Who edited J.R.R. Tolkien’s posthumously published work The Silmarillion?

Christopher Tolkien edited J.R.R. Tolkien’s posthumously published work The Silmarillion. Christopher, Tolkien’s third son, prepared the manuscript for publication by selecting, arranging, and sometimes reconciling materials his father had developed over many decades.

The Silmarillion was published in 1977, four years after J.R.R. Tolkien’s death. It presents the mythology and history of Arda, beginning with creation stories and continuing through the First Age and later events. Its major sections include the Ainulindalë, the Valaquenta, the Quenta Silmarillion, the Akallabêth, and Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age.

Christopher Tolkien was not the author of the mythology, but his editorial role was substantial because Tolkien left multiple versions, unfinished passages, and changing names. Readers sometimes confuse him with Rayner Unwin, the publisher who worked with Tolkien, or with Tolkien’s friend C.S. Lewis.