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As essentially only The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (LotR) and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil were published during Tolkien's lifetime, only those works (in their latest editions) can be considered true canon, and even then questions remain about a few minor deviations from his intent (as can be seen from the drafts of LotR in the History of Middle-earth series). The SilmarillionThe Silmarillion is a collection of J. Tolkien's works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher, with the assistance of fantasy fiction writer Guy Gavriel Kay. The Silmarillion comprises five parts: # The Ainulindal the creation of Ea, To was heavily edited for consistency with the LotR and internal consistency and therefore is by some considered to be canonical, however Christopher TolkienChristopher John Reuel Tolkien (born November 21, 1924) is best known as the son of author J. Tolkien, and as the editor of much of his father's posthumously published work. wrote a great deal of material connected to the Middle-earth mythos that was not himself has stated multiple times after its publication that the book contains many factual errors introduced by this editing. Furthermore, the chapters in the published Silmarillion about the ruin of DoriathTolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Doriath was the land of the Sindar. It was called the Fenced Land (Dor-iath), for its queen, Melian, put a girdle of enchantment about it, so that nobody could enter without King Thingol's permission. Doriath was and the fall of GondolinIn the fiction of J. Tolkien, Gondolin was a hidden city of the Elves founded by Turgon in the First Age. Its name is Sindarin for "Hidden Rock". As recounted in The Silmarillion the Vala Ulmo, the Lord of Waters, revealed the location of the Vale of Tuml, especially the former, were largely written by Christopher Tolkien and Guy Gavriel KayGuy Gavriel Kay (born November 7, 1954) is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain durin, to fill in gaps in the available story, and therefore do not represent Tolkien's original conceptions. Unfinished TalesUnfinished Tales (full title Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth is a collection of stories by J. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Unlike The Silmarillion and the Silmarillion sections of History of Middle-earth (HoMe) have not generally received such editing for consistency, and they therefore are not only at points inconsistent with the published Silmarillion, but also with the LotR or even themselves.
An example of the canon question is the lineage of Gil-galad. In the published Silmarillion he is said to be the son of Fingon, but as disclosed in the HoMe Tolkien considered many arrangements before apparently deciding that he was the son of Orodreth, who would then also be displaced as a son of Finarfin and turned into Finarfin's grandson instead. Also, most people think Finwë had three children, all sons; Fëanor by his first wife Míriel, and Fingolfin and Finarfin by Indis. However, this is incorrect, since he also had two daughters, Findis and Irimë, by his second wife (Findis was in fact Finwë's first child by Indis), thus Finwë had five children. If the published Silmarillion is taken as canon all later material must be discarded, but if the later writings by Tolkien are taken as canon the Silmarillion must be rewritten, a task which Christopher Tolkien has stated he will not do as he is now retired. So we are left with a Quenta Silmarillion which contradicts the original author's intentions, but which is the only consistent narrative in existence for most of the traditions. The latter third of the Quenta Silmarillion in particular was never rewritten by Tolkien as a whole after the early narrative of his youth.
A further problem is reconciling The Hobbit with The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was revised by Tolkien to make it more consistent with its sequel, but there are still problems. For example, Bilbo and the Dwarves took far too long to reach Rivendell when a map from LotR is used to gauge the distance, which can only be explained with great difficulty if at all. There are additional problems as well, such as the exact location of the Troll encounter. When writing The Hobbit Tolkien did not yet consider that the world of Hobbits might be the same as his Middle-earth, but he still included several references to his (at the time) unpublished tales to give the story a sense of depth. Thus Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield wield swords from Gondolin, and Elrond, ruler of Rivendell, is Half-elven.
For the sake of consistency, in this encyclopedia The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are considered fully canon, but the status of The Silmarillion and other posthumous writings is more complex. In general, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales are treated as canon, but corrections published in HoMe generally take precedence. Late writings by Tolkien published in HoMe that do not contradict more established texts are also generally treated as canon.
This choice of canon means that this encyclopedia includes a number of corrections to the information in The Silmarillion as published. For example, the article on Gil-galad states that he is the son of Orodreth, the article on Amras mentions his death in the burning of the ships of the Teleri, and Argon, Findis and Irimë have articles of their own. Details of the history of the Nauglamír and the fall of Doriath are treated as uncertain, and the story of the Wanderings of Húrin is accepted as accurate. Information on earlier or alternate versions of the stories is provided when possible.