A fan story is said to have been the origin of Amazon’s series “The Rings of Power.” This could now cost 250 million dollars.
The Amazon series “The Rings of Power” from the Lord of the Rings universe was received by fans at best as “poor.” For Amazon itself, the series is likely a financial and marketing flop, as it faced criticism from all sides. However, the already expensive project could become even more costly. An author is suing Amazon, claiming they used his works as a major source for the series.
What happened? The author named “Demetrious Polychron” wrote the book “The Fellowship Of The King” a few years ago and also published it on Amazon last year. The story is based on the story of “The Lord of the Rings” and attempts to fill gaps left by JRR Tolkien in his work.
In other words: The book is fan fiction.
Polychron had previously sent the book to JRR Tolkien’s grandson, Simon Tolkien, in 2017 and requested an opinion on the book, but never received feedback. Simon Tolkien is the heir and director of “The Tolkien Estate” – a large part of the rights to The Lord of the Rings lies there.
The book “The Fellowship Of The King” was registered with the US Copyright Office despite the lack of feedback.
In 2019, Polychron then tried again, this time through a lawyer, to contact “The Tolkien Estate.” The request for collaboration was rejected the very next day. Polychron then personally brought a manuscript of his book to Simon Tolkien – and received no response thereafter.
Ultimately, the book was published on Amazon in 2022, and 6 more books are reportedly in progress.
What happened then? Demetrious Polychron sees his copyright being violated by the series “The Rings of Power.” According to his statement, Amazon has taken several ideas and concepts from his book. Some of these allegations are quirky, as Amazon supposedly took the character “Elanor” from Polychron’s book – even though Elanor is also mentioned in the original “Lord of the Rings” books.
The total demand amounts to over 250 million US dollars.
Whether Demetrious Polychron will succeed with the lawsuit remains to be seen. Although most consider his chances to be rather slim, America does surprise sometimes with rather quirky court rulings.
If that happens, “The Fellowship Of The King” is likely to become the most financially successful fan fiction ever – albeit probably in a way different from originally planned.
