Nearly fourteen years ago, anxious viewers saw their first glance of the sweeping landscapes of Middle-Earth, the setting for Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ novels.  Tomorrow, 6 films and $5.85 billion later, the franchise will officially come to a close, with the release of the final boxset of ‘The Hobbit’.  ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, released 2001 – 2003 and directed by Peter Jackson, was an adaptation of the three volumes of the same name by JRR Tolkien, and the three ‘The Hobbit’ films, released 2012 – 2014, were adapted from just one novel.      

Both trilogies were incredible successes; the budget for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ consisted of $281 million, but this figure seems somewhat miniscule compared to the $2.92 billion that the three films grossed.  The trilogy won an impressive 17 Academy Awards out of the 30 it was nominated for, with the final film, ‘The Return of the King’ winning all eleven Oscars that it was nominated for, including Original Score, Best Picture and Visual Effects.  ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was highly critically acclaimed, yet it also received heavy criticism from both scholars and fans of the books for changing some of the key themes of the novels, such as the representation of women.  Christopher Tolkien, the youngest son of the author, said that the film adaptations have simply “commercialised” his late father’s work. 

‘The Hobbit’ was a slightly more controversial adaptation, since a thin novel was adapted into almost nine hours of film.  It’s ridiculously huge budget of $731 million grossed an even huger sum of $2.93 billion, making the Middle-Earth trilogies the highest grossing films of all time.  ‘The Hobbit’ films are extremely different to Tolkien’s original novel, with new story lines and characters.  The most controversial topic among fans was the invention of the new character Tauriel, a feisty female elf, who was created solely for the films, in order to balance the male-heavy cast (just one other female character appears in ‘The Hobbit’).  Criticisers themselves came under scrutiny for objecting to Tauriel purely on her gender.     

The obvious reaction to this nine-hour adaptation is that the trilogy was flogging fans for money, which it has certainly succeeded with.  With action figures, multiple DVD editions, calendars, clothing, phone cases and even Hobbit address labels, did the trilogy ask for too much from its fans?  It would appear not, seeing as these items continue to sell. 

Today, all the poplar film franchises - including ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ -  have developed massive ‘fandoms’ and online followings, composed of likeminded people who loved the books and films.  ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is widely accepted as the first modern fandom, seeing as fans openly expressed their love for a fictional series in the 1890s, but Tolkien fans, called ‘Tolkienites’ were not far behind in 1937, when ‘The Hobbit’ was published.  ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ fandoms have a different feel to other contemporary fandoms, since Tolkien’s works are considered contemporary literary classics.  For example, the deep study of Middle-Earth has been given the name ‘Tolkienology’, and this includes:

- The study and reconstruction of the languages and writing systems that appear in the novels
- The study of genealogies of Hobbit families
- The reconstruction of the history of the kingdoms in the novels
- Astronomy of Middle-Earth
- Debating of morality issues and ethics involving the novels

What has essentially been a 78 year journey may seem like it is officially coming to a close, but there is no doubt that the DVDs and numerous merchandise items will continue to sell, and the legacy of Tolkien – in whatever format – will never die out.   

Imogen Goddard, Bromley High School