Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien
Encyclopedia
The works of J. R. R. Tolkien
have served as the inspiration to
painters, musicians, film-makers and writers, to such an extent that Tolkien is sometimes seen as the "father" of the entire genre of high fantasy
. The production of such derivative works is sometimes of doubtful legality, because Tolkien's published works will remain in copyright until 2043. The film, stage and merchandise rights of The Hobbit
and The Lord of the Rings
are owned by Tolkien Enterprises
, while the rights of The Silmarillion
and other material remain with The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Ltd
.
for the German edition of the Hobbit as "too Disnified
."
Milein Cosman
illustrated Farmer Giles of Ham in 1948, and
Tolkien was not happy with this work, either. In 1949, Cosman was replaced by Pauline Baynes
, who became Tolkien's favourite illustrator and who created drawings for The Adventures of Tom Bombadil as well as for Farmer Giles of Ham. Crown Princess Margrethe (now Queen Margrethe II
) of Denmark, an accomplished and critically acclaimed painter, was inspired to illustrations to The Lord of the Rings in the early 1970s. She sent them to Tolkien, who was struck by the similarity to the style of his own drawings. In 1977, Queen Margrethe's drawings were published in the Danish translation of the book, which was reissued in 2002, redrawn by the British artist Eric Fraser
.
Tim and Greg Hildebrandt
were also well-known Tolkien illustrators during the first decades after the publication of The Lord of the Rings.
In the 1970s, British artist Jimmy Cauty
created a best-selling poster of the Hobbit
for the retailer Athena
.
Probably the widest-known Tolkien illustrators of the 1990s and 2000s are John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith
— Alan Lee for illustrated editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Ted Nasmith for illustrated editions of The Silmarillion, and John Howe for the cover artwork to several Tolkien publications. (Howe and Lee were also involved in the creation of Peter Jackson
's movie trilogy
as concept artists — Nasmith was also invited to take part in the films, but was forced to reluctantly decline due to a personal crisis at the time.) In 2004, Lee won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work on the third film in the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
.
Other artists who have found inspiration in Tolkien's works include Catherine Karina Chmiel
, Inger Edelfeldt
, Anke Katrin Eißmann
, Roger Garland, Michael Hague
, Tove Jansson
(of Moomin
fame, illustrator of Swedish and Finnish translations of The Hobbit
), Tim Kirk
, Angus McBride
, Kay Miner, Billy Mosig, Colleen Doran
, Jenny Dolfen
and Matěj Čadil.
and The Lord of the Rings
to United Artists
in 1968, but they never made a film, and in 1976 the rights were sold to Tolkien Enterprises
, a division of the Saul Zaentz
Company.
In the early seventies John Boorman
was planning a film of The Lord of the Rings, but the plans never went further because of movie studio politics. Some of the work done was resurrected for the film Excalibur
in 1981.
Ralph Bakshi
directed an animated movie adaptation of The Lord of the Rings
in 1978 (partly made with the rotoscope
technique), which covered only the first half of The Lord of the Rings. Rankin-Bass covered the second half with a children's TV animation The Return of the King (1980); earlier they had made a TV animation of The Hobbit (1977).
The Lord of the Rings was adapted as a trilogy of films
(2001–03), directed by Peter Jackson
.
The split of Tolkien's works between Tolkien Enterprises
and the Tolkien Estate
means that none of the Tolkien Enterprises' products can include source material from outside The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and therefore a film or stage version of The Silmarillion
is highly unlikely.
Comparisons have been made to the plot of the science fiction
television show Babylon 5
and Tolkien's works.
were strongly influenced by Tolkien's works. Such games feature creatures such as Orcs, Trolls, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Ents which are common to Tolkien's mythos even if they do not take place in Middle-earth.
's Lord of the Rings, Shadows of Mordor, War in Middle-earth
; Interplay
's Lord of the Rings Vol. 1 and Lord of the Rings Vol. 2.; Electronic Arts
' action platformer adaptations of The Two Towers and The Return of the King, real-time strategy games The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
, and the role-playing game
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
, all based on the Jackson films; and Sierra Entertainment
's action platformer based on The Fellowship of the Ring
. There is also a PSP
Game titled The Lord of the Rings: Tactics
based on the Jackson films, a MMORPG
by Turbine, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. The Two Towers (MUD)
is also set in Tolkien's world.
have made a miniature wargame called The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game
, which, while part of the film trilogy's merchandise, combines elements from both the books and films. Many of Games Workshop's other battle games that are not directly related to the books have had some key background based on it.
Several other games have been based directly on The Lord of the Rings and related works, including, amongst many, Iron Crown Enterprises
' Middle-earth Role Playing
game (1982–1999) and Middle-earth Collectible Card Game
(1995–1999), as well as The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game
(2001
) made by Decipher, Inc.
All of these predate Jackson's film trilogy except for Decipher's card game, which is part of the latter's merchandise.
Decipher also created the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game
, a role-playing game based on the Jackson films.
Board games include Risk: Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition
and another simply entitled Lord of the Rings
, as well as the Middle Earth Games from Simulations Publications, Inc. containing the games War of the Ring (strategic, covering all three books), Gondor (tactical, covering the siege of Minas Tirith) and Sauron (covering the decisive battle of the Second Age) in 1977
. A more recent strategic game covering all three books, called War of the Ring
, was released in 2004
. There are also Trivial Pursuit
and Monopoly
editions based on The Lord of the Rings, as well as a The Lord of the Rings Trivia Game quiz game. Chess sets have also been created with the figures based on people and other characters from The Lord of the Rings.
were also strongly influenced by Tolkien. The game has (clearly Tolkien-influenced) dwarves and elves as playable characters, and formerly had hobbits as well. After being threatened with a lawsuit by the Tolkien estate, they replaced hobbits with the similar "halflings" — a term also used in The Lord Of the Rings, balrogs with 'balor-demons' and other genericized names. In most versions of the game, halflings were especially good at being thieves/rogues, a nod to Bilbo the thief in The Hobbit. His works also indirectly inspired the Warcraft
series via their use in Games Workshop
's battle games.
