[davem]

Originally Posted by Bb

Frankly, I agree with SpM that The Silm, as a work pubished after Tolkien's death and substantively editted and revised by Christopher Tolkien, is the questionable work. Without Tolkien pere's imprimateur, it is the Silm that 'fails' (sic), not TH.

I hope I answered your other points but I want to stress that I was referring to The Sil writings - ie the contents of HoMe, not to CT's 'reconstruction'.

However, as Helen implies, there are many other works by Tolkien which don't conform strictly to the mythology. But why should the mythology become the defining characteristic?

Because that's what we're talking about - not whether TH is a 'canonical' work in the sense of being something Tolkien wrote, but whether it 'fits' the Legendarium comfortably. Tolkien's 'discomfort' over its 'tone' implies he, at least, felt it didn't.