[quote="Gandalfs Beard":3dd2e6aa]However, I do think that for establishing a relatively clear and internally consistent "Canon" The Silmarillion should be considered as largely definitive [b:3dd2e6aa]for the finished product[/b:3dd2e6aa].[/quote:3dd2e6aa]

That depends on if one accepts The Silmarillion as a finished product. Certainly J.R.R.T. never finished it, though he had given his son the right to finish it, which Christopher of course did. I won't dispute Christopher's legal or moral right to have published The Silmarillion as he did (in fact I am quite glad for it!), but I'm still a [i:3dd2e6aa]bit[/i:3dd2e6aa] uncomfortable with it given the changes.

[quote:3dd2e6aa]Christopher felt that perhaps the Final Product [i:3dd2e6aa][b:3dd2e6aa]may have[/b:3dd2e6aa][/i:3dd2e6aa] strayed from his father's intent. But he states that largely to placate Tolkien Zealots I believe .[/quote:3dd2e6aa]

C.T. was quite unequivocal in his statements about straying from his father's intent in several instances, including the parentage of Gil-galad and the Ruin of Doriath (and while in the latter instance he made a good case for needing to make changes in order to create a coherent story, he did suggest that he went too far). I won't pretend to know what goes on in C.T.'s mind, but going by his actual words he second-guessed some of his decisions when he went back over the material while editing [i:3dd2e6aa]The History of Middle-earth[/i:3dd2e6aa].

I obviously can't speak for C.T., but I suspect that he recognizes that The Silmarillion is not a finished work in the way that most novels are. In a way this is a good thing: it's a mythology, and mythologies are rarely absolutely coherent or free from internal contradiction. However, after 30 years of work from C.T. we have the polished stories told in [i:3lji2mts]The Silmarillion[/i:3lji2mts] and [i:3lji2mts]The Children of Hurin[/i:3lji2mts], the anthology of [i:3lji2mts]Unfinished Tales[/i:3lji2mts], and the monumental work of scholarship that is [i:3lji2mts]The History of Middle-earth[/i:3lji2mts]. Even without any of that being truly definitive, it's enough for me. I don't want to be greedy.