Equally common is the use of the term orc
for a variety of hobgoblin type creatures in later fantasy although Tolkien created this modern usage of the word. Even more removed genre games such as Shadowrun
and Warhammer 40,000
use the term, therein spelt Ork, possibly to sidestep possible legal issues (though Tolkien actually preferred -k in late writings).
and The Lord of the Rings in the 1960s, publishers were quick to try to meet a new demand for literate fantasy in the American
marketplace. Ballantine, under the direction of editor Lin Carter
, published public domain and relatively obscure works under the banner of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
. Lester Del Rey
, however, sought for new books that would mirror Tolkien's work, and published Terry Brooks
' The Sword of Shannara
, David Eddings
's Belgariad, and Stephen R. Donaldson
's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
. Nick Perumov created unauthorised sequel stories about Middle-earth
, and Dennis L. McKiernan
's Iron Tower
trilogy was intended to be a direct sequel to The Lord of the Rings but had to be altered.
Throughout the next two decades, the term fantasy
became synonymous with the general aspects of Tolkien's work: multiple races including dwarves and elves, a quest to destroy a magical artifact, and an evil that seeks to control the world. The plot of Novelist Pat Murphy's There and Back Again intentionally mirrors that of The Hobbit, but is transposed into a science-fiction setting involving space travel.
The Inheritance cycle
by Christopher Paolini
largely rehashed the setting and languages of The Lord of the Rings, as well as creatures such as elves
and dwarves having nearly identical qualities to the Elves and Dwarves of Middle-earth
(though the plot is much more similar to that of Star Wars
). Some people have gone so far as to accuse Paolini of plagiarism.
The bestselling Harry Potter
series copies many themes and ideas from The Lord of the Rings. S.M. Stirling's "Emberverse"
series includes a character obsessed with The Lord of the Rings who creates a post-apocalyptic community based upon the Elves and Dunedain of Middle Earth.
or Sindarin
, the two most developed of Tolkien's created languages. For example, Helge Kåre Fauskanger translated the first two chapters of Genesis into Quenya. Tyalië Tyelelliéva is a journal dedicated to poems in the Elvish languages.
.
acts like Rush
, Mostly Autumn
, Bo Hansson
and indie rock band Gatsbys American Dream
have composed several songs based on Tolkien's characters and stories. Camel's "Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider" is obviously about Gandalf. Rock band Led Zeppelin
has numerous songs inspired by Tolkien's works (certainly "The Battle of Evermore
", "Misty Mountain Hop
", and "Ramble On
," with debate about some parts of "Stairway to Heaven
"). Tom Rapp
set most of The Verse of the One Ring
("Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky...") to music as "Ring Thing" in Pearls Before Swine
's second album, Balaklava
(1968).
Bob Catley
, lead singer of the British prog rock band Magnum
, released a solo album titled Middle Earth
, themed around The Lord of the Rings.
The East Texas-based rock band Hobbit has produced multiple albums inspired by Tolkien's work.
Many Heavy metal
acts have been influenced by Tolkien. Blind Guardian
has written many songs relating to Middle-earth, including the full concept album Nightfall in Middle Earth that follows The Silmarillion. Almost all of Summoning
's songs and the entire discography of Battlelore
are Tolkien-themed. Power metal
bands like Epidemia
, Nightwish
(their song Elvenpath features audio clips from the prologue of Bakshi's animated The Lord of the Rings), and others, feature Tolkien-themed songs. "This Day We Fight!
", a song thrash metal
band Megadeth
from the album Endgame, was based on the mythos of Tolkien. Also italian progressive band called Ainur have composed several album inspired by Silmarillion stories in early 2000s.
Some bands and certain musicians used Tolkien legendarium for their stage names. Progressive Rock ban Marillion
derive their name from The Silmarillion
, Gorgoroth
take their name from an area of Mordor
, Burzum
take their name from the Black Speech
of Mordor, and Amon Amarth
take their name after an alternative name for Mount Doom
. Lead singer of Dimmu Borgir
, Shagrath
, also takes his stage name from The Lord of the Rings, after an orc
captain.
's first solo album, Water Bearer (1978) was inspired by Tolkien's works, particularly "Songs of the Quendi".
The Hobbitons was the name of a Dutch
folk
group who released a CD in 1996, containing 16 tracks of poems by J. R. R. Tolkien
, from The Hobbit
, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
, and The Lord of the Rings
. Production was with permission of the Tolkien Estate
, with the provision that it would not be sold commercially. The CD is sold out.
Irish singer Enya
contributed song "May it Be
" for The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) movie soundtrack
. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song
. She also released song entitled "Lothlórien", on her 1991 album "Shepherd Moons
".
In 2001, bluegrass and anti-folk artist Chris Thile
released an instrumental album titled Not All Who Wander Are Lost, referencing Gandalf's words to Bilbo. On the album is a song titled, Riddles In The Dark, which is the title of one of the chapters of The Hobbit. The album was released with Sugar Hill Records
.
Other folk rock
and new age
musicians inspired by Tolkien include Za Frûmi
(singing in Orkish
), Nickel Creek
, David Arkenstone
and Lyriel
, among others.
set music to The Road Goes Ever On
, a collection of Tolkien's lyrics and poems. The work was approved by Tolkien himself.
Ensio Kosta composed in 1980–1982 a chamber music series called "Music of Middle-earth",
with movements like "Awakening of Shire", "Incantation", "Winding Paths", "Lament of Galadriel", "Riders of Rohan", and "Grey Havens".
Johan de Meij
’s first symphony “The Lord of the Rings” is based on the novel. The symphony consists of five separate movements, each illustrating a personage or an important episode from the series. The symphony was written in the period between March 1984 and December 1987, and had its première in Brussels on 15 March 1988.
Leonard Rosenman
composed music for the Ralph Bakshi
animated movie and Howard Shore
composed the music for the three Peter Jackson
films (see Music of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
).
Paul Corfield Godfrey has written a large number of works based on Tolkien, the most significant of which is the four-evening cycle on The Silmarillion
but also including three operas based on The Lord of the Rings: Tom Bombadil (one act), The Black Gate is closed (three acts) and The Grey Havens. He has also published several sets of songs including Seven Tolkien Songs, Songs of the Mark and Shadow-Bride. His third symphony, Ainulindalë, is based on the opening chapter of The Silmarillion, and there is also a half-hour setting of The Lay of Eärendil based on Bilbo's song at Rivendell (in the expanded version published by Christopher Tolkien in The Treason of Isengard). All the texts were used with permission of the Tolkien Estate and Harper Collins Publishers.
The Tolkien Ensemble
published four CDs from 1997 to 2005 with the aim to create "the world's first complete musical interpretation of the poems and songs from The Lord of the Rings". The project was given approval by both the Tolkien Estate
and Harper Collins Publishers. Queen Margarethe II of Denmark gave permission to use her illustrations in the CD layout.
