The Silmarillion was published posthumously in 1977 as an edited collection of Tolkien’s mythological texts.
Christopher Tolkien edited and arranged The Silmarillion for publication four years after his father’s death. The book presents the mythology and history of Tolkien’s imagined world from its creation through major events preceding and surrounding The Lord of the Rings.
Its sections include the Ainulindalë, the Valaquenta, the Quenta Silmarillion, the Akallabêth, and the Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin. The central Quenta Silmarillion recounts the struggles surrounding the Silmarils and the wars of the First Age.
The book is not a conventional novel with one continuous narrative voice. It combines different styles and stages of Tolkien’s writing, and Christopher Tolkien made editorial decisions to produce a publishable volume. Unfinished Tales, published in 1980, contains additional incomplete narratives and background material.