Quote:
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Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle
Whatever Tolkien may have intended or wanted the fact is that people are writing new stories, and there's nothing that's going to stop them from doing so. And no matter how the Professor would have reacted to these tales there are lots of people reading and enjoying these new stories.
The horse, as they say, has already left that particular barn...
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Well there is - the fact that many of the words are Trade Marks. The estate could stop it all tomorrow if they wished - how could anyone write stories about Half-Things or Hoff-Bits (unless it was parody - given narfforc some ideas there :P ) and make them sound sensible?
But they are kind enough to allow people to go on writing their not-for-profit fan-fic.
As am I, if they so wish! It can be fun! That's up to you.
What
is at question is
if it ought ever to be allowed for profit or to be authorised as 'canon' by the Estate. To which I would say the answer to the former is a resounding Moral No and the second a resounding Legal No - enforced by Trade Marks and refusal by Harper Collins to publish fan-fic (as the Estate can disallow them all further publication of further cash cow canon Tolkien books in a heartbeat if they so wish, as they would do if Tolkien's own work became muddied) when copyright runs out.
One thing we forget in all of this is that that man's hard work, his scribbling after midnight, was to finally earn his family some money, a family he struggled to feed and clothe and keep in medical bills during the 30s. It continues to care for his family even now. They aren't rich, the Tolkiens, they are very modest people, but they deserve their legacy - they are even kind hearted enough to give so much of it to charity and to allow all of us to have fun and write a little fan-fic, even smutty stuff. They DO allow people to properly publish parodies, make films and paint pictures as re-imaginings of the professor's work.
I get a little sick of the bleating about the 'evil Tolkien estate', not allowing people to get access to the Beowulf papers, not allowing fan-fic to be published. They are nice people - they give us more than enough already. Give them a break and please do not leech off them. In contrast to their needs, I care not one fig for some random fan-fic writer's spurious 'freedom' to create new Hobbits or whatever and earn a nice profit from them. It's a distinctly morally correct choice for me NOT to support others' dreams of making profit from what should just be treated as good fun.