Who edited and substantially assembled J.R.R. Tolkien’s posthumous book The Silmarillion?

Christopher Tolkien edited and substantially assembled J.R.R. Tolkien’s posthumous book The Silmarillion.

Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s third son, worked through a large and often contradictory collection of drafts, notes, timelines, and revised versions after his father’s death. The resulting book was published in 1977, four years after J.R.R. Tolkien died. It presents the mythology and history of Arda, including the creation of the world, the wars of the First Age, and the stories of the great Elvish and human heroes.

Unlike The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion was not completed and arranged for publication by J.R.R. Tolkien himself. Christopher therefore had to make editorial decisions about order, wording, and continuity. He worked with writer Guy Gavriel Kay during part of the editorial process, but Christopher Tolkien is the credited editor.

The book is often described as a single novel, though it is better understood as a compilation of mythological narratives, annals, genealogies, and related texts.