No fanfiction, no fanzines, no Tolkien music, no Tolkien quotes (without permission), no writing in Tolkien languages (if you intend to post it somewhere), no Tolkien-related events (even charitable and not-for-profit ones - no exceptions), no public readings (without permission), no recordings of reading of Tolkien works (and TE is going to take action against unauthorized audiobooks or readings on social media), no Tolkien photographs.
Tell me if it is true, or if someone is joking!
Holy crap, it’s been YEARS since anyone did something as stupid as try and threaten fanfic writers. Those are dark days we talk about as legends! Does anyone know when these policies were published and if any legal actions have actually been taken?
Good lord, reading through this whole thing, this could be the death of the fandom. we may have to go underground, because the level of control they have exerted over this outright stops fans from even interacting with the work. It’s far beyond stopping people from making a bit of cash off of it, it full on threatens any creator who wishes to engage with the material! I’m honestly surprised they didn’t just go all the way and say making fan art is illegal too!
I don’t know the exact day that the new policies came out, but it was within the past two weeks. I haven’t heard that the estate has cracked down on anyone yet. It’s probably too soon still.
I’ve been checking some of the other large Tolkien fan communities (theonering.net, Tolkien Society, Silmarillion Writers’ Guild) to see if anyone has released a statement about the new policies, but I haven’t seen anything yet; nearly all discussion so far has been relegated to the site’s new appearance and the new artwork released on it. (Although there is this hilarious Reddit discussion about the new policies.)
I’m not sure how many Tolkien fanfic sites are left since I only use AO3, but this makes me wonder what could happen to the fanfic sites that haven’t yet moved their archives onto AO3 and don’t have the protection of AO3′s lawyers, should the estate decide to crack down on Tolkien fanfic sites. This could really deal a blow to some of those communities if the estate firmly enforces the new policies.
I’m astonished, though, that relatively no large Tolkien communities (that I’ve seen) are talking about the changes, except for on here, and that even the conversation about it here is pretty limited. I don’t know how seriously the Tolkien Estate will enforce this, but it’s a major shift in tone from the estate nonetheless.
that link has Facebook tracky nonsense in the URL, here’s a clean one:
and emyn-arnens’s “within the last two weeks” is as of 2022 March 5
To clarify a point: The wording they use for fan fiction seems to be designed to rule out fan art, too. You should probably ask a lawyer (which I am not) for details, but the wording there is not limited to literary fan material, it seems to cover everything a fan might want to create.
they’re also including in this ban such things as quotations for the purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship, or research that the Tolkien estate won’t like—I know this because the only thing they’re saying about quotations is “here’s where to ask for permission” and having to ask implies the possibility the answer will be no—and criticism, comment, scholarship, or research that the copyright holder won’t like are so unambiguously the sort of thing that US copyright law protects as fair use that I’m quoting those purposes from Section 107.
which, even setting aside all the discussions about the legality of fanfiction and composing songs in Elvish and etc, tells me the Tolkien estate didn’t consult an IP lawyer.
This is a hoot, they have said very seriously that you cannot use the trademark TOLKIEN name for anything without permission, examples given are things like: naming a park. I am fascinated by the implication that fanfic, academic works and rogue municipal park-namers are some of the key menacing threats to intellectual property
Apparently they did consult IP lawyers (lots of the links go to Maier Blackburn) but either they’re really very bad, or they don’t understand non-commercial fanworks at all. Or they’re aiming to piss off the fans.
Plus, this:
Almost every damn country in the world has a Tolkien Society! They’re not for profit, they live from donations and do literally nothing else except a) sit around and discuss Tolkien’s work and b) promote Tolkien’s work at events. They’re literally providing free advertising. Now who wants to bet that these annual licenses will be prohibitively expensive??
Oh, they also don’t want any music inspired by Tolkien’s works…
[Image ID: a screenshot from the office FAQ of the Tolkien estate, containing the following text: Clubs and Societies. How do I set up an official Tolkien club or society? Tolkien clubs and societies require a license to use the Tolkien name, which is a registered trademark. The Estate will consider, amongst other things, the proposed objects, constitution and management of the club or society when determining whether a license will be granted.]
this is fucking ridiculous
other things they want to be able to deny people permission for:
Any public readings of Tolkien’s work, even non-commercial ones. Tolkien Reading Day has been a well-established event in the fandom for years, and they would very much like this to not be a thing.
Documentaries. They will only accept requests from “established commercial broadcasters” so I guess that rules out video essays and other amateur documentaries.
Using his name in the “promotion” of “events or festivals”. What is an event or festival? Well, I don’t know, but it’s a good thing the pandemic isn’t over yet, ‘cause if you had planned a Tolkien panel/talk/whatever at a con (of any kind) that would potentially fall under this. To reiterate: If you want to talk about his works at a conference you essentially need permission to do so.
