A Question of Loyalty

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by JeffF.

I don't know why there is still a question of their origin. The books are canon ahd the Silmarillion plainly states that Morgoth used Avari, not as one of many theories but clearly. Tolkien's notes published in the HoME series are just story notes, interesting and revealing but NOT canon. Story notes change constantly and until integrated into a finished story and published are merely evolutions of the story line.

The Silmarillion is not canon under this definition, because it was made of notes integrated into a finished story by Christopher Tolkien. Some of the HoME notes are more valid than others because of when they were written, it's true, but which ones became the posthumous publication were not determined by Tolkien himself. Tolkien continually changed his mind on everything until publication set it in stone, and that never happened in the Silmarillion until after his demise.