Beautiful article my feelings are akin to those of Christopher, but with the betrayal of Simon towards the legacy of Tolkien I think that the Anglo-Saxon publique could do a better job of protecting Middle-Earth than that wretched creature who makes Gollum seem heroic. I detest Rings of Power, and believe that other creatives ought to be given access to make of it what they will as they have Conan.
This is a good point that I didn't address. There's so many creatives out there with so much respect for Tolkien that would do a better job than the people who currently have the rights to produce Middle-Earth adaptions.
Fair enough, tbh I also wonder what others might make of my own works, thankfully serial fiction hereon Substack is pretty well received especially Tolkienian fantasy.
The spirit of the current age is "consume product, then get excited for new product." Making Tolkien's work public will feed that frenzy on a mass scale, to the point where the mythology and the books get washed away, and all that is left is the product. One could argue that there will be gems written in the mess of works written that will rise to the top, but the corporate, expensive products like Rings of Power is what will be digested in the public consciousness.
What has fallen more into myth in the popular mind, Calvin and Hobbes or the Star Wars Universe. Calvin and Hobbes' last comic was decades ago and Watterson was fanatical in his refusal to turn it into a brand, yet it still inspires countless people even today, who may not write their works in the Calvin and Hobbes universe but it absolutely affects their art and way they see the world. The Star Wars Universe is an empty corporate product that is actually losing its mythology with countless meaningless content. Even if Star Wars was public domain, the exact same thing would have happened.
We live in an age that can't create myth, and ruthlessly stamps out past myths. It's part of the mass balkanization of peoples with nothing transcendental in common. Maybe some day Tolkien's work can be made public, but in the current age I realize more and more Christopher was 100% right.
Maybe, but I think Star Wars is a good example of something that is just good fiction, not something transcendent enough to enter "mythology".
Would some garbage come out of Middle-Earth going public? I'm sure it would.
But in the long run, I think those adaptions would be quickly forgotten. Even something as recent as the Rings of Power is showing signs of being forgotten already, and that's the biggest budget TV show of all time
Great writing brother, Truly the best time to be alive is now. I am torn. On one hand I am a purest. I do not want to see propaganda spawn through lord of the rings. Though shows like Amazon's rendition. I believe it could be expanded on but Tolkien is not alive so I find it hard to believe that we would have the exact intention he did and or direction. It could be done of course but it would and should be looked upon with harsh scrutiny of its Fandom. If it passes through this then it is worthy and should go to film.
I think you hit the nail squarely on the head with "Does a bad Trojan war film diminish Homer? Do viking LARPers diminish the sagas of the Northmen? Not in the slightest"
Arda is already in the only public domain that matters. Like all other true and venerable stories, literary and visual adaptations are only ancillary devices. These are true sagas that people remember in their bone memory and recite together and tell to their children as a practical necessity for navigating reality. Their beauty begets more beauty and they participate in The Story to such a degree that no weapon formed against them shall prosper.
Agreed. Before Tolkien, England lacked a comprehensive mythology. Now it has Middle-Earth. Setting new stories there is like setting them in Asgard or on Mount Olympus: not to be done lightly, but certainly to be done. Thanks, Saxon Cross.
Not true. Ridiculous. Furthermore, it's weird seeing Christians talk about how Christianity supposedly wiped out other religions then played with their mythologies like a cat playing with a dead mouse.
Jackson blew it to a certain degree with his characterizations in those movies. Aragorn, Gandalf, Arwen, etc. are not true to the books at all. You get a lot of great spectacle in his movies, but the characters are way off from the books.
I'd like to see an animated version that adheres strictly to Tolkien's vision and does not deviate from it. Those films would be worth watching.
Isn’t that the point of adaptations though? They’re not mean to be 100% faithful retellings. Otherwise just read the book. Jackson’s changes were made to suit the medium he was working in, and they were successful.
Adaptations give space for the story to become richer by having different minds present their understanding of the characters. In that sense, I agree with the article.
At the same time, I’d be worried by the sheer volume of media that would be created. Harry Potter is as close to mythological (by the authors definition) as Lord of the Rings in the UK. Rowling willingness to constantly create new media is cheapening her work and undermining its legacy. Might something similar happen with Lord of the Rings?
Old Myths had the handbrake of copying out and surviving history. Do we need some sort of handbrake on this new myth?
Agree strongly. I very much look forward to enjoying performances of Tolkien put on by local actors in my local park. There are many books I never would have read if not for the public domain- for instance, Scarface- which was originally a book.
If it weren't free, I likely never would have read or heard of it.
There are notebooks and notebooks of drafts that Tolkien never got around to writing. Once you get past the first two books after the Silmarillion, they only got as far as the lay of Beleriand and the lay of Luthien. The rest are written like dry history instead of narrative fiction.
If the works could be public, then we could tell those stories, and make up our own based on Middle Earth.
But as long as they could fall into Marxist hands and be perverted, maybe its better to protect them.