A.R. Rahman collaborated with Värttinä
to compose the music for the stage adaptation "The Lord of the Rings Musical".
The Loss and the Silence, a string quartet by Ezequiel Viñao
(inspired by the story of Aragorn
and Arwen
.) The piece was commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the Juilliard School
and was premiered by the Juilliard String Quartet
.
Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon are journals focusing on linguistic study of Tolkien's works.
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
have served as the inspiration to
painters, musicians, film-makers and writers, to such an extent that Tolkien is sometimes seen as the "father" of the entire genre of high fantasy
High fantasy
High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...
. The production of such derivative works is sometimes of doubtful legality, because Tolkien's published works will remain in copyright until 2043. The film, stage and merchandise rights of The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
and The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
are owned by Tolkien Enterprises
Tolkien Enterprises
Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises, is a trading name for a division of the Saul Zaentz Company based in Berkeley, California which owns the worldwide exclusive rights to certain elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's two most famous literary works; The Lord of the Rings and...
, while the rights of The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
and other material remain with The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Ltd
Tolkien Estate
The Tolkien Estate is the legal body which manages the property of the late J. R. R. Tolkien, including the copyright in his works. The individual copyrights have for the most part been assigned by the Estate to subsidiary entities such as the J.R.R. Tolkien Discretionary Settlement and the...
.
Art and illustration
The earliest illustrations of Tolkien's works were drawn by the author himself. In 1937, The Hobbit was first illustrated by professional draughtsmen for the American edition. Tolkien was very critical of these, and in 1946 he rejected illustrations by Horus EngelsHorus Engels
Richard 'Horus' Engels was a German painter, sculptor and illustrator.Engels was born in London, England to German parents. In his youth Engels lived in Berlin and studied in Paris...
for the German edition of the Hobbit as "too Disnified
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
."
Milein Cosman
Milein Cosman
Milein Cosman is an artist who specializes in studies of musicians in action, such as Britten, Stravinsky, and Furtwaengler. She has lived most of her adult life in London....
illustrated Farmer Giles of Ham in 1948, and
Tolkien was not happy with this work, either. In 1949, Cosman was replaced by Pauline Baynes
Pauline Baynes
Pauline Diana Baynes was an English book illustrator, whose work encompassed more than 100 books, notably those by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. She was born in Hove, Sussex....
, who became Tolkien's favourite illustrator and who created drawings for The Adventures of Tom Bombadil as well as for Farmer Giles of Ham. Crown Princess Margrethe (now Queen Margrethe II
Margrethe II of Denmark
Margrethe II is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1972 she became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margaret I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375-1412 during the Kalmar Union.-Early life:...
) of Denmark, an accomplished and critically acclaimed painter, was inspired to illustrations to The Lord of the Rings in the early 1970s. She sent them to Tolkien, who was struck by the similarity to the style of his own drawings. In 1977, Queen Margrethe's drawings were published in the Danish translation of the book, which was reissued in 2002, redrawn by the British artist Eric Fraser
Eric Fraser
Eric George Fraser was one of the foremost British illustrators and graphic artists of his time, famous in the public mind for his regular contributions to the Radio Times, and as the creator in 1931 of 'Mr Therm' in adverts for the Gas Light and Coke Company.He illustrated classic scenes from...
.
Tim and Greg Hildebrandt
The Brothers Hildebrandt
The Brothers Hildebrandt are American twin brothers who collaboratively worked as fantasy and science fiction artists. They produced illustrations for comic books, movie posters, children's books, posters, novels, calendars, advertisements, and trading cards...
were also well-known Tolkien illustrators during the first decades after the publication of The Lord of the Rings.
In the 1970s, British artist Jimmy Cauty
Jimmy Cauty
James Francis Cauty is a British artist and musician born in Liverpool, England, in 1956...
created a best-selling poster of the Hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
for the retailer Athena
Athena (retailer)
Athena is a British art retailer, and was formerly a large retail chain, famous for its distinctive posters.-History:Athena's first shop was opened by Ole Christensen in Hampstead in July 1964, and then bought into E&O PLC, by Chairman, Douglas H. Bayle...
.
Probably the widest-known Tolkien illustrators of the 1990s and 2000s are John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith
Ted Nasmith
Ted Nasmith is a Canadian artist, illustrator and architectural renderer. He is best known as an illustrator of J. R. R. Tolkien's works — The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion....
— Alan Lee for illustrated editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Ted Nasmith for illustrated editions of The Silmarillion, and John Howe for the cover artwork to several Tolkien publications. (Howe and Lee were also involved in the creation of Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
's movie trilogy
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
as concept artists — Nasmith was also invited to take part in the films, but was forced to reluctantly decline due to a personal crisis at the time.) In 2004, Lee won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work on the third film in the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
.
Other artists who have found inspiration in Tolkien's works include Catherine Karina Chmiel
Catherine Karina Chmiel
Catherine Karina Chmiel-Gugulska is a Polish artist and illustrator who has created drawings and pictures on many different subjects. Her most notable work are likely those which depict and accompany the works of J. R. R. Tolkien...
, Inger Edelfeldt
Inger Edelfeldt
Inger Edelfeldt is a Swedish author and translator, as well as the illustrator of many books. She made her debut in 1977 with the book Duktig pojke . She has written around 20 books since then, most of which are novels, short stories, poetry books, and books for children and young people...
, Anke Katrin Eißmann
Anke Katrin Eißmann
Anke Katrin Eißmann is a German illustrator and graphic designer known for her illustrations of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. She studied visual communication at Bauhaus University in Weimar and at the Colchester Institute in the United Kingdom. Eißmann has also made a number of short films...
, Roger Garland, Michael Hague
Michael Hague
Michael Hague is an American illustrator, primarily of children's fantasy books.-Biography:Among the books he has illustrated are classics such as The Wind in the Willows, The Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit and the stories of Hans Christian Andersen...
, Tove Jansson
Tove Jansson
Tove Marika Jansson was a Swedish-Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. She is best known as the author of the Moomin books.- Biography :...
(of Moomin
Moomin
The Moomins are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses...
fame, illustrator of Swedish and Finnish translations of The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
), Tim Kirk
Tim Kirk
Tim Kirk is an American fan artist. He has been a senior designer at Tokyo DisneySea. Previously, he was an Imagineer for Walt Disney, and an illustrator for Hallmark Cards. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Commercial Art, and his Master’s degree in Illustration from...
