
How I Defeated the Tolkien Estate - saryant
http://the-toast.net/2014/12/08/defeated-tolkien-estate/#Dp25MqriiDOluvQJ.99
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drewying
Can someone who is a little more into Lord of the Rings comment on this? This
guy didn't really get a lawsuit dropped by claiming that Tolkeins books were
actually written 5000 years ago did he?

Or is there something here whooshing over my head?

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Zigurd
The latter. Had anyone actually written a supposed translation of the "Red
Book" I'm pretty sure the Tolkein estate has enough movie money to fund an orc
army of lawyers who would march to court thumping their shields, or, rather
briefcases with swords, or, rather, umbrellas, chanting "We are the Triple
Eagles, sons of BC High!"

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saalweachter
I suspect that if the book were written as described -- foul-mouthed
Galadriel, hobbit sex, diarrhea in Moria -- it would end up a parody.

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fenomas
That's pretty much what Harvard Lampoon did back in 1969:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_of_the_Rings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_of_the_Rings)

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click170
Am I the only one who read this thinking it was truth, only to feel lied to
after finding out it's fiction?

Is the-toast.net doing the same thing as The Onion, or was it just this one
story?

If I was Tolkien, I'd be a bit peeved about being portrayed as a dick (lawsuit
over public domain works), especially since this appears to be depicted as
truth. (Maybe LoTR fans could spot that it's fiction, but I'm not at that
level in the fan club yet)

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mmanfrin
There were a lot of flags. Maybe you didn't read it carefully?

    
    
      Tolkien refers to Quendi people as “elves,” a common term in his time, but considered highly offensive today.
    

or

    
    
      When I entered the Hobbit Studies program at the University of Chicago in 2003, I wasn’t planning to write my own translation. Like most of my peers, I was content to lead a quiet scholarly life, writing my dissertation on Adûni phonology and having friendly debates over second brunch about whether or not Balrogs have wings
    

Or the changing of the college the author wants to work at from Franciscan to
Jesuit.

or

    
    
      referring to Pippin’s brain as “blunter than an orc’s dick,” gone is the Fellowship’s graphic struggle with dysentery in the Mines of Moria.
    

There were a lot of signs.

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w4tson
Yeah I missed the signs. I'm still perplexed by the the whole thing

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iisbum
I registered some domains a couple of years ago that contained the word
'hobbit', and almost immediately got a letter from the lawyers of Tolkien
Enterprises, demanding that I turn them over to them.

I hadn't even put a site up on the domains, and probably would have turned
them over, but a lawyer friend of my said that I hadn't done anything wrong,
and if I didn't plan to violate their copyright of the 'hobbit' that I didn't
have too.

I decided to keep the domains (still haven't launched a site on them) on
principle and wrote a nice legally worded letter courtesy of lawyer friend
back to them. I told them I wouldn't be turning them over, and didn't hear
back from them :)

I'm sure they are waiting for me to put up a site and violate the copyright
somehow, but they can keep waiting.

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mistercow
Incidentally, if you're interested in an actual alternate account of LoTR, The
Last Ringbearer is quite good. It's not an alternative translation, but rather
a retelling from the perspective of the other side of the war.

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yurylifshits
I've read The Last Ringbearer twice. It's totally awesome and gives, perhaps,
even more plausible story than the original LOTR series.

The Last Ringbearer in English
[http://ymarkov.livejournal.com/280578.html](http://ymarkov.livejournal.com/280578.html)

The Last Ringbearer in Russian
[http://www.lib.ru/PROZA/ESKOV_K/last.txt](http://www.lib.ru/PROZA/ESKOV_K/last.txt)

Reviews at GoodReads [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10329770-the-last-
ringbea...](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10329770-the-last-ringbearer)

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SandersAK
This is the best take on literary academia I've read in a long time.

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jpeg_hero
Is this satire? I don't get it.

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SandersAK
yes

