The zaniest possible adaptation ofThe Lord of the Ringswould follow a little-known J.R.R. Tolkien novel from the 1940s.Lord of the Ringsadaptations are seeing a resurgence, with Warner Bros.‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrimmovie in 2024 andThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollumin 2026. Amazon Prime Video brought outThe Lord of the Rings: the Rings of PowerTV series in 2022, diversifyingLotRcontent from Warner Bros.’ Third Age tales into stories fromMiddle-earth’s Second Age. But the 1940s novel would require straying even further afield.
J.R.R. Tolkien set the standard for fantasy world-building, and it could certainly be argued that no writer has ever matched him. In his lifetime, Tolkien publishedThe HobbitandThe Lord of the Rings, in three parts, sketching out the Third Age. But after Tolkien’s passing, his son obeyed him in editing and publishing Tolkien’s writing on the Second Age, the First Age, and the ageless years before that. But Tolkien went deeper into Middle-earth than the vast majority of people realize. In one unfinished novel, Tolkien showed writers of alternate universe fanfiction how it’s done.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Notion Club Papers Is The Zaniest Potential Adaptation
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Alternate Universe Story Shows Fanfiction How It’s Done
The zaniest possibleLord of the Ringsadaptation would be based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel,The Notion Club Papers. “AU” (alternate universe) fanfiction is massive inLotR,and all fandoms, but most people don’t realize that Tolkien actually wrote this story himself.Sauron and Elendilboth feature in this Tolkien book, which may constitute the most surprising, outrageous, far-fetched, and left-of-centerLord of the Ringsstory available, in the best possible way. Althoughan adaptation could set this story in the 1940s, it would probably make more sense to set it in the modern day, as Tolkien intended.
Before time
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Elves awoke in Cuiviénen
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Elven-ring bearers left Middle-earth
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This novel is set in the real world in an alternate universe whereMiddle-earth and its storiesare real in the past, or perhaps in another world, or both. Regardless,Middle-earth is real and accessible to people of planet Earthvia a strange kind of lucid dreaming that enables a form of time travel. Like much of his best work, Tolkien paused this 1945 novel for other projects. Mindblowingly, the novel’s main characters are college students, which would give an adaptation the hilariously risky premise of aLord of the Ringscollege drama.
What J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Notion Club Papers Is About
“The Distinction Between History And Myth Might Be Meaningless” - Tolkien
The Notion Club Papersis Tolkien’s novel about friends at college in a writing club together, and they basically go into trances and visit Middle-earth. It sounds like they may have smoked the wrong pipeweed, butthis was Tolkien’s time travel multiverse story, proving how many light-years ahead of Marvel or DC he ever was with ideas like this. One of the main characters of the novel is related, in particular, toElendil and his heirs, presenting a mysterious predicament that the students unravel over the novel’s course.
How Sauron Was Beaten By A Single Dog Over 6000 Years Before The Lord Of The Rings
Sauron was beaten long before The Lord of the Rings, and even before The Rings of Power, in one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s most surprising stories.
Embroiled in aLord of the Ringsmystery, the college students are deeply engaged with language, poetry, music, and history. Any adaptation ofThe Notion Club Papersfaces a deep gorge between its source material and the modern on-screen format readiest at hand to display it. Undeniably,a college drama makes sense forThe Notion Club Papers. So, a TV show probably makes more sense than a movie. While excellent college dramas have been made, they can tend toward the gossipy. However, this novel is elevated and intellectual, so the tone of the TV show would have to reflect that.
This Lord Of The Rings Story Is Unfinished (But That Hasn’t Stopped Adaptations Before)
Much Of Lord Of The Rings' Legendarium Is Unfinished
The Notion Club Papersisn’t finished, so an adaptation would need to finish the story. Adapting an unfinished work is common -Good Omensseason 3 will be based on what little source material Neil Gaiman managed to create with Terry Pratchett before Pratchett passed away, plus a conversation had between the two. But sinceTolkien is no longer around to guide the material, special care would have to be taken to ensure that it was in the correct spirit ofThe Notion Club Papers. Tolkien’s grandson, Simon Tolkien, consults onAmazon’sThe Rings of Power, demonstrating how this might be possible.
As it stands, there’s currently no reason whyThe Notion Club Paperscouldn’t be adapted.
Rings of Powerdemonstrates that adaptations of Tolkien’s unfinished texts work in adaptations. Although the show is controversial,no one argues the brilliance of Celebrimbor’s death scene. This scene was as Tolkien as it got, but it was based on an unfinished work inUnfinished Tales. No one currently holds the rights toThe Notion Club Papers.However,Rings of Powerproves that the Tolkien Estate - who give out rights to Tolkien’s work - are giving out one-off rights to texts as needed, if they approve. As it stands, there’s currently no reason whyThe Notion Club Paperscouldn’t be adapted.
The Notion Club Papers Could Liberate Future Lord Of The Rings Adaptations
This Story Frees Adaptations To Get Creative With Genre And Style
All moviemakers considering Tolkien’s work as source material should know aboutThe Notion Club Papers.It doesn’t necessarily need its own movieor TV show, although that could be done well. Hollywood and streaming giants should focus first on work that Tolkien did finish and approve while alive. Besides, this project would be hard. It would have to avoid the pitfalls of an Americanized college drama, but it would also be remiss not to sensitively, moderately exploit the goldmine of joys that that subgenre could bring to this story.
Awareness ofThe Notion Club Papersis key for directors as it exhibits Tolkien’s interest in contemporary, sci-fi storytelling.
A modern-day setting would require near-total invention of the script, to bring the language up to date.It would have to be marketed as Tolkien-inspiredrather than “based on The Notion Club Papers” to set the record straight about it being based on an unfinished work that it diverged from greatly. Awareness ofThe Notion Club Papersis key for directors as it exhibits Tolkien’s interest in contemporary, sci-fi storytelling. CurrentLord of the Ringsadaptations are exemplary high fantasy, but this novel proves the potential for innovative, meta, fourth-wall-breaking or alternate universe moments, elements, or scenes in the future.
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a multimedia franchise consisting of several movies and a TV show released by Amazon titled The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The franchise is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book series that began in 1954 with The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings saw mainstream popularity with Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
