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I think Huinesoron raises a good point. Tolkien's attempts to make "The Silmarillion" more consistent with LOTR and more plausible in certain ways certainly did not mean removing all of the supernatural/mythological elements, nor do I think it would have been necessary to do so to achieve his goal. The theme of decline and the fact that much from the past had been forgotten or degraded is very much present in LOTR. Whether the Star of Eärendil as seen by Sam in the late Third Age should be understood as literally a Silmaril strapped to the forehead of a guy in a magic ship is, I think, questionable (though at the time Tolkien wrote LOTR it probably was), but there's much else that can't be excised from the mythology without actually creating inconsistencies with LOTR, including the Silmarils themselves and most of the qualities ascribed to them.
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