprived of the insight into the development provided by the drafts. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace