Outsourcing canon

[Formendacil]

You'll never get fandom to accept new "official" stories. We've largely followed Christopher Tolkien's lead in this, and I'd that, by and large, our love of the Legendarium is inextricably tied to our "reverence" for the Professor himself. If it didn't come from his pen, it cannot, or will not, ever be accepted as Canon.

So, an Official expansion of the Canon is foredoomed to failure, I think.

However, Unofficial expansions of the Canon are already in full swing, and are only likely to grow. Fanfiction is widespread to the point of pandemic (much of it is utter trash and should be burned, but there are some well-written and awesome fanfics out there). There are also RPGs, such as the ones in the Shire, Rohan, and Gondor forums here on the 'Downs.

I can also see a certain burgeoning of "personalized" Legendariums. I think it is the deep ambition of many serious fans to have their own, codified, idiosyncratic, Silmarillion. I know I do. I would not, however, ever present my Silmarillion as THE Silmarillion. Insofar as ANY Silmarillion is THE Silmarillion, it is Christopher Tolkien's Silmarillion- which he himself has admitted with regret is not perfect. The way I see it, if Christopher Tolkien can have a Silmarillion, so can I. But my Silmarillion will be mine, privately. I don't think that the official, core, canon will ever grow beyond what J.R.R. Tolkien wrote and what Christopher Tolkien has extrapolated from that.