Interesting thoughts; Professor Tolkien is already deeply ingrained into our culture like a myth. But I admit I shudder at the idea of Hollywood touching his work nowadays
Tolkien's mythopoeia will have to pass into the public domain if it is to grow, and it will have to grow if it is to survive. The matter of any functioning tradition must be constantly reimagined and recomposed according to the spirit of the tradition; if the matter is confined to one author's corpus, and the only innovations being made are by those who reject and invert the spirit of the tradition, then that spirit will be caught between a rock and a raging sea.
Christopher Tolkien did a sterling job of defending his father's legacy and releasing his unfinished works, but what he neglected to do was to finish those works himself and write new ones in the same mould. He knew his father's mind, he had been raised on his stories, and he had plenty of knowledge of Old English and traditional material, so he was eminently qualified to do this. He might have started some sort of Tolkien guild, centred on the family name but open to worthy outsiders, so that the fledgling tradition could grow without going to the dogs. Alas, that's not the way moderns do things (including Tolkien himself, who was hostile to fan sequels in his lifetime) – and what we have instead is the Tolkien estate of today, jealously censorious towards fanfic writers but willing to sell out the original material to the highest bidder.
"if this is true of Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon poem many centuries removed from the modern peoples of the Anglo-sphere, than how much more is this sentiment true of Tolkien’s own writings?"
It's because Beowulf was a hero. Like Achilles. He was wrapped up in their religion. He looks over the mytho poetic mind of northern men like a forgotten grandfather sitting and gathering dust in the attic room.
I think it's hilarious that most White men glorify jewish fishermen over figures like Beowulf. Total Stockholm syndrome. Then we dream and imagine of the past - like Tolkien - fantasizing about a fake mythology (which is glorious don't get me wrong).
Tolkien wanted to make a mythology for anglo Saxons he felt like they were missing? No, he mixed pagan and Christian elements together because his Germanic spirit was not satisfied with the jewish religion. There are deeper reasons for why we all love Tolkien, and for why he loved middle earth.
There was already a mythology for englanders - and it had nothing to do with Jews.
Beautiful article my feelings are akin to those of Christopher, but with the betrayal of Simon towards the legacy of Tolkien I think that the Anglo-Saxon publique could do a better job of protecting Middle-Earth than that wretched creature who makes Gollum seem heroic. I detest Rings of Power, and believe that other creatives ought to be given access to make of it what they will as they have Conan.
This is a good point that I didn't address. There's so many creatives out there with so much respect for Tolkien that would do a better job than the people who currently have the rights to produce Middle-Earth adaptions.
Fair enough, tbh I also wonder what others might make of my own works, thankfully serial fiction hereon Substack is pretty well received especially Tolkienian fantasy.
“Then we will take!”
The spirit of the current age is "consume product, then get excited for new product." Making Tolkien's work public will feed that frenzy on a mass scale, to the point where the mythology and the books get washed away, and all that is left is the product. One could argue that there will be gems written in the mess of works written that will rise to the top, but the corporate, expensive products like Rings of Power is what will be digested in the public consciousness.
What has fallen more into myth in the popular mind, Calvin and Hobbes or the Star Wars Universe. Calvin and Hobbes' last comic was decades ago and Watterson was fanatical in his refusal to turn it into a brand, yet it still inspires countless people even today, who may not write their works in the Calvin and Hobbes universe but it absolutely affects their art and way they see the world. The Star Wars Universe is an empty corporate product that is actually losing its mythology with countless meaningless content. Even if Star Wars was public domain, the exact same thing would have happened.
We live in an age that can't create myth, and ruthlessly stamps out past myths. It's part of the mass balkanization of peoples with nothing transcendental in common. Maybe some day Tolkien's work can be made public, but in the current age I realize more and more Christopher was 100% right.
Maybe, but I think Star Wars is a good example of something that is just good fiction, not something transcendent enough to enter "mythology".
Would some garbage come out of Middle-Earth going public? I'm sure it would.
But in the long run, I think those adaptions would be quickly forgotten. Even something as recent as the Rings of Power is showing signs of being forgotten already, and that's the biggest budget TV show of all time
Great writing brother, Truly the best time to be alive is now. I am torn. On one hand I am a purest. I do not want to see propaganda spawn through lord of the rings. Though shows like Amazon's rendition. I believe it could be expanded on but Tolkien is not alive so I find it hard to believe that we would have the exact intention he did and or direction. It could be done of course but it would and should be looked upon with harsh scrutiny of its Fandom. If it passes through this then it is worthy and should go to film.
I think you hit the nail squarely on the head with "Does a bad Trojan war film diminish Homer? Do viking LARPers diminish the sagas of the Northmen? Not in the slightest"
Arda is already in the only public domain that matters. Like all other true and venerable stories, literary and visual adaptations are only ancillary devices. These are true sagas that people remember in their bone memory and recite together and tell to their children as a practical necessity for navigating reality. Their beauty begets more beauty and they participate in The Story to such a degree that no weapon formed against them shall prosper.
