WI: J. R. R. Tolkien lives to at least 100

[Mort the Reaper]

Few authors have had as great an impact as J. R. R. Tolkien. Widely considered the father of modern fantasy, he played a major role in defining the genre for generations to come.

So here's my question: what might he have accomplished had he lived until 1992 - or even later? What impact would his greater longevity have had? For the purposes of this WI, we're assuming he retains his full mental faculties (or close to them) for most of his remaining years.

On a side note, as you can probably guess, this thread was partly inspired by this thread created by DominusNovus.

 

[Lalli]

Tolkien had already made his major works by his death so longer living Tolkien wouldn't affect much anymore. Perhaps he writes something but not much.

 

[John_Smith]

There is a timeline on here covering this exact topic, and amazingly well at that. It is certainly worth a read - No Longer Oneshot Row

 

[Saint_007]

Maybe he finally finishes up the Silmarillion and the rest of his stuff without needing his son to patch it all up. But like John_Smith said, all his best stuff was done by his 70s.

 

[jamesownz]

He writes a few more middle earth stories and fleshes things out...but not much more

 

[MusuMankata]

I think about the biggest thing he could've had time to do, had he lived to 100 or so, was to finish the Simillaron, and then write the second edition of the The Lord of the Rings containing a scene he (according to some notes) wanted to add, where he makes clear how (most of) the orcs weren't inherently evil, just misguided and afraid.

 

[33k7]

I think about the biggest thing he could've had time to do, had he lived to 100 or so, was to finish the Simillaron, and then write the second edition of the The Lord of the Rings containing a scene he (according to some notes) wanted to add, where he makes clear how (most of) the orcs weren't inherently evil, just misguided and afraid.

I think you're getting mixed up with the fact that they are corrupted elves and further explaining how they were destroyed and recreated by Morgoth. of course it's possible that I missed some of the notes. the last time I read the books was in 2017 not to mention studying all the history and lore

Tolkien had already made his major works by his death so longer living Tolkien wouldn't affect much anymore. Perhaps he writes something but not much.

considering how many extra stories he had in the unfinished Tales and it looks like he was going to continue a bit of the main story with Aragorn son Eldarion Telcontar with him fighting off a dark Cult of morgoth we might have got a book at least maybe two.

 

[Mort the Reaper]

I think you're getting mixed up with the fact that they are corrupted elves and further explaining how they were destroyed and recreated by Morgoth. of course it's possible that I missed some of the notes. the last time I read the books was in 2017 not to mention studying all the history and lore

Well, I think Tolkien once wrote that he would've liked to have included orcs who weren't evil, but didn't know how to incorporate them.

 

[Machiavelli Jr]

I'm not sure his major impact would be in his writing at all - though he'd surely complete more of the Unfinished Tales and maybe do something more with the Silmarillion.
But more to the point, when Fantasy is getting commercially huge he'll be around to potentially express an opinion - though he didn't like fan attention, and he might just spend 20 years quietly sitting in his rooms at Merton writing odds and ends. Assuming he maintains at least some public profile, what would he think of all the Tolkein clones of the 70s-80s? What would he think of D&D (if he found out about it)? Would anyone actually care - well, certainly some people would care an awful lot, but I'm not sure about their numbers or influence.
I can't see him ever approving a movie adaptation of his work, so the animated LOTR is probably out.

 

[Jan Olbracht]

Another question is-what would he think about social issues of late 20th century?

 

[RPW@Cy]

I can't see him ever approving a movie adaptation of his work, so the animated LOTR is probably out.

He wouldn't have a say in it, he sold the movie rights (in the late sixties, IIRC) to pay an unexpected tax bill - though his likely denunciations will have a certain entertainment value. Personally I think it's unlikely he'd publish anything else, he'd been tweaking the Silmarillion since the first world war after all and never got it into a form he wanted to publish and I suspect he would continue tinkering for the rest of his life. I suspect however long he lives we'd still have to wait for him to die before anybody is willing to draw a line under it and publish what is available.

