Fantasy author Demetrious Polychron demanded $250 million from streaming service Amazon for allegedly borrowing from his novel for the Lord of the Rings series. Now he’s being sued as a thief by the Tolkien heirs themselves.
A month and a half ago, a bizarre Lord of the Rings report made the rounds: The series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video * was supposed to have stolen elements of its plot from unknown fantasy author Demetrious Polychron. At least that is what the author claimed and sued Amazon for 250 million dollars in damages. But for this alarm-beating he now receives a somewhat different receipt.
Bad luck: Fantasy author sued over unauthorised Lord of the Rings sequel
As the first (and so far only) installment of his seven-part The War of the Rings saga, Demetrious Polychron’s lawsuit referred to his book The Fellowship of the King (“The Fellowship of the King”), set after the end of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels. While he accused Amazon’s Rings of Power creators as well as the Tolkien Estate of taking over entire storylines, characters and images, his work has conversely also come under scrutiny from the Tolkien heirs’ rights holders.
As Bloomberglaws litigation reporters reported, the fantasy author now has a copyright lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on his hands for writing and selling an unauthorised Lord of the Rings sequel.
BREAKING: Tolkien Estate Sues Demetrious Polychron Over Unauthorised ‘Lord of the Rings’ Sequel
The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien accused author Demetrious Polychron of writing and selling an unauthorised sequel of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Via @business pic.twitter.com/MZbgMUwY8r
– Fellowship of Fans (@FellowshipFans) June 3, 2023
In fact, Polychron admits to being “inspired” by Tolkien’s world, but claims to have devised a book entirely his own. His accusers countered by citing “an astonishing number of protected elements from the Tolkien canon”, including 15 poems, hundreds of well-known Tolkien characters and recycling of the entire trilogy storyline. Apparently, there also exists a letter in which Polychron pitched (unsuccessfully) the idea of a Lord of the Rings sequel to a Tolkien grandson in 2017.