Agreed. Before Tolkien, England lacked a comprehensive mythology. Now it has Middle-Earth. Setting new stories there is like setting them in Asgard or on Mount Olympus: not to be done lightly, but certainly to be done. Thanks, Saxon Cross.
Not true. Ridiculous. Furthermore, it's weird seeing Christians talk about how Christianity supposedly wiped out other religions then played with their mythologies like a cat playing with a dead mouse.
It's fucked actually.
I often joke that I want to retire in Peter Jackson's version of Rivendell.
Thanks for writing this, agree with you 💯 %.
Jackson blew it to a certain degree with his characterizations in those movies. Aragorn, Gandalf, Arwen, etc. are not true to the books at all. You get a lot of great spectacle in his movies, but the characters are way off from the books.
I'd like to see an animated version that adheres strictly to Tolkien's vision and does not deviate from it. Those films would be worth watching.
The characterizations are different but I still enjoy the versions of those characters and the story Jackson chose to tell despite those differences
Isn’t that the point of adaptations though? They’re not mean to be 100% faithful retellings. Otherwise just read the book. Jackson’s changes were made to suit the medium he was working in, and they were successful.
Adaptations give space for the story to become richer by having different minds present their understanding of the characters. In that sense, I agree with the article.
At the same time, I’d be worried by the sheer volume of media that would be created. Harry Potter is as close to mythological (by the authors definition) as Lord of the Rings in the UK. Rowling willingness to constantly create new media is cheapening her work and undermining its legacy. Might something similar happen with Lord of the Rings?
Old Myths had the handbrake of copying out and surviving history. Do we need some sort of handbrake on this new myth?
Agree strongly. I very much look forward to enjoying performances of Tolkien put on by local actors in my local park. There are many books I never would have read if not for the public domain- for instance, Scarface- which was originally a book.
If it weren't free, I likely never would have read or heard of it.
Excellent written article. Very interesting, I can see where you're coming from.
Excellently stated. But I’m a complete LOTR nerd.
Excellent post, well done. 👍🏻
There are notebooks and notebooks of drafts that Tolkien never got around to writing. Once you get past the first two books after the Silmarillion, they only got as far as the lay of Beleriand and the lay of Luthien. The rest are written like dry history instead of narrative fiction.
If the works could be public, then we could tell those stories, and make up our own based on Middle Earth.
But as long as they could fall into Marxist hands and be perverted, maybe its better to protect them.
After all, they ruined the rangs of power.
Interesting thoughts; Professor Tolkien is already deeply ingrained into our culture like a myth. But I admit I shudder at the idea of Hollywood touching his work nowadays
Tolkien's mythopoeia will have to pass into the public domain if it is to grow, and it will have to grow if it is to survive. The matter of any functioning tradition must be constantly reimagined and recomposed according to the spirit of the tradition; if the matter is confined to one author's corpus, and the only innovations being made are by those who reject and invert the spirit of the tradition, then that spirit will be caught between a rock and a raging sea.
Christopher Tolkien did a sterling job of defending his father's legacy and releasing his unfinished works, but what he neglected to do was to finish those works himself and write new ones in the same mould. He knew his father's mind, he had been raised on his stories, and he had plenty of knowledge of Old English and traditional material, so he was eminently qualified to do this. He might have started some sort of Tolkien guild, centred on the family name but open to worthy outsiders, so that the fledgling tradition could grow without going to the dogs. Alas, that's not the way moderns do things (including Tolkien himself, who was hostile to fan sequels in his lifetime) – and what we have instead is the Tolkien estate of today, jealously censorious towards fanfic writers but willing to sell out the original material to the highest bidder.
It seems like people have been doing this for a while, copyright or no. Perhaps the Tolkien Estate has been permissively enforcing their copyrights.
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Category:Fan_films
Nope. It’s too risky to dumb it down. It’s best shared by choice than marketed by pop culture. I can live without Tolkien “adaptations.” 😌
"if this is true of Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon poem many centuries removed from the modern peoples of the Anglo-sphere, than how much more is this sentiment true of Tolkien’s own writings?"
It's because Beowulf was a hero. Like Achilles. He was wrapped up in their religion. He looks over the mytho poetic mind of northern men like a forgotten grandfather sitting and gathering dust in the attic room.
I think it's hilarious that most White men glorify jewish fishermen over figures like Beowulf. Total Stockholm syndrome. Then we dream and imagine of the past - like Tolkien - fantasizing about a fake mythology (which is glorious don't get me wrong).
Tolkien wanted to make a mythology for anglo Saxons he felt like they were missing? No, he mixed pagan and Christian elements together because his Germanic spirit was not satisfied with the jewish religion. There are deeper reasons for why we all love Tolkien, and for why he loved middle earth.
There was already a mythology for englanders - and it had nothing to do with Jews.