Inspiration held for three years, from 2002 until 2005. "One Christmas there was something like 13 different countries we sent Christmas gifts to," Sio says. He'd be out with Gimli and a few of Aragorn's men. In today's edition of "lawsuits that are as likely to succeed as Frodo making it to Mordor without Sam," a Lord of the Rings fan-fiction author is taking on Amazon Studios over their smash-hit series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Now, Polychron is claiming that the show infringes on his copyright, and has even provided tables highlighting moments in his book that he believes are similar to moments in the TV show. Stunning Trailer for STAR WARS: AHSOKA Teases the Heir to the Empire! He only grinned. Taking its name from the Elvish word for "friend," the Mellon Chronicles follows the misadventures of a young Aragorn and Legolas. Sio now runs the office of the place she worked while writing the Mellon Chronicles, and Cassia also credits the Mellon Chronicles for her current job, saying, "some of the peripheral things associated with running the list and website back then actually helped me discover what career path I wanted. Cassia says that the early 2000s were a special time for fandombefore social media existed, or even Livejournal, people had to track down likeminded fans by using webrings, recommendation lists, and individual Geocities sites. Legolas angst and torture | FanFiction The Mellon Chronicles' legacy survives: along with Archive of Our Own, a fanlore wiki charts its impressive history; the Yahoo Groups is still somewhat active, and fully archived; there's a "Mellon Chronicles" tag on Tumblr; and Sio still gets regular emails from fans. Polychron's book, titled The Fellowship of the King, is a follow-up to The Lord of the Rings that also delves into the story of the Second Age and the history of The Rings of Power. ", Cassia says that she and Sio "remain best of friends. "I could easily spend between four to eight hours a day writing," Cassia said. "She had written this super cool Star Wars story and I contacted her about it," Sio said. Legolas had fallen to the back of the line of men on the third night of their . They'd been hunting a rouge band of orcs, left over from the great war. The Aragorn/Legolas friendship was a popular fanfiction genre when the three Peter Jackson-directed movies were coming out in the early 2000sprobably largely thanks to the fact that Aragorn and Legolas were played by the extremely attractive Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloomand