Which Tolkien scholar edited and published The Silmarillion after the author’s death?

Christopher Tolkien edited and published The Silmarillion after his father J.R.R. Tolkien’s death.

The Silmarillion was published in 1977, four years after Tolkien died. Christopher Tolkien assembled and edited material from manuscripts left by his father, working with fantasy writer Guy Gavriel Kay as an assistant. The book presents the mythology and history behind Middle-earth, including the creation of Arda, the Silmarils, and the First Age.

Unlike a finished novel, The Silmarillion existed in many versions and drafts. Christopher had to compare contradictory texts, choose readings, and organize incomplete narratives. His editorial work made the posthumous book readable, but it also means the published volume is not simply a manuscript Tolkien had prepared for printing.

Christopher later edited many additional volumes, including The History of Middle-earth. His work preserved and documented a large body of Tolkien’s writings that would otherwise have remained scattered among unfinished papers.