 

[Byzantion]

Few authors have had as great an impact as J. R. R. Tolkien. Widely considered the father of modern fantasy, he played a major role in defining the genre for generations to come.

So here's my question: what might he have accomplished had he lived until 1992 - or even later? What impact would his greater longevity have had? For the purposes of this WI, we're assuming he retains his full mental faculties (or close to them) for most of his remaining years.

On a side note, as you can probably guess, this thread was partly inspired by this thread created by DominusNovus.

He would have been 107 when TFOTR came out. He wasn't kind to the animated adaption OTL.

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

He would have lived long enough to have heard the NPR and BBC Radio adaptations of The Lord of the Rings. What would he have thought of them if they were still made?

He would also have lived long enough to see the BBCTV Jackanory 3000 adaptation of The Hobbit with Bernard Cribbins as Bilbo and Maurice Denham as Gandalf shown in 1979. IIRC the Tolkien Estate liked it so much that they banned it from being repeated.

I'm guessing that he would have hated BBC Radio's Hordes of the Things by A. P. R. Marshall and J. H. W. Lloyd with Radox the Green played by Frank Middlemass.

(For those of you who don't know Radox was a brand of bath salts that turned the water green.)

 

[33k7]

Another question is-what would he think about social issues of late 20th century?

he will live to see the Wall fall as well as the rise and fall of the Soviet Union so that would be quite interesting if that affects any of his last final writings.

social issues he is a devout Roman Catholic that should answer a lot of questions.

 

[Kalvan]

He'd sue the pants off of James Oliver Rigney A.K.A. Robert Jordan; Eye of The World came out in 1989.

 

[Maeglin]

Another question is-what would he think about social issues of late 20th century?

I imagine he'd get ever more grumpy and lonely, retreating into his little private world. He'd be outliving his wife and friends by decades.

 

[Maeglin]

He'd sue the pants off of James Oliver Rigney A.K.A. Robert Jordan; Eye of The World came out in 1989.

Butterflies. The test wouldn't be Jordan. It'd be Brooks a decade earlier.

 

[Kalvan]

Butterflies. The test wouldn't be Jordan. It'd be Brooks a decade earlier.

Umm, The Sword of Shannara is explicitly set fifteen centuries after World War III, its sequel features a pilgrimage to the ruins of San Francisco, and Tolkien's trolls didn't wear radsuits. No judge or trial jury outside the British Commonwealth not otherwise in Tolkien's or his attorneys' idiomatic back pockets would give that lawsuit the time of day, not even his biggest American fans.

Jordan, on the other hand, explicitly set his opus in a Third Age, Rand Al'Thor clearly has much more in common with Frodo than Will Ohmsford did, the Dark One is far more of a Morgoth expy than the Warlock Lord was Sauron, and do I really have to talk about the Green Man and Treebeard?

 

[Aisha Clan-Clan]

Umm, The Sword of Shannara is explicitly set fifteen centuries after World War III, its sequel features a pilgrimage to the ruins of San Francisco, and Tolkien's trolls didn't wear radsuits. No judge or trial jury outside the British Commonwealth not otherwise in Tolkien's or his attorneys' idiomatic back pockets would give that lawsuit the time of day, not even his biggest American fans.

Jordan, on the other hand, explicitly set his opus in a Third Age, Rand Al'Thor clearly has much more in common with Frodo than Will Ohmsford did, the Dark One is far more of a Morgoth expy than the Warlock Lord was Sauron, and do I really have to talk about the Green Man and Treebeard?

how was jordan not sued???

 

[Kalvan]

how was jordan not sued???

Tolkien was dead, and his son Christopher didn't know about the series until after the publication of The Fires of Heaven. The concept of "use it or lose it" has long been an axiom of IP law. It's the reason S.M. Stirling got such a favorable settlement out of court over Eric Kripke's Revolution.