An adaptation of Tolkien’s unfinished time travel story would be the wackiest Lord of the Rings take on Sauron yet

The craziest possible adaptation of The Lord of the Rings would follow a little-known JRR Tolkien novel from the 1940s. Lord of the Rings adaptations are having a resurgence, with Warner Bros. The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim film in 2024 and The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum in 2026. Amazon Prime Video launched The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series in 2022, diversifying LOTR content from Warner Bros. Tales of the Third Age in stories from the Second Age of Middle Earth. But the romance of the 1940s would require an even greater departure.

JRR Tolkien set the standard for fantasy world-building, and it could certainly be argued that no writer has ever equaled him. During his lifetime, Tolkien published The Hobbit and The Lord of the Ringsin three parts, outlining the Third Age. But after Tolkien’s death, his son obeyed him in editing and publishing Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age, the First Age, and the eternal years before it. But Tolkien went deeper into Middle-earth than the vast majority of people realize. In an unfinished novel, Tolkien showed fanfiction writers from alternate universes how it’s done.

The Lord of the Rings: The Notion Club Papers is the craziest potential adaptation

JRR Tolkien’s Alternate Universe Story Shows Fanfiction How It’s Done

As crazy as possible Lord of the Rings the adaptation would be based on the novel by JRR Tolkien, The Notion Club docs. “UA”(alternative universe) fanfiction is huge in SdA, and all fandoms, but most people don’t realize that Tolkien himself wrote this story. Sauron and Elendil appear in this book by Tolkien, which may constitute the most surprising, outrageous, far-fetched and left-of-center book. Lord of the Rings history available, in the best way possible. Although an adaptation could set this story in the 1940sIt would probably make more sense to set it in the modern day, as Tolkien intended.

This novel is set in the real world, in an alternate universe where Middle-earth and its stories are real in the past, or perhaps in another world, or both. Without considering, Middle Earth is real and accessible to people on planet Earth through a strange type of lucid dream that allows for a form of time travel. Like many of his best works, Tolkien put this 1945 novel on hold for other projects. Surprisingly, the novel’s main characters are college students, which would give an adaptation the hilarious and risky premise of a Lord of the Rings university drama.

What JRR Tolkien’s The Notion Club Papers is about

“The distinction between history and myth may be meaningless” – Tolkien

The Notion Club docs is Tolkien’s novel about college friends in a writing club together, and they basically go into a trance and visit Middle-earth. Looks like they might have smoked the wrong weed, but This was the story of Tolkien’s time travel multiverseproving how many light years ahead of Marvel or DC he has been with ideas like this. One of the main characters in the novel is related, in particular, to Elendil and his heirs, presenting a mysterious situation that the students unravel throughout the novel.

Involved in a Lord of the Rings mystery, college students are deeply engaged with language, poetry, music, and history. Any adaptation of The Notion Club docs faces a deep canyon between its source material and the modern on-screen format most available to display it. Undeniably, a college drama makes sense for The Notion Club docs. So a TV show probably makes more sense than a movie. While excellent college dramas have been made, they can tend toward gossip. However, this novel is lofty and intellectual, so the tone of the TV show would have to reflect that.

This Lord of the Rings story is unfinished (but that hasn’t stopped adaptations before)

Much of the Lord of the Rings Legendarium is unfinished

The Notion Club docs It’s not finished, so an adaptation would be needed to finish the story. Adapting an unfinished work is common – Good omens Season 3 will be based on what little source material Neil Gaiman managed to create with Terry Pratchett before Pratchett’s death, as well as a conversation between the two. But since Tolkien is no longer around to guide the materialspecial care would need to be taken to ensure that it was in the correct spirit of The Notion Club docs. Tolkien’s grandson, Simon Tolkien, is a consultant at Amazon The Rings of Powerdemonstrating how this can be possible.

Rings of Power demonstrates that adaptations of Tolkien’s unfinished texts work in adaptations. Although the show is controversial, no one disputes the brilliance of Celebrimbor’s death scene. This scene was as Tolkien as it gets, but it was based on an unfinished work in Unfinished Stories. Currently, no one holds the rights to The Notion Club docs. However, Rings of Power proves that the Tolkien Estate – which grants rights to Tolkien’s work – is granting unique rights to texts as needed, if it approves. As it stands, there is currently no reason to The Notion Club docs could not be adapted.

Notion Club documents could unlock future Lord of the Rings adaptations

This story frees adaptations to be creative with genre and style

All filmmakers who consider Tolkien’s work as source material should know about The Notion Club docs. Doesn’t necessarily need its own movie or TV show, although that could be done well. Hollywood and streaming giants should focus first on the work Tolkien completed and approved in his lifetime. Furthermore, this project would be difficult. It would have to avoid the pitfalls of an Americanized college drama, but it would also be remiss not to explore with sensitivity and moderation the goldmine of joys that this subgenre could bring to this story.

A modern scenario would require the almost total invention of writing, to update the language. It would have to be marketed as inspired by Tolkien instead of “based on The Notion Club Papers“to make clear that it is based on an unfinished work from which it diverged greatly. Awareness of The Notion Club docs is essential for directors, as it shows Tolkien’s interest in contemporary science fiction storytelling. Current Lord of the Rings the adaptations are exemplars of high fantasy, but this novel proves the potential for innovative, meta, fourth-wall-breaking, or alternate-universe moments, elements, or scenes in the future.