In the December 1966 letter to his publisher, Tolkien questioned the legalities of the situation and could scarcely disguise his vitriol towards the request.

Tolkien received proposed sequel details from a reader who wished to write a continuation of Tolkien’s opus, and the author sent the “impertinent contribution to my troubles” on to Joy Hill of Allen & Unwin. So when fans requested to write and publish their own sequels to The Lord of the Rings, you can imagine how it went. How dare they! Naturally, Tolkien expressed his annoyance in a letter to his publishers, Allen & Unwin, which “produced a grovel.” They had altered “dwarves to dwarfs elvish to elfish further to farther and worst of all, elven – to elfin.” In an August 1953 letter to his son Christopher, Tolkien expressed his irritation that the compositors, whom he deemed rude, had edited his spelling and grammar at their own discretion. Galley-proofs of the first The Lord of the Rings volume were sent to Tolkien in July 1953. His convictions to accuracy were so strong that even altered words riled him. Those who know anything about the man behind these works will know that he took his creations very seriously. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy were era-defining works of fantasy literature, no ifs, ands or buts. The Tolkien Estate, however, clearly states that no fanfiction is authorized, and I somehow feel they are echoing what Tolkien’s feelings on the subject would’ve been. These are his feelings towards people editing his works and fans who proposed writing their own The Lord of the Rings sequels. Whether Tolkien himself ever voiced his opinions about non-commercial fanfiction, I don’t know. Tolkien did not want his work tampered withĭisclaimer: Never doubt that if I can sneak J.R.R. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R.

Hobbit fanfiction websites