The "Last" Silmarillion

The last, large, section of The Lost Road covers the Quenta Silmarillion. I will only give some brief overview as I have already detailed the early Quenta earlier this year and of course in much detail during the year 2013. Christopher Tolkien can definitively identify the timeline of his father's manuscripts based on some rather uncharacteristic dates applied by his father. Tolkien had written Stanley Unwin in December, 1937 after receiving back the Quenta manuscript he had offered up for publishing consideration. On some scrap notes dated in November 1937 Tolkien jotted down changes that needed to be made in regards to the Quenta when it returned. His mind was clearly on his ancient mythological world.

However, what Unwin really wanted was a sequel to Tolkien's successful Hobbit story. Written as a children's story and not meant to be connected to the world of the Quenta it ended up being so with some rather arbitrary names used, Elrond and Gondolin for example, when Tolkien needed more names. As fate would have Tolkien wrote Unwin again, three days after receiving back his Quenta manuscript, stating he had taken a shot at writing the first chapter of the Hobbit piece. One other scrap note dated February, 1938 laid out a Elvish name change.

All in all Christopher Tolkien writes: "I conclude therefore that it was precisely at this crucial time (December 1937 - January 1938) that my father - entirely characteristically - turned back again to the beginning of the Quenta Silmarillion, revising the opening chapters and starting a new text in typescript ('Eldanyáre'). This soon petered out; and from that time the 'Silmarillion' narrative remained unchanged for some thirteen years" (p. 200, The Lost Road). Indeed, most of Tolkien's work on the Quenta in later years focused on bringing his earliest writings congruence with The Lord of the Rings. Hence my title for this post: the 'last' Silmarillion.

It's a bittersweet situation. Of all Tolkien's works the stories of The Silmarillion most captivate me. I wish he was able to fully flesh out these ideas and stories. But Tolkien was distracted (I'm not sure if that is a fair word) by the massive undertaking that became Rings. And but for that highly successful endeavor would I have even known this English philologist and discovered Silmarillion?

One final note: the title page of Tolkien's Quenta, similar to the Lhammas, is attributed to Pengolod of Gondolin and translated into English by Aelfwine.