Silmarillion: a question of reliability

[greywind]

Are all the information in The Silmarillion reliable? Does it ever accour differences, between C. Tolkien's works and the sources we know are by J.R.R. Tolkien himself?

In which degree can i trust the characters in Middle-earth to be right?

And if this differences or unreliabilitys accour, are they important enough for me, who have neither read Unfinished Tales or anything in the HoMe series?

[Orome]

The silmarillion is accurate because he wrote most of it before he died. most of the other stuff that came out after he died has to be taken with a grain of salt, particularly the stuff written by other people ie not edited by Chris Tolkien

[Child of the 7th Age]

Orome -- I'm not sure that I totally agree. It was always my understanding that Christopher was the one who actually put the published Silm together. He chose what manuscripts to include, since there were often several drafts left by Tolkien. He even later admitted that he had made some mistakes, chosing an earlier draft over a later more complete one, e.g. Ailundale.I thought I even heard that he added some material where Tolkien had left "holes" in the stories.

HoMe was something different. They were the "pure" drafts left by the author, some early and some late. Some ideas, like those in the Book of Lost Tales, had been completely superceded by Tolkien's later concepts. I actually think the last manuscripts, like some of the Unifinished Tales and Morgoth's Ring, represent the very last and, in some ways, the truest ideas that the author came to at the end of his life.

I am notan expert. I am just learning about the Silm. What do others think?

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

[Aiwendil]

Actually, there are some mistakes in the published Silmarillion. Most of these are the result of Christopher mistakenly using an earlier version of a story instead of a later one. There is also a substantial section of one chapter ("The Ruin of Doriath") that was more or less invented by Christopher (though I think he did an excellent job with this and with the published Silmarillion in general, despite the mistakes).

Any blame Christopher Tolkien might have taken from these errors has been thoroughly repudiated by the thirteen volumes of his father's actual work that he spent the next twenty years editing. Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth are to be trusted (with the exception of perhaps one thing in UT), as far as being the actual work of JRRT.

For an attempt to produce a unified, mistake-free Silmarillion, see the Revised Silmarillion project on these boards.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Aiwendil --

Thank you for your answer. What is the one thing in UT that perhaps "can't be trusted"?

sharon

[ July 14, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]

[Aiwendil]

Just a very minor thing - in "Aldarion and Erendis" Gil-Galad's Quenya name is given as "Ereinion". This is an emendation by Christopher of "Rodnor" in the text. "Ereinion" was the form in an earlier version of Gil-Galad's parentage, the one that was mistakenly adopted in the published Silmarillion. Christopher clears up this matter in HoMe XII. There might be some other minor mistakes of the same sort in UT.

[Orome]

i was under the impression that JRRT had put together a fair amout of the book before he had died.

[Lothiriel Silmarien]

I'm sure all of you know this. But it has something to do with the Silmarillion, so I feel like sharing it. The Silmarillion was Tolkien's first and last book. (I've read this from somewhere I know I have, but there's always the possibility that it's wrong. I always thought the Hobbit was the first.) The Silmarillion was probably the dearest to his heart. And by first and last, I mean that he started the Silmarillion then went to others and then after all of the other books, he finally started finishing it. And didn't COMPLETELY finish it.