Christopher Tolkien- is he being an arse?

Even though I am one who is frustrated by CT's attitude toward the LotR movies and adaptation of other materials for which the rights have not been sold, I think before we condemn we need to walk a mile in his shoes and be aware of the relationship he had with his father, the role he played during the life-long process of creation, and the dedication with which he takes the charge of guardian and archivist.

He is a rare breed in the modern world and I'm not sure that his approach is wrong.

I've been frustrated with him in the past, but right now I wish he'd been able to prevent the awful "Hobbit" trilogy from being made.





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It seems to be a common perception that if Christopher Tolkien wished to do so, he could sell the rights to other works of JRRT, or authorize various new stories based in Middle Earth, or do other things that fans would like to see. People seem to believe that these matters are within his power to decide.

This is almost certainly false. JRRT did not leave any of his literary properties to his children, including Christopher. CRRT does not own, nor does he control, any of the rights to his father's works. What JRRT did was, several years before his death, create the Tolkien Estate and Trust, which is a corporate entity (nothing to do with his personal "estate," such as house, bank accounts, etc.) and in doing so he drew up a trust deed which specifies exactly what the corporate entity can do and how it shall be managed. He made Christopher his literary executor and later the chair of the Tolkien Estate and Trust, but the role of an executor, in law, is to "execute," that is, carry out, the expressed directives of the deceased person who set up the organization. The TE is governed by a board of governors, which includes a lawyer and an accountant and various laws govern how they operate (there are tax advantages to arranging matters this way for making long-term provision for funds to accrue to family members over time).

Since Tolkien expressed, in his will (which was written and signed shortly before his death), that the rights to his remaining literary properties should not be sold but remain in the family trust, it is a safe inference that he placed some restrictions on their disbursement in the trust deed itself, which is not a public document. Christopher is obliged by law to follow whatever the directives of the trust deed require.

If another member of the family who just loves movies succeeds CRRT as executor, s/he will be obliged to follow the same course. It is extremely difficult to overrule the provisions of the founder, and there are whopping financial penalties if that takes place. The exception is when whatever the original founder wished to require becomes illegal. The Rhodes Scholarships are a case in point. Cecil Rhodes left his money in trust for providing scholarships to "white males" from the Commonweath countries and the USA. When that kind of discrimination was ruled illegal, Rhodes Scholarships were opened to men and women of all races, but still limited to Commonwealth countries and the USA, because that latter provision was still legal.

It'sa true that Christopher Tolkien is a person from another generation, with not much sympathy for many "modern" preoccupations, as with film and TV (he doesn't watch TV and has never owned one). But that is irrelevant to what his responsibilities, and options are in managing the activities of the Tolkien Estate according to his father's legally binding requirements.

And without him, we would have no Unfinished Tales, Silmarillion, History of Middle Earth, etc. For myself, I would rather have those things than another movie. When the materials go into the public domain, there will be movies made, if there's a market.

I will agree with all the replies so far. I said the following in reply to someone who had some unkind opinions of Christopher on another forum.

I have to say when I read those accusations, I shook my head in disappointment. Agree with him or not, he deserves better treatment and respect than many fans of the movies give him. He deserves it because of his position and he deserves it because all people deserve better.

It's good manners on our part to learn how to disagree with him without denigrating him.

No, he is right: just look at that travesty called "The Hobbit". Never again.

Once published, its only a matter of time before a work becomes public domain, and then anyone can use it anyway they want, even rewrite it.

How do I know? One of my in-laws does this. He takes books that are public domain, rewrites them, adds commentaries and forwards of his own, and then sells them online. And does quite well.

Christopher seems to be interested in preserving, not withholding. Sometimes withholding is the only way to preserve.

I feel Christopher Tolkien is being a pill when he openly trashes Jackson's take on LOTOR. I know his father created it, but Chris needs to lighten up.

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