Coincidences, coincidences. In the worlds of film and literature, it often happens that various stories have plot points that are very similar. There are so many ideas out there that occasionally they can be repeated. But to what extent is that considered fluke and to what extent is it considered plagiarism? That reflection, which surely many people have made on countless occasions, reappears with the recent demand for the series. the rings of powerfrom Amazon.
That’s right: the series located in the universe of The Lord of the ringsset during a new era of Middle-earth, apparently has several similarities to a book of fan fiction written by an author named Demetrious Polychron. Although the TV series is based on various ideas and addendums that JRR Tolkien had for his flagship trilogy, Polychron says that many elements of the episodes closely resemble what’s in his book.
The novel is titled The King’s Community and was published in September 2022, just as the series launched on Amazon Prime Video. Now according to the site PC Gamerthe writer seeks that both Tolkien’s heirs and the online shopping company led by Jeff Bezos pay the unreasonable amount of $250 million dollars for allegedly committing plagiarism.
The interesting thing is that Polychron already had plans to publish their fan fiction since 2017. Simon Tolkien, grandson of the original creator, even sought help to publish the work. However, he received no response. In 2019, he tried again, this time with the help of a lawyer. According to the complaint, this was done “in the excitement of collaborating with the Tolkien estate, hoping to release this book to the public.”
The plan, again, was unsuccessful and the Tolkiens’ lawyer “rejected the next day any attempt to collaborate.” Reason why Polychron personally left a copy of the manuscript in front of Simon’s house. Moreover, in the document that supports the lawsuit against the rings of powerit is emphasized that said manuscript was marked with the “symbol of copyright (©)”.
Still, there was no response. So Polychron decided to publish his book. Ironically, he released it for sale on Amazon (the URL is currently inactive). Interestingly, from that moment he began to notice the similarities, starting with the most prominent: both projects have a Hobbit character named Eleanor. While in the book she is the daughter of Samwise Gamgee, in the series she is a completely new character.
What do you think of the lawsuit against the rings of power? It’s not very common for a fan to sue a media conglomerate and the family of a highly regarded author.
Jose Roberto Landaverde Movie buff and music lover. I am fascinated by writing, listening, reading and commenting on everything related to the seventh art. I’m a fan of Rocky and Back to the Future and obviously one day I’ll climb the “Philly Steps” and drive a DeLorean. Faithful believer that cinema is the best teleportation machine, and also that on the big screen we can all see ourselves represented. I constantly, like Scott Pilgrim, ask myself: “Does bread make you fat?”
