"And apparently his notes are just vitriolic.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by davem

What I find interesting is that (a somebody from the movie seems to have access to the Bodleian's Tolkien archive, & b) that Tolkien would get so angry over Garner's novel. Wonder what aspects specifically got him so angry?

Keeping in mind Aiwendil's cautionary note, I would hazard a guess it would be the cavalier way Garner used names without any respect for their historical derivation or initial referents. I don't know the book, but this is what wiki says about it:

The author claims that all names of legendary beings were taken directly from mythology, although some are used with vastly different meanings from their traditional roots - for example, Nastrond and Grimnir. Durathror is a deer in Norse mythology, whereas he is depicted as a dwarven warrior in the book.

To a philologist, such misappropriation would show a complete lack of respect for the initial mythology and how language develops. Shippey has a good explanation of how Tolkien's way with words was completely different, in both The Road to Middle-earth and Author of the Century.

But then again, wiki is not the most reliable source either.

By the way, the link in the first post does not work.