: I thought he was nearing completion on editing QS. Be that as it may, how do we balance the above published works against those works published posthumously? To which do we defer when there are contradictions between the two? I would defer to the above works, but others may disagree.

An interesting point. I think that the Silmarillion would need to be added. According to the Professor, it was his most important work, and I think he considered it the backbone of his world. This, in addition to The Hobbit and the LOTR would be, in my opinion, the sources of import. And indeed there might be contradictions, but that is to be expected in such a vast undertaking.

But an interesting point. . .