A World That Is No More
Jeremiah L.

The story of the man who stole over two hours of original film footage of The Lord of the Rings compelled me to write a short editorial. I'm afraid this is going to be a depressing, and unrestrained knock on the state of, not only our world, but the world of Tolkien-dom as well.

Can you imagine what would happen to the man who stole mithril from the Elves' kingdom? He would have surely been thrown into a dungeon, much like Thorin and company in The Hobbit. The man who was recently arrested for the film theft is guilty, surely, of the same crime as stealing mithril. And what a shame!

The state of the world is thus: "fans" are willing to trespass, even steal, to become part of the eternal Hollywood flame. It's no longer Middle-earth we're talking here, it's a hell born and breeding in the hearts of people who don't care about morality, or justice, or truth. It's a hell paved with little plastic Visa cards and footage containing possibly the most anticipated movie event of all time.

Did any of the actions of the man caught for theft strike a chord of absolute horror within you? I was disgusted, and taken aback at how much of this world I hate. The world of crime and deceit and hate and war and laziness. The Middle-earth I know had Sauron...and yes, there are still Bill Ferny's too, I'm sure, just itching for the chance to stick a knife in your back and run to Papa Nazgul.

But the absolute message of this is that Tolkien wrote from experience of a world that is no more. Where film footage is not stolen, only to be resold at more money than is needed to feed a third world country (dare I mention that the films themselves could provide homes for over 13 million in Russia?).

I guess my rantings are just simple and ridiculous...because hey, isn't this how the world works? Perhaps so, but I, in my simple way, will always hope and wish for the Middle-earth of Tolkien's day, which thrived on song and gifts of mithril mail, not pocketed millions by would be theives and their ill-gotten film footage.