, Angus McBride
Angus McBride
Angus McBride was an English historical and fantasy illustrator.Born in London to Highland Scots parents, Angus McBride was orphaned as a child when his mother died when he was five, and his father in World War Two when he was twelve. He was educated at the Canterbury Cathedral Choir School...
, Kay Miner, Billy Mosig, Colleen Doran
Colleen Doran
Colleen Doran is an American writer/artist, film conceptual artist, and cartoonist. She has illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, and dozens of stories and articles, including works written by Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, J...
, Jenny Dolfen
Jenny Dolfen
Jenny Dolfen is a German illustrator and teacher.She was born in Bremerhaven, and in 2001, she received a degree in English and Latin at the University of Cologne...
and Matěj Čadil.
Film
Tolkien originally sold the film, stage and merchandise rights of The HobbitThe Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
and The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
to United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
in 1968, but they never made a film, and in 1976 the rights were sold to Tolkien Enterprises
Tolkien Enterprises
Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises, is a trading name for a division of the Saul Zaentz Company based in Berkeley, California which owns the worldwide exclusive rights to certain elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's two most famous literary works; The Lord of the Rings and...
, a division of the Saul Zaentz
Saul Zaentz
Saul Zaentz is an American film producer and former record company executive. He has won the Academy Award for Best Picture three times and in 1996 was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award....
Company.
In the early seventies John Boorman
John Boorman
John Boorman is a British filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.-Early life:Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey,...
was planning a film of The Lord of the Rings, but the plans never went further because of movie studio politics. Some of the work done was resurrected for the film Excalibur
Excalibur (film)
Excalibur is a 1981 dramatic fantasy film directed, produced and co-written by John Boorman that retells the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. Adapted from the 15th century Arthurian romance, Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory, Excalibur features the music of Richard Wagner...
in 1981.
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
directed an animated movie adaptation of The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
in 1978 (partly made with the rotoscope
Rotoscope
Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator...
technique), which covered only the first half of The Lord of the Rings. Rankin-Bass covered the second half with a children's TV animation The Return of the King (1980); earlier they had made a TV animation of The Hobbit (1977).
The Lord of the Rings was adapted as a trilogy of films
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
(2001–03), directed by Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
.
The split of Tolkien's works between Tolkien Enterprises
Tolkien Enterprises
Middle-earth Enterprises, formerly known as Tolkien Enterprises, is a trading name for a division of the Saul Zaentz Company based in Berkeley, California which owns the worldwide exclusive rights to certain elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's two most famous literary works; The Lord of the Rings and...
and the Tolkien Estate
Tolkien Estate
The Tolkien Estate is the legal body which manages the property of the late J. R. R. Tolkien, including the copyright in his works. The individual copyrights have for the most part been assigned by the Estate to subsidiary entities such as the J.R.R. Tolkien Discretionary Settlement and the...
means that none of the Tolkien Enterprises' products can include source material from outside The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and therefore a film or stage version of The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
is highly unlikely.
Comparisons have been made to the plot of the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television show Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
and Tolkien's works.
Games
There are multiple model-based games, trading card games, board games and video games that take place in Middle-earth, most depicting scenes and characters from The Lord of the Rings. In a broader sense, many fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons and DragonQuestDragonQuest
DragonQuest is a fantasy role-playing game originally published by Simulations Publications in 1980. Where first generation fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons restricted players to particular character classes, DragonQuest was one of the first games to utilize a system that...
were strongly influenced by Tolkien's works. Such games feature creatures such as Orcs, Trolls, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Ents which are common to Tolkien's mythos even if they do not take place in Middle-earth.
Video games
The books have been reproduced in video game form a number of times during the 1980s and 2000s, including Melbourne HouseMelbourne House
Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Beam Software, was a video game development studio founded in 1980 and based in Melbourne, Australia. The studio operated independently from 1987 until 1999, when it was acquired by Infogrames, who changed the name to Melbourne House...
's Lord of the Rings, Shadows of Mordor, War in Middle-earth
War in Middle-earth
War in Middle Earth is a real-time strategy game released for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MS-DOS, Commodore Amiga, Apple IIGS, and Atari ST in 1988 by Australian company Melbourne House....
; Interplay
Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed...
's Lord of the Rings Vol. 1 and Lord of the Rings Vol. 2.; Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
' action platformer adaptations of The Two Towers and The Return of the King, real-time strategy games The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth is a PC real-time strategy game developed by EA Los Angeles. It is based on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, in turn based on J. R. R. Tolkien's original novel. The game uses short video clips from the movies and a number of the...
and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, abbreviated BFMEII, is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. It is based on the fantasy novels The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and its live-action film trilogy adaptation...
, and the role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a role-playing game by EA Games for all three of the late sixth-generation game consoles. The player controls a core group of characters that are used during the adventure, levelling up according to experience gained from battles and quests.-Plot:The plot of...
, all based on the Jackson films; and Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
's action platformer based on The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place in the fictional universe Middle-earth. It was originally published on July 29, 1954 in the United Kingdom...
. There is also a PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
Game titled The Lord of the Rings: Tactics
The Lord of the Rings: Tactics
The Lord of the Rings: Tactics is a tactical role-playing game for the Sony PlayStation Portable. It features characters from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. However, it is a direct adaptation of Peter Jackson's film adaptations, and has characters that resemble the films' depictions of...
based on the Jackson films, a MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
by Turbine, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. The Two Towers (MUD)
The Two Towers (MUD)
The Two Towers, or T2T, is an MUD, a text-based multiplayer online role-playing game, set in Tolkien’s universe at the time of events in the third volume of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.-Description:...
is also set in Tolkien's world.
Other games
Games WorkshopGames Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
have made a miniature wargame called The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game
The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game
The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game , and often referred to by players as Lord of the Rings, is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop . It is based on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, and the book that inspired it, written by J. R. R...
, which, while part of the film trilogy's merchandise, combines elements from both the books and films. Many of Games Workshop's other battle games that are not directly related to the books have had some key background based on it.
Several other games have been based directly on The Lord of the Rings and related works, including, amongst many, Iron Crown Enterprises
Iron Crown Enterprises
Iron Crown Enterprises was a publisher of role playing, board, miniature battle, and collectible card games.ICE was incorporated in 1980 shortly after the principal founders graduated from the University of Virginia...
