Tolkien’s son’s verdict on the Lord of the Rings movies may surprise you

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies are revered as some of the best movie adaptations of all time – unless you ask J.R.R. Tolkien’s son, Christopher Tolkien.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy’s brilliance doesn’t stem from how faithful it is to every bit of lore in Tolkien’s extensive source material: instead, it effectively captured the essence of his world, the message of the story, all while making sensible, economic storytelling decisions.

It still made big changes. For example, Tom Bombadil was completely axed, and there’s no Barrow-wights – something Rings of Power has rectified.

Yet, Season 1 was the subject of intense backlash, and history is already repeating itself on Reddit (for what it’s worth, we gave Rings of Power Season 2 four stars in our review).

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However, if you’re one of the people slamming Amazon’s series for ‘betraying’ Tolkien and lamenting its quality compared to the movies, know this: his late son hated the films.

Christopher Tolkien expressed doubts about the viability of a LOTR movie adaptation as early as 2001. Seven years later, he sued New Line Cinema, alleging his estate was owed over $100 million in royalties (they reached a settlement in 2009).

In 2012, he didn’t mince his words in an interview with Le Monde. “They gutted the book, making it an action movie for 15-25 year olds. And it seems that The Hobbit will be of the same ilk,” he said.

“Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his popularity and absorbed by the absurdity of the times. The gap that has opened between the beauty, the seriousness of the work, and what it has become, all this is beyond me.

“Such a degree of commercialization reduces to nothing the aesthetic and philosophical scope of this creation. I have only one solution: to turn my head.”

If you’ve watched the first three episodes, check out our recaps of Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3. If you’re unsure when Rings of Power takes place in the Lord of the Rings timeline, we’ve also got you covered, and read our guides on Morgoth’s origin and Forodwaith.