Tolkien would have wanted his works to inspire Fan Fiction

[jaredmith]

http://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2015/05/tolkien-would-have-wanted-his-works-to.htmlI don't know where to find the quote now, but I'm pretty sure he had said he wanted in time other writers and artists to add to his mythology. He knew full well no great mythology is formed entirely from the mind of only one person. And I include in that

Comments

[indy1776]

Would Tolkien have approved? That’s a question that I think can’t ever really be answered. Yes, there’s the “other hands and minds” quote-- but there’s also Letter 292 where he disapproves of two different people publishing sequels. The difference may very well be that they wanted to publish-publish, but there is literally no way to know the exact reason Tolkien disapproved* or if he would have felt differently about fanfic published on the Internet

LACE

[jaredmith]

Laws and Customs does codify things in hetero-normative terms. But what I meant was he never depicted a Homosexual person or relationship with the intent to condemning it.

Tolkien was opposed to Allegory, there is no no denying however the books where somewhat a product of their times.

Re: LACE

[indy1776]

Neither does his silence about homosexuality means he condones it. Assuming silence equals approval is a logical fallacy (specifically the Argument from Silence). There is literally no way to know what Tolkien truly thought about homosexuality as we have no evidence about it; arguments can be made for approval and disapproval

RE: Re: LACE

[jaredmith]

I'm not arguing he approved it. I don't think it's something he felt particularly opposed to.

[dreamflower02]

Those are some very good points.

There is, I think, a difference between approving and accepting.

I think (and this is just my opinion) that he would know that encouraging "other minds and hands" to play in his world would mean that he would not approve of at least some of what was produced. But he would, I think, accept most of it as inevitable. Some of what is written in terms of fanfic he would find deplorable or even disgusting, some he would be amused by, and some he might even like a little. But he would also know that this is the fate and nature of myth, to grow, change, evolve and find different meanings.

Judging by his reactions to some of his translators, and to his one encounter with a possible screenplay during his lifetime, I think he would be more insulted by mistakes in his languages and names or by egregious and ridiculous changes (such as a "castle" in Lothlorien!) than by any moral or immoral content.

[hhimring]

I may be wrong about this, but I'm not sure Tar-Telperien being isolationist is a canonical fact.
It seems that according to the "Line of Elros" she reigned until 1731, while it's stated in two other places (one of which is the timeline of Arnor in the LOTR Appendices) that in 1700 Tar-Minastir sent troops to help Gil-galad. Tar-Telperien being isolationist is certainly an interpretation that helps to make sense of this otherwise unexplained discrepancy in dates, but is it stated anywhere explicitly that she was? Unless the argument is that she was simply isolationist along with the other rulers between Tar-Aldarion and Tar-Minastir.
Anyway, she is certainly an interesting character well worth thinking about.

The story about Nellas and Nienor that you mention sounds like Elleth's By the Iris Mere.

[jaredmith]

We don't know the details of it, but for whatever reason Numenor did not get involved in the wars fought during her reign.

That could be it, I think it was posted on Live Journal, I read it back before I had an account of my own.

Edit: that doesn't look like that's it, maybe a different chapter of the same series.

Edit, it's Wreath in the Rapids that I read

[hhimring]

Yes--my point was that it's difficult to be sure that those wars were in fact fought during her reign, because the same source that gives the dates of her reign appears to imply that the wars were later than stated elsewhere.
But I don't object to the interpretation of Telperien as isolationist.

If you've read Wreath in the Rapids, but not By the Iris Mere, I can recommend the sequel. Well worth reading!

[jaredmith]

I will, thank you

[metanewsmods]

Do you mind if we link to this post on metanews?

[jaredmith]

GO ahead, I want as many people to see it as possible

I love Meta Fiction