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Originally Posted by davem
Note - he specifies 'paint, music, & drama' - not new tales.
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Now that's a very interesting point,
davem! We have talked about those lines from the Waldman letter often enough, taking them as a justification for fan fiction and RPGs, but I can't recall ever having looked that closely at the exact words.
According to that point of view, he should have approved of the movies - after all, they are 'paint', as in visuals (admittedly one of the movies' best assets); 'music' - and we all agree that Shore's score was brilliant; and 'drama', or a dramatization at least, whether we like the changes or not.
The musical also includes those elements, so could be considered a legitimate 'Leaf' on Tolkien's Tree.
The many excellent artists who have illustrated Middle-earth would be unquestionable contributions - not only the pros like Howe, Lee, and Nasmith (I'm not quite sure about the Hildebrandt brothers though!
), but the ones whose paintings are not (yet) as well-known, like Anke Eissmann.
Music - We know that JRRT enjoyed Swann's music to a number of his poems. I assume that more modern ones could be considered variations in taste, though I have my doubts about the metal scene which used Tolkienish ideas as a basis for some pieces.
But what about the high quality fan fiction/RPGs that fill the empty spaces in Tolkien's spirit? Non-canonical stories could be rejected, but would the good ones still be valid?