UVic professor concerned about possible marring of Tolkien's legendarium

The passing of thefictional Middle-earth from the Tolkien estate and into the hands of Amazonhas an expert of J.R.R.Tolkien's legendariumworried future projects won't stay true to the source material.

TimHaskett, anassistant professor of history at theUniversity of Victoria, says relinquishingthe global television rights toThe Lord of the Ringsis a milestone decision for the Tolkien estate.

Amazon has announced it will be making a television series preceding the events of The Lord of theRings,with a multi-season commitment.

The entirety ofJ.R.R. Tolkien's mythopoetic writing, known as the legendarium, had been closely guarded by the late author's son Christopher Tolkien, 93, until Amazon's purchase.

Hasketthas taught courses on the legendarium andsaysthesale could markthe beginning of a whole newplethora of media being created out of the intellectual property.

"It can always go badly," said Haskett. "It could be very verybad."

He's worried the purchase could lead to a television program being aired that doesn't reflect the vast amount of written Middle-earthmaterial, and instead may closer resembleHBO's seriesGame of Thrones, whichis known for depicting sex and violence.

"There could be too many naked elves, too much gratuitous violence and many many dragons we don't really need."

He said the deal doesn't give the companyrights to other Tolkien works such asThe HobbitandThe Silmarillion.

"There are people that would really like to see more of Tolkien's actual stories filmed," said Haskett.

"This sounds a little more like Amazon doing fan-fiction based on the characters, places and general story that is The Lord of the Rings."

He said there is a large fear among fans that the story will be re-jigged to include elements not in the original work thatwould cater to a broader television audience.

"People will say there can be great damage done, just by having the rights to play with The Lord of the Rings characters."

Haskett is heartenedhowever,by the inclusion of film director Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema, the creators of the previous The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in the upcoming television series.

With files from On the Coast