' Middle-earth Role Playing
Middle-earth Role Playing
Middle-earth Role Playing is a 1984 role-playing game based on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien under license from Tolkien Enterprises. Iron Crown Enterprises published the game until they lost the license on 22 Sep 1999.-Setting:The setting for MERP is an expanded version of J. R. R...
game (1982–1999) and Middle-earth Collectible Card Game
Middle-earth Collectible Card Game
Middle-earth Collectible Card Game is a collectible card game released by Iron Crown Enterprises in late 1995. It is the first CCG based on J.R.R...
(1995–1999), as well as The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game
The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game
The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game is a collectible card game produced by Decipher, Inc. Released November 2001, it is based on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy and the J. R. R. Tolkien novel on which the films were based. Decipher also have the rights to The Hobbit novel...
(2001
2001 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 2001. For video and console games, see 2001 in video gaming....
) made by Decipher, Inc.
Decipher, Inc.
Decipher, Inc. is an American gaming company based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. They began with three puzzles called "Decipher" then moved on to party games and Pente sets, but since 1994 produced collectible card and role-playing games. Their longest-running offering is the How to Host a Murder...
All of these predate Jackson's film trilogy except for Decipher's card game, which is part of the latter's merchandise.
Decipher also created the Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game
Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game
The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game, released by Decipher Inc. in 2002, is a role-playing game set in the Middle-earth of J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction. The game is set in the years between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, but may be run at any time from the First to Fourth Age and...
, a role-playing game based on the Jackson films.
Board games include Risk: Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition
Risk: Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition
Risk: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition is a board game based upon the game Risk, but set in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional land of Middle-earth rather than the actual Earth...
and another simply entitled Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings (board game)
Lord of the Rings is a board game designed by Reiner Knizia based on The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The game was published in 2000 by Kosmos and Fantasy Flight Games, and won a Spiel des Jahres special award for best use of literature in a game. It features artwork by illustrator John...
, as well as the Middle Earth Games from Simulations Publications, Inc. containing the games War of the Ring (strategic, covering all three books), Gondor (tactical, covering the siege of Minas Tirith) and Sauron (covering the decisive battle of the Second Age) in 1977
1977 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1977. For video and console games, see 1977 in video gaming.-Significant games-related events of 1977:...
. A more recent strategic game covering all three books, called War of the Ring
War of the Ring (board game)
War of the Ring is a strategy board game by Roberto Di Meglio, Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello, first produced by Nexus Editrice and currently published by NG International....
, was released in 2004
2004 in games
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniature games, and table-top role-playing games published in 2004. For video and console games, see 2004 in video gaming.-Game awards given in 2004:...
. There are also Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit is a board game in which progress is determined by a player's ability to answer general knowledge and popular culture questions. The game was created in 1979 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, by Canadian Chris Haney, a photo editor for Montreal's The Gazette and Scott Abbott, a sports...
and Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
editions based on The Lord of the Rings, as well as a The Lord of the Rings Trivia Game quiz game. Chess sets have also been created with the figures based on people and other characters from The Lord of the Rings.
Homages
The creators of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing gameRole-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
were also strongly influenced by Tolkien. The game has (clearly Tolkien-influenced) dwarves and elves as playable characters, and formerly had hobbits as well. After being threatened with a lawsuit by the Tolkien estate, they replaced hobbits with the similar "halflings" — a term also used in The Lord Of the Rings, balrogs with 'balor-demons' and other genericized names. In most versions of the game, halflings were especially good at being thieves/rogues, a nod to Bilbo the thief in The Hobbit. His works also indirectly inspired the Warcraft
Warcraft
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
series via their use in Games Workshop
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
's battle games.
Equally common is the use of the term orc
Orc
An orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien....
for a variety of hobgoblin type creatures in later fantasy although Tolkien created this modern usage of the word. Even more removed genre games such as Shadowrun
Shadowrun
Shadowrun is a role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror, and detective fiction.The original game has spawned...
and Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000
Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...
use the term, therein spelt Ork, possibly to sidestep possible legal issues (though Tolkien actually preferred -k in late writings).
Prose
Many authors have found inspiration in Tolkien's work as well. Following the success of The HobbitThe Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
and The Lord of the Rings in the 1960s, publishers were quick to try to meet a new demand for literate fantasy in the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
marketplace. Ballantine, under the direction of editor Lin Carter
Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
, published public domain and relatively obscure works under the banner of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
The Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was an imprint of Ballantine Books. Launched in 1969 , the series reissued a number of works of fantasy literature, which were out of print or dispersed in back issues of pulp magazines , in cheap paperback form—including works...
. Lester Del Rey
Lester del Rey
Lester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey was the author of many of the Winston Science Fiction juvenile SF series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction branch of Ballantine Books, along with his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.-Birth...
, however, sought for new books that would mirror Tolkien's work, and published Terry Brooks
Terry Brooks
Terence Dean "Terry" Brooks is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy, and has also written two movie novelizations. He has written 23 New York Times bestsellers during his writing career, and has over 21 million copies of his books in print...
' The Sword of Shannara
The Sword of Shannara
The Sword of Shannara is a 1977 epic fantasy novel by Terry Brooks. The first book of the Original Shannara Trilogy, it was followed by The Elfstones of Shannara and The Wishsong of Shannara. Inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and historical adventure fiction, Brooks began writing...
, David Eddings
David Eddings
David Eddings was an American author who wrote several best-selling series of epic fantasy novels.-Biography:...
's Belgariad, and Stephen R. Donaldson
Stephen R. Donaldson
Stephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for his Thomas Covenant series...
's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Stephen R. Donaldson. It was followed by The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, also a trilogy, and The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, a planned tetralogy....
. Nick Perumov created unauthorised sequel stories about Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
, and Dennis L. McKiernan
Dennis L. McKiernan
Dennis Lester McKiernan, born , is an American writer best known for his high fantasy The Iron Tower. His genres include high fantasy , science fiction, horror fiction, and crime fiction.- Biography :...
's Iron Tower
The Iron Tower
Dennis L. McKiernan's The Iron Tower is a high fantasy saga set in his world of Mithgar. Originally published as a trilogy , and later released as an omnibus , the work was amongst his first.-The Dark Tide:An unnaturally long and bitter winter has fallen over all of Mithgar, and there are rumors of...
trilogy was intended to be a direct sequel to The Lord of the Rings but had to be altered.
