{"id":65576,"date":"2012-11-21T05:18:42","date_gmt":"2012-11-21T10:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=65576"},"modified":"2012-11-21T05:18:42","modified_gmt":"2012-11-21T10:18:42","slug":"tolkiens-grandson-says-rings-films-a-juggernaut-that-tore-my-family-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2012\/11\/21\/65576-tolkiens-grandson-says-rings-films-a-juggernaut-that-tore-my-family-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Tolkien’s grandson says Rings films ‘a juggernaut that tore my family apart’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Simon<\/a> The grandson of JRR Tolkien said he felt ‘suffocated’ by the legacy of his famous relative and feared never being able to emerge from his shadow.<\/p>\n

Barrister-turned-novelist Simon Tolkien<\/a> said the unstoppable success of the film adaptations of his grandfather’s classic Lord of the Rings trilogy caused a bitter feud within his family.<\/p>\n

Mr Tolkien said the problems led to an ‘incredibly, dreadfully painful’ feud with his father Christoper.<\/p>\n

The 53-year-old author of The Stepmother and the Inspector Trave trilogy said ‘nothing could prepare’ his family for the release of the films, which he said was like being ‘hit by a juggernaut’.<\/p>\n

He said the success of the films, which grossed almost $3 billion worldwide, made him feel as if he had ‘disappeared’.<\/p>\n

He told The Sunday Times: ‘It was like being hit by a juggernaut. One minute, I was Simon Tolkien, a barrister from London. The next, I was JRR Tolkien’s grandson. This might sound strange, but I began to lose sight of who I was. It was as if I \u2014 me, Simon \u2014 had disappeared. I felt suffocated.’<\/p>\n

It was reported at the time that the family row stemmed from Mr Tolkien’s willingness to cooperate with director Peter Jackson despite opposition from the rest of the estate. However this was later denied.<\/p>\n

Mr Tolkien said: ‘Maybe some people assumed it was about money…I don’t know.<\/p>\n

‘In hindsight, I think all of my anger was being driven by this feeling that I was trapped. All I ever was going to be was the grandson of a very famous writer. That was the sum total of my achievements.’<\/p>\n

He and his father have since managed to reconcile their differences and he even dedicated his latest book to his father. He said: ‘I guess I feel lucky that I got the chance to put things right with my dad. <\/p>\n

[Read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The grandson of JRR Tolkien said he felt ‘suffocated’ by the legacy of his famous relative and feared…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":65577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[238,153,35,5,149,152],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christopher_tolkien","category-tolkien-life","category-lotr-books","category-lotr-movies","category-lotr","category-tolkien"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t