Fanzines, or more specifically: “Unfortunately permission cannot be given for publications which use the name TOLKIEN or the Tolkien Estate’s copyright materials”. Of course “fanzine” is a very broad category and also, it clearly says “publication”. So essentially, you are not allowed to independently publish critical analysis of Tolkien’s work, ever.
Making songs for Tolkien’s poetry. Honestly this probably pisses me off the most. Tell me the professor wouldn’t be absolutely delighted by the vast number of artists who have made songs out of his words.
In conclusion, you may only interact with his work by giving money to the Tolkien estate, you may not talk about his work, you may not take inspiration from his work, you may not utter his name without asking permission (and presumably paying a license fee).
I don’t presume to know the minds of people long dead, but considering he set out to create a great folkloric epic for England, I doubt the Professor would have wanted this.
This is actually a very good point. Any crafters out there that want any Tolkien associated craft pattern may want to grab them now. Fanfiction is one thing, but we have seen companies easily come through and take down patterns in recent years. Ghibli just did it recently themselves, and there’s no group like Ao3 to protect us.
So I made a little size chart of Dragons of Middle-Earth
I think these are right but if anyone has quotes or anything to indicate something different, send them my way and I’ll fix it.
holy shet that’s some huge fucking dragons goddamn
And considering that film!Smaug is as enormous as he is? I’d be scared to come up against Ancalagon. O_O
This puts things in hilarious perspective though, because Smaug is all “I AM FIRE I AM DEATH MY CLAWS ARE SPEARS MY WINGS ARE A HURRICANE”, when really he’s practically a chihuahua.
I need Silvan elves in Valinor fan fiction. Like, what do they do? Who do they piss off?
I can just imagine them rocking up later than everyone else, not really giving a fuck. They completely reject the Noldor and Sindar traditions and customs and just go and find a forest somewhere.
Sometimes they come out for special occasions but purposely try and piss off as many high and mighty pricks as possible. (They make a drinking game out of it.) And those high and mighty pricks always turn to Oropher, Thranduil or Legolas to try and get them to stop, but they just join in.
They get drunk, smoke all sorts of fun herbs and just generally enjoy their lives now they aren’t plagued by the darkness.
The Valar get really pissy about it too, except Yavanna because she joins in. So does Radagast.
I’ve been getting back into the Tolkien fandom recently, but this time I’m actually trying to learn the lore and stuff, not just reread and rewatch The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. All I’ve learnt so far is that Sindar elves make love and Silvan elves fuck. That is my one take from a days worth of research.
I know most people love the witch king moment but for me the scenes that live in my mind rent free are when Eowyn’s drowning in her bitterness over the suffocating experience of being a woman [redraw]
Series on good dad Feanor taking care of his baby Nelyo.
Pancakes aren’t easy to make….I think bad cook Feanor is really cute, but I also love the idea of Feanor being a really good cook and making amazing meals for his children…So I don’t know. Maybe this is Feanor starting out his culinary skills, and he’ll greatly improve as time goes on.
Nelyo totally has a Feanor doll. And I feel like Feanor is smart, he would have come up with something like a stove. Also the flour is “Yavanna brand”…
My work in progress has progressed to being finished!
I’m very excited about the impending release of the Hobbit, so here is a celebration! Copies of this will soon be available in my shop, which you can find here:
One thought that keeps me up at night is what if the Eldar have different leaf-shaped ears and based on different trees…It’s not just cute, small and pointed, sometimes they have three points like a maple leaf, are straight, long, and thin like a willow, round but pointed like a mulberry tree’s, or whatever… Not every elf has to have ash-leaf shaped ears!
I like this image. Was the mason lazy, neglectful or mischievous? We’ll never ever know the answer. Statistically speaking we’re more likely to discover life on other planets than learn the truth about this image. Although statistically speaking I’m intellectually over-reaching.
“His exhausted mind was as weak as his body; the slightest melancholy thought or sight would make his eyes well up, and occasionally he clung to Findekano’s shoulders and wept sorely, unable to either stop or at least know the reason for his tears.” ( fanfiction ‘TheTempered Steell’ by Lyra)
Taking a real hard stance on the weird characteristics of middle earth races rn
Elves have cat pupils that expand in darkness
Hobbits have whiskers bc they live in dark holes, noses like most animals that can get wet so trap scent (so they can smell food from miles away) fluffy ears for winter, they have tails too but I didn’t draw them
Dwarves have rounded ears that funnel sound like a bat for hearing noises in caves that are far off and pupils like a goat that give them great depth perception.
