Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

[ArcusCalion]

Well, as far as I could find, in Unfinished Tales CT says this at the beginning of the short text of the Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn:

The text bearing this title is a short and hasty outline, very roughly composed, which is nonetheless almost the sole narrative source for the events in the West of Middle-earth up to the defeat and expulsion of Sauron from Eriador in the year 1701 of the Second Age. Other than this there is little beyond the brief and infrequent entries in the Tale of Years, and the much more generalised and selective account in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age (published in The Silmarillion).

Here he references the text as if it is extant outside of his own personal creation as a primary source. He also refers to certain passages in the drafting for the chapter of the Council of Elrond and the Lothlorien material for LotR as the first drafts for what would later become passages in the later part of Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age. CT also mentions it in the drafts for the Appendices of LotR:

The name Ulairi of the Ring-wraiths seems to mark a period in my father's work: it is found also in a text of the Tale of Years (p. 175); in The Heirs of Elendil (Chapter VII); and in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age (published in The Silmarillion).

All of these references seem to indicate that there was indeed a Tolkien document with this title extant as a primary source, and CT did not make it up wholesale. However, as Zigur says, the very last part summing up LotR seems very out of place after reading the other source texts of Tolkien, and feels very much like a CT addition. That very fact is what leads me to this inquiry, since I do not know which parts are Tolkien original or CT creation. However, CT always refers to the document with the clarifying "published in The Silmarillion." Perhaps he means that he simply published it as it was without alteration? However, consideration of the majority of the book makes this claim very hard to believe.

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by ArcusCalion

Perhaps he means that he simply published it as it was without alteration? However, consideration of the majority of the book makes this claim very hard to believe.

This is my feeling as well. If I recall correctly, Kane claimed in Arda Reconstructed that there was an original "Of the Rings of Power" text, but didn't explain its history or how he knew this, unless he was basing it on the same statements by Christopher Tolkien in other publications as you've mentioned already.

On the other hand, some elements of the published Silmarillion are largely, if not entirely, unaltered, such as "Akallabêth", according to Christopher Tolkien in The Peoples of Middle-earth:

"the final form of the Akallabêth, if with some editorial alteration, is available in The Silmarillion."

Despite making similar claims about "Of the Rings of Power", however, he never offers information on its composition as far as I'm aware.

I'd almost be inclined to suggest that perhaps "Of the Rings of Power" was entirely Professor Tolkien's own work with minor editorial changes if it wasn't for the fact that parts of it seem peculiar.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Certainly the impression I get from the relevant bits of HME is that Of The Rings of Power, like Akallabeth, was a work that Tolkien Pere had completed to his satisfaction and CRT did nothing more than touch it up. CT also points out, in the foreword to the 1977 Silmarillion, that both works were included in that volume "according to my father's explicit intention," which certainly argues that the Professor had written both works.

(The reason that Akallabeth and its antecedents receive substantial space in HME is that the legend of Numenor evolved over many drafts, and was intimately bound up with Tolkien's changing conception of his legendarium, whereas RPTA was, apparently, written off at a stroke, like most of Appendix A was (and quite possibly at about the same time, 1949-50 or so))