Who edited and completed J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion for posthumous publication?

Christopher Tolkien edited and completed The Silmarillion for posthumous publication. The book appeared in 1977, four years after J.R.R. Tolkien’s death, under Christopher’s editorial direction.

J.R.R. Tolkien had worked on the legends of The Silmarillion for decades, but he left the material in many forms, including drafts, revisions, outlines, and unfinished narratives. Unlike The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, it was not a single completed manuscript ready for publication.

Christopher Tolkien selected, arranged, and edited the surviving texts to create a coherent volume. He also used editorial judgment to reconcile variant versions of stories and names. The resulting book presents the mythology of Arda, including the creation of the world, the history of the Valar, the rise and fall of Númenor, and the wars against Morgoth.

Readers sometimes describe Christopher as the sole author, but the work is fundamentally based on his father’s writings. Christopher’s role was editor and literary executor, shaping unfinished source material into the 1977 published form.