Christopher Tolkien

[Elianna]

Well, to be able to leave this crummy world deserves celebration, that is if he's going to Heaven. We'd miss him of course.

[Knight of Gondor]

Wasn't there a soldier in Gondor that was played by a Tolkien descendant? I don't think the line is quite died out.

[Gorwingel]

I believe the son that had a small role in the films is Simon Tolkien, who is also a writer. He released a crime-thriller just recently.

Christopher Tolkien has been in the news because he has been completely against the films. He still owns the rights to The Hobbit, and so thus he won't let anyone make a film verson. But this issue can, of course, be discussed in the Movie forum.

[Snowdog]

Is Christopher Tolkien still alive, and i so, will there be any more books?

Yes, he's alive, and hopefully he won't try to edit paper scraps and comment together anymore books. I think Chris's contribution of the Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales would have been enough, but tried to squeeze every possible buck out of every letter and doodlescrap of his fathers. He could take the time and re- edit the Silmarillion, but that is being done here on the Barrow Downs .

[Son of Númenor]

but tried to squeeze every possible buck out of every letter and doodlescrap of his fathers.

To be fair, he was probably well-off enough financially for his motives in publishing the letters and HoME not to have been entirely monetary; and I for one am glad he has published what he has.

[kboleen]

Actually, Christopher only holds the right to the Silmarillion and beyond. The Saul Zaentz Company holds the right to the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. To quote their website:

"The Saul Zaentz Company also owns exclusive rights to certain copyrightable elements of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, including, among other things, film and legitimate stage rights."

http://www.tolkien-ent.com/

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

Diamond is right. This isn't the first time that C.R.T. has been accused of milking his father's notes for every penny he could get, but I don't see it. He didn't sell the film rights to The Silmarillion, which would have been the single easiest way to make a lot of money very quickly out of his father's works, and now that there's even more money involved he's even more reluctant.

How many people really buy the Histories anyway? I can't think that they have the same mass appeal as, say, The Hobbit; and even if they did, there was no need to edit all of the old material together: it could just have been put into folders and sent off to HarperCollins without any commentary or indexing. Also I should like to know why the now very wealthy director of those staggeringly lucrative films is thought obviously to have been in it for love, while the author's son, who has made less money out of more work, is supposed clearly to have been motivated by financial gain. Could it be that Christopher Tolkien's somewhat austere image has something to do with it? Maybe if he wore shorts and described the books as 'cool' more often he wouldn't be a sell-out.