What counts as "canon"?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Ashbranch

I suppose Tolkien's most recent version of a thing is the most authoritative - hence Strider and not Trotter, say. But do we then extend this to "corrections" made posthumously? Recent editions of LotR have "corrected" the info about the kings of Numenor so that it conforms to that found in Unfinished Tales, for example.

Ah yes, but what about the timeline of Tolkien's work itself? In some of his very last work, you detect signs of it getting baggy round the edges and unravelling a little, and I have to admit, some of his last thoughts were not his clearest sadly.

Originally Posted by skip

Then again there are many things in TH that in all likelihood made the author himself cringe afterwards, like for instance having Bilbo read a newspaper in the opening scene.

Really? I don't find that odd at all. There must be some kind of printing press in The Shire due to all the books Bilbo seems to own, and literacy is reasonable (even though there are no signs of schools). I should think newspapers would be devoured by Hobbits what with their love of gossip.