J.R.R. Tolkein Responds to Lord of the Rings Films

Since the Immortal Writers have trusted me with their story, William Shakespeare has also entrusted me to post his and other writers' responses to adaptations of their work, fan fiction, and other material. Here is J.R.R. Tolkein's response to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. -Jill

I was overall rather fond of the Lord of the Rings films. As the story's original creator, I was proud of the success of the films and the awards they won.

But as an Immortal Writer, my characters have come to life along with my words granting me immortality. Frodo and Gandalf were most excited to find out who portrayed them in the film, and overall they were pleased. As you can imagine, some characters were not very pleased.

For example, Tom Bombadil.

You can, I'm sure, imagine his dismay.

Or perhaps you can't. I don't think any of us were prepared for his reaction. Tom took his yellow boots, had them enchanted, and sent them around kicking all of the other characters from Middle Earth while he sang a diddy and told the boots, through music, what to do. He went on for weeks; no, for months. Shakespeare and I tried everything we could to calm him, but Goldberry was his only comfort.

On the upside, Bombadil did help us defeat the Wraiths, since they came over from Middle Earth into our world...but I will never get those songs out of my head. He made them so...catchy.

If I could say anything to the film makers, before I even expressed gratitude for their work converting my story to screen, I would scream at them and question why Tom Bombadil did not appear in the films. My body is still bruised from Tom's boots, and the hobbits...well, we won't talk about that.

Overall, I enjoyed the films, but please, if the films are ever redone---and that seems to be the style nowadays, does it not?---can the film makers remember Tom Bombadil? I don't think Samwise can take another attack from his boots.

And the elves never want to hear the songs again.

I'll comment on the Hobbit movies at a later time. I have plenty to say about those.

J.R.R. Tolkein