Throughout the next two decades, the term fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
became synonymous with the general aspects of Tolkien's work: multiple races including dwarves and elves, a quest to destroy a magical artifact, and an evil that seeks to control the world. The plot of Novelist Pat Murphy's There and Back Again intentionally mirrors that of The Hobbit, but is transposed into a science-fiction setting involving space travel.
The Inheritance cycle
Inheritance Cycle
The Inheritance Cycle is a series of fantasy novels by Christopher Paolini. It was previously titled the Inheritance Trilogy until Paolini's announcement on October 30, 2007 that there would be a fourth book...
by Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini is an American author. He is best known as the author of the Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance...
largely rehashed the setting and languages of The Lord of the Rings, as well as creatures such as elves
Elf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
and dwarves having nearly identical qualities to the Elves and Dwarves of Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
(though the plot is much more similar to that of Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
). Some people have gone so far as to accuse Paolini of plagiarism.
The bestselling Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
series copies many themes and ideas from The Lord of the Rings. S.M. Stirling's "Emberverse"
The Emberverse series
Emberverse, or Change World, is a series of post-apocalyptic alternate history novels written by S. M. Stirling. The novels depict the events following "The Change", which caused electricity, guns, explosives, internal combustion engines, and steam power to stop working...
series includes a character obsessed with The Lord of the Rings who creates a post-apocalyptic community based upon the Elves and Dunedain of Middle Earth.
Poetry
Some people were inspired to compose poems in QuenyaQuenya
Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
or Sindarin
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
, the two most developed of Tolkien's created languages. For example, Helge Kåre Fauskanger translated the first two chapters of Genesis into Quenya. Tyalië Tyelelliéva is a journal dedicated to poems in the Elvish languages.
Radio plays
Three radio plays based on The Lord of the Rings have been made, broadcast in 1955–1956, 1979 and 1981 respectively. The first and last ones were produced by the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
Music
A comprehensive list of music "inspired by or referential to the fiction writings of J.R.R. Tolkien" can be seen at the Tolkien Music List.Rock music
Progressive rockProgressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
acts like Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
, Mostly Autumn
Mostly Autumn
Mostly Autumn is a British band, producing music heavily influenced by classic 1970s rock. The group formed in 1996, and have built their reputation through constant touring, never signing to a major label. The group's early influences were Genesis, Renaissance and Pink Floyd, and folk music...
, Bo Hansson
Bo Hansson
Bo Hansson was a Swedish musician best known for his four instrumental albums released in the 1970s.-Early life and musical career:...
and indie rock band Gatsbys American Dream
Gatsbys American Dream
Gatsbys American Dream is a Seattle-based indie rock band. Since their founding in 2002, they have released four full-length albums and one EP. They have also appeared on several compilations with original songs and covers. Gatsbys American Dream drew their name from F...
have composed several songs based on Tolkien's characters and stories. Camel's "Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider" is obviously about Gandalf. Rock band Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
has numerous songs inspired by Tolkien's works (certainly "The Battle of Evermore
The Battle of Evermore
"The Battle of Evermore" is a folk rock duet sung by Robert Plant and Sandy Denny, by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured on their untitled fourth album , released in 1971...
", "Misty Mountain Hop
Misty Mountain Hop
"Misty Mountain Hop" is a song from English rock band Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album, released in 1971. In the United States and Australia it was the B-side of the "Black Dog" single, but still received considerable FM radio airplay...
", and "Ramble On
Ramble On
-Cover versions:Train did a cover of the song in early 2001 and released it as a single. Producer Brendan O'Brien heard Train's version and agreed to produce their second album, Drops of Jupiter...
," with debate about some parts of "Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
"). Tom Rapp
Tom Rapp
Thomas Dale Rapp is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the leader of Pearls Before Swine, the psychedelic folk rock group of the 1960s and 1970s. More recently he has practiced as a lawyer.-Life:...
set most of The Verse of the One Ring
One Ring
The One Ring is a fictional artifact that appears as the central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy novels. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility. The sequel The Lord of the Rings describes its powers as being more encompassing than...
("Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky...") to music as "Ring Thing" in Pearls Before Swine
Pearls Before Swine (band)
Pearls Before Swine was an American psychedelic folk band formed by Tom Rapp in 1965 in Eau Gallie, now part of Melbourne, Florida. They released six albums between 1967 and 1971, before Rapp launched a solo career.-Early years, 1965-68:...
's second album, Balaklava
Balaklava (album)
Balaklava was the second album recorded and released by psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine, in 1968.For the album, original group members Tom Rapp, Wayne Harley and Lane Lederer were joined by Jim Bohannon, who replaced Roger Crissinger. Like the group’s previous LP on ESP-Disk, "One...
(1968).
Bob Catley
Bob Catley
For the Australian politician, see Bob Catley Robert Adrian 'Bob' Catley is a British musician, perhaps best known as the lead singer of the rock band Magnum. He is also an accomplished solo artist.- Early years :...
, lead singer of the British prog rock band Magnum
Magnum (band)
Magnum are a British progressive rock band from Birmingham, England. Formed as a four piece by Tony Clarkin , Bob Catley , Kex Gorin and Bob Doyle in order to appear as the resident band at The Rum Runner night club Birmingham...
, released a solo album titled Middle Earth
Middle Earth (album)
Middle Earth is the third solo studio album by Bob Catley, released by Frontiers Records in 2000.The album draws upon J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings for inspiration...
, themed around The Lord of the Rings.
The East Texas-based rock band Hobbit has produced multiple albums inspired by Tolkien's work.
Many Heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
acts have been influenced by Tolkien. Blind Guardian
Blind Guardian
Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres...
has written many songs relating to Middle-earth, including the full concept album Nightfall in Middle Earth that follows The Silmarillion. Almost all of Summoning
Summoning (band)
Summoning is an Austrian black metal band. They are known in part due to their extensive use of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth mythology as lyrical subject.-Biography:...
's songs and the entire discography of Battlelore
Battlelore
Battlelore is a metal band from Lappeenranta, Finland. All of Battlelore's lyrics concern J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.-Style:Battlelore mixes female vocals with harsh male growling in "beauty and the beast" duet, backed by heavy guitar riffing and occasional keyboard interludes. The band's...
are Tolkien-themed. Power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
bands like Epidemia
Epidemia
Epidemia is a Russian power metal band famous for doing the Elven Manuscript metal opera in 2004. It was formed by guitarist Yuri "Juron" Melisov in 1993, with the first songs made in 1995. The band was once nominated for an MTV Europe Music Award....
, Nightwish
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Anette Olzon and the...
