[HairOfTheDog]

I think what he is saying is the Silmarillion was published from notes and rough drafts, after Tolkien's passing. Though it is still very much Tolkien's work, it was not necessarily in the condition that Tolkien would have published it, maybe not as polished or artful as it might have been... but I don't think that changes its worth. It is useful, but it wasn't finished. There may have been more that was never written, and some of what was written may have just been notes that wouldn't have made it to a novel. It is something to keep in mind, not something used to discredit it. I don't think.

[BradyLS]

You'd be surprised. Try referencing The Silmarillion to answer a simple question not quite covered by The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings (say, about the Rings of Power) and see who flies out of the dark to point you down some dark, labrynthine path somewhere in the volumes covering "The History of Middle Earth."

"Oh," they'll intone, "You see, The Silmarillion that Chris Tolkien published isn't what his father had floating aound in his head. I know what John really meant..."

I just don't want to see these Tolkien Virgin threads on FR devolve into one of those ugly "canonical/non-canonical" cat fights that I've seen in other newsgroups is all I'm saying. They're no fun and a real turn-off to trying to learn anything.