What is seen in middle earth canon?

Canon to the right of us, canon to the left of us ... and we know where that led . I don't think I'm alone in regarding 'canon' as not being a very useful concept here. Basically, if Tolkien wrote it, it's canon - and that also applies to material edited by others (mainly CRT) like the Silmarillion and the History of Middle-earth. This does not mean that life is simpler, since even only sticking to what was published in Tolkien's lifetime we have, for example, to editions of Lord of the Rings, and four of The Hobbit, all with textual variations - and in the case of The Hobbit, quite drastic ones. Still, even applying the idea of a M-e 'canon', I fail to see how The Hobbit, of all things, cannot be part of it

 

The Hobbit is most definitely canon. If you refer to the the movies, Peter Jackson changed a lot. But in my opinion, the right way. It would be a perfect adult version of The Hobbit, as opposed to the book, which was mainly meant for children.

 

It is canon. As Chris_A said, Jackson made the movies for those who had read the books as children.. adults. It is also a story to deserves to be told in full adult emotion and depth. Making it to "kiddy" would have ruined it.

 

To me it's simple, as long as it's penned by Tolkien, it's canon to me. It doesn't matter how much the movies have changed, the core of the story is still by Tolkien so it's considered canon.