Who was J.R.R. Tolkien’s son and the editor of The Silmarillion?

Christopher Tolkien was J.R.R. Tolkien’s son and the editor of The Silmarillion.

After his father’s death in 1973, Christopher organized and edited a large body of unfinished and variant writings about the history of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion was published posthumously in 1977 by George Allen & Unwin, with Christopher Tolkien preparing the material for publication.

The book presents the creation of the world, the history of the Valar, and the long struggles involving the Elves, Morgoth, and the Silmarils. Unlike The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, it was not completed as a final narrative by Tolkien in the form eventually published. Christopher had to arrange manuscripts, reconcile versions, and make editorial decisions.

Christopher later published many additional volumes, including The History of Middle-earth, which documented the development of his father’s mythology. He was therefore not merely a literary executor; he became the principal scholar and editor of Tolkien’s unpublished legendarium.