(their song Elvenpath features audio clips from the prologue of Bakshi's animated The Lord of the Rings), and others, feature Tolkien-themed songs. "This Day We Fight!
This Day We Fight!
"This Day We Fight!" is a song by the American heavy metal band Megadeth, which appears on their twelfth studio album Endgame, which was released on September 15, 2009, written by frontman Dave Mustaine...
", a song thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...
from the album Endgame, was based on the mythos of Tolkien. Also italian progressive band called Ainur have composed several album inspired by Silmarillion stories in early 2000s.
Some bands and certain musicians used Tolkien legendarium for their stage names. Progressive Rock ban Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
derive their name from The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
, Gorgoroth
Gorgoroth
Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. Formed in 1992 by Infernus , the band is named after the dead plateau of evil and darkness in the land of Mordor from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The group is currently signed to Regain Records and have released...
take their name from an area of Mordor
Mordor
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, Mordor or Morhdorh was the dwelling place of Sauron, in the southeast of northwestern Middle-earth to the East of Anduin, the great river. Orodruin, a volcano in Mordor, was the destination of the Fellowship of the Ring in the quest to...
, Burzum
Burzum
Burzum is a musical project by Varg Vikernes . It began during 1991 in Bergen, Norway and quickly became prominent within the early Norwegian black metal scene...
take their name from the Black Speech
Black Speech
The Black Speech is a fictional language created by J. R. R. Tolkien.One of the languages of Arda in Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, it was spoken in the realm of Mordor...
of Mordor, and Amon Amarth
Amon Amarth
Amon Amarth is a Swedish viking metal band from Tumba, Sweden founded in 1992, and takes its name from the Sindarin translation of Mount Doom, a location in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. The band comprises vocalist Johan Hegg, guitarists Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg, bassist Ted Lundström...
take their name after an alternative name for Mount Doom
Mount Doom
Mount Doom is a volcano in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. It is located in the heart of the black land of Mordor and close to Barad-dûr, it is approximately high. Alternative names, in Tolkien's invented language of Sindarin, include Orodruin and Amon Amarth...
. Lead singer of Dimmu Borgir
Dimmu Borgir
Dimmu Borgir is a Norwegian black metal band from Oslo, Norway, formed in 1993. Dimmu borgir means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, Faroese and Old Norse. The name is derived from a volcanic formation in Iceland, Dimmuborgir...
, Shagrath
Shagrath
Shagrath is a Norwegian musician best known as the vocalist of Dimmu Borgir.-Biography:Stian Thoresen was born on November 18, 1976 in Jessheim, outside of Oslo, Norway....
, also takes his stage name from The Lord of the Rings, after an orc
Orc
An orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien....
captain.
Folk music
Sally OldfieldSally Oldfield
Sally Oldfield is a singer-songwriter, and the sister of the composers Mike Oldfield and Terry Oldfield.-Early life:...
's first solo album, Water Bearer (1978) was inspired by Tolkien's works, particularly "Songs of the Quendi".
The Hobbitons was the name of a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
group who released a CD in 1996, containing 16 tracks of poems by J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, from The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a collection of poetry written by J. R. R. Tolkien and published in 1962. The book contains 16 poems, only two of which deal with Tom Bombadil, a character who is most famous for his encounter with Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring...
, and The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
. Production was with permission of the Tolkien Estate
Tolkien Estate
The Tolkien Estate is the legal body which manages the property of the late J. R. R. Tolkien, including the copyright in his works. The individual copyrights have for the most part been assigned by the Estate to subsidiary entities such as the J.R.R. Tolkien Discretionary Settlement and the...
, with the provision that it would not be sold commercially. The CD is sold out.
Irish singer Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
contributed song "May it Be
May It Be
"May It Be" is a song composed by Irish musician Enya and featured in Peter Jackson's 2001 film The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring...
" for The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) movie soundtrack
Music of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The music of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced by Howard Shore. Shore wrote many hours of music for The Lord of the Rings, 10 hours of which have been released in The Complete Recordings CD/DVD boxed sets...
. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
. She also released song entitled "Lothlórien", on her 1991 album "Shepherd Moons
Shepherd Moons
Shepherd Moons is an album by Irish musician Enya, released on November 4, 1991. It won the Grammy Award for "Best New Age Album" of 1993...
".
In 2001, bluegrass and anti-folk artist Chris Thile
Chris Thile
Christopher Scott Thile is an American musician, best known as the mandolinist and a singer for the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek. His current band is Punch Brothers whose most recent album is Antifogmatic...
released an instrumental album titled Not All Who Wander Are Lost, referencing Gandalf's words to Bilbo. On the album is a song titled, Riddles In The Dark, which is the title of one of the chapters of The Hobbit. The album was released with Sugar Hill Records
Sugar Hill Records
Sugar Hill Records may refer to:*Sugar Hill Records , specializing in rap music*Sugar Hill Records , specializing in bluegrass and country music...
.
Other folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
and new age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
musicians inspired by Tolkien include Za Frûmi
Za Frûmi
Za Frûmi is a Swedish music group that was formed in 2000. The Group creates dark, fantasy inspired music.-History:Za Frûmi came about in 2000 and was formed by Simon Heath, Donald Persson, Simon Kölle; Donald Persson left in 2001. This kind of fantasy/dark waves/neo folk music, the Za Frûmi...
(singing in Orkish
Black Speech
The Black Speech is a fictional language created by J. R. R. Tolkien.One of the languages of Arda in Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, it was spoken in the realm of Mordor...
), Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek was an American progressive acoustic music trio consisting of Chris Thile , Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins . The band was founded in 1989 and released 6 albums between 1993 and 2006...
, David Arkenstone
David Arkenstone
David Arkenstone is an American New Age musician. His music is primarily instrumental, with occasional vocalizations. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 1, 1952. He has three children—Quillon, Dashiell and Valinor—with his first wife, Julie...
and Lyriel
Lyriel
Lyriel are a German Folk metal band who formed in autumn of 2003 in Gummersbach.-History:The band's lineup remained unchanged since their formation until 2008...
, among others.
Classical / film score music
Donald SwannDonald Swann
Donald Ibrahím Swann was a British composer, musician and entertainer. He is best known to the general public for his partnership of writing and performing comic songs with Michael Flanders .-Life:...
set music to The Road Goes Ever On
The Road Goes Ever On
The Road Goes Ever On is a song cycle that has been published as sheet music and as an audio recording. The music was written by Donald Swann, and the words are taken from poems in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, especially The Lord of the Rings.The title of this opus is taken from "The...
