Who edited and helped publish J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion after Tolkien’s death?

Christopher Tolkien edited and helped publish J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion after Tolkien’s death.

J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973, leaving a large and complex body of unfinished writings about the mythology of his imagined world. His son Christopher organized, edited and selected material from those papers to create a publishable volume. The Silmarillion appeared in 1977, four years after Tolkien’s death.

The book presents the creation of Eä, the history of the Valar and Elves, and major stories from the First Age. It is not a conventional sequel to The Lord of the Rings. Instead, it functions as a collection of mythic histories, legends and genealogical material that underlie later events in Middle-earth.

Christopher Tolkien’s editorial role involved reconciling different versions and arranging incomplete texts. Because of that process, The Silmarillion reflects both Tolkien’s own writings and editorial decisions made after his death. Later publications, including Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth, reveal more of the underlying drafts.