, a collection of Tolkien's lyrics and poems. The work was approved by Tolkien himself.
Ensio Kosta composed in 1980–1982 a chamber music series called "Music of Middle-earth",
with movements like "Awakening of Shire", "Incantation", "Winding Paths", "Lament of Galadriel", "Riders of Rohan", and "Grey Havens".
Johan de Meij
Johan de Meij
Johannes Abraham de Meij is a Dutch conductor, trombonist, and composer, best known for his Symphony No. 1, nicknamed "The Lord of the Rings" symphony.- Biography :...
’s first symphony “The Lord of the Rings” is based on the novel. The symphony consists of five separate movements, each illustrating a personage or an important episode from the series. The symphony was written in the period between March 1984 and December 1987, and had its première in Brussels on 15 March 1988.
Leonard Rosenman
Leonard Rosenman
Leonard Rosenman was an American film, television and concert composer.-Life and career:Leonard Rosenman was born in Brooklyn, New York. After service in the Pacific with the Army Air Forces in World War II, he earned a bachelor's degree in music from the University of California, Berkeley...
composed music for the Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
animated movie and Howard Shore
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg,...
composed the music for the three Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
films (see Music of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
Music of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The music of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced by Howard Shore. Shore wrote many hours of music for The Lord of the Rings, 10 hours of which have been released in The Complete Recordings CD/DVD boxed sets...
).
Paul Corfield Godfrey has written a large number of works based on Tolkien, the most significant of which is the four-evening cycle on The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
but also including three operas based on The Lord of the Rings: Tom Bombadil (one act), The Black Gate is closed (three acts) and The Grey Havens. He has also published several sets of songs including Seven Tolkien Songs, Songs of the Mark and Shadow-Bride. His third symphony, Ainulindalë, is based on the opening chapter of The Silmarillion, and there is also a half-hour setting of The Lay of Eärendil based on Bilbo's song at Rivendell (in the expanded version published by Christopher Tolkien in The Treason of Isengard). All the texts were used with permission of the Tolkien Estate and Harper Collins Publishers.
The Tolkien Ensemble
Tolkien Ensemble
The Tolkien Ensemble is a Danish ensemble which aims to create "the world's first complete musical interpretation of the poems and songs from The Lord of the Rings". They published four CDs from 1997 to 2005, in which all the poems and songs of The Lord of the Rings are set to music. The project...
published four CDs from 1997 to 2005 with the aim to create "the world's first complete musical interpretation of the poems and songs from The Lord of the Rings". The project was given approval by both the Tolkien Estate
Tolkien Estate
The Tolkien Estate is the legal body which manages the property of the late J. R. R. Tolkien, including the copyright in his works. The individual copyrights have for the most part been assigned by the Estate to subsidiary entities such as the J.R.R. Tolkien Discretionary Settlement and the...
and Harper Collins Publishers. Queen Margarethe II of Denmark gave permission to use her illustrations in the CD layout.
A.R. Rahman collaborated with Värttinä
Värttinä
Värttinä is a Finnish folk music band which was started as a project by Sari and Mari Kaasinen back in 1983 in the village of Rääkkylä, in Karelia, the southeastern region of Finland. Many transformations have taken place in the band since then...
to compose the music for the stage adaptation "The Lord of the Rings Musical".
The Loss and the Silence, a string quartet by Ezequiel Viñao
Ezequiel Viñao
Ezequiel Viñao is an Argentine-American composer. He emigrated to the United States in 1980 and studied at the Juilliard School...
(inspired by the story of Aragorn
Aragorn
Aragorn II is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, one of the main protagonists of The Lord of the Rings. He is first introduced by the name Strider, which the hobbits continue to call him...
and Arwen
Arwen
Arwen Undómiel is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. She appears in his novel, The Lord of the Rings, usually published in three volumes. Arwen is one of the Half-elven who lived during the Third Age.-Literature:...
.) The piece was commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
and was premiered by the Juilliard String Quartet
Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists,...
.
Parodies
- The National Lampoon published a parody book Bored of the RingsBored of the RingsBored of the Rings is the title of a paperback parody of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This short novel was written by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney, who later founded National Lampoon...
(1968). - The BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
produced a parody radio serial, Hordes of the ThingsHordes of the Things (radio series)Hordes of the Things is a 1980 BBC radio comedy series parodying J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and the fantasy genre in general, in a style similar to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was written by "A. P. R. Marshall and J. H. W. Lloyd" and produced by Geoffrey Perkins... - The Veggie Tales episode Lord of the BeansLord of the BeansLord of the Beans is the twenty-seventh episode in the VeggieTales animated series, and the first since An Easter Carol to feature only one story. Subtitled "A Lesson in Using Your Gifts", its goal is to teach viewers how they can use their talents to bring joy to others rather than merely bringing...
. - "The Dork of The Rings"(2006) is a film by Richardson Productions LLC and stars Bryce Cone as Frudo Buggins. The film features an introduction by Lord Of The Rings actor and stuntman Kiran ShahKiran ShahKiran Shah is an actor and a stuntman.Shah was born in Nairobi, Kenya. He lived in Kenya until he was twelve years old, when he moved to India with his family. While living in India, he became interested in films, and when his family moved to London, he became involved in the show business...
. - Translator Dmitry PuchkovDmitry PuchkovDmitry Yuryevich Puchkov , also known as Goblin and Starshiy Operupolnomocheniy Goblin, is an English-to-Russian movie and video game translator, script-writer, and author...
released "funny translations" of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, in which the original text is overdubbed with parodied "translation'. The films are dubbed "Fellas and the Ring", "The Two Blown Away Towers" and "Return of the Hobo". Later these "funny translations" were printed as books. - In 2002, the Comedy CentralComedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
television series South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
lampooned Tolkien's vision in an episode titled, The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers. - The Canadian animated television series: Odd Job JackOdd Job JackOdd Job Jack was a Canadian animated comedy television show featuring Don McKellar, about one man's misadventures in temporary employment. Seen on and produced for the The Comedy Network, a cable specialty channel, and shown on Adult Swim in Latin America, the show is currently finished its...
had an episode in the second season called "The Lord of the Three Ringed Binder" which parodied The Lord of the Rings.
Scholarship
Tolkien has also been the subject of a number of academic works.Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon are journals focusing on linguistic study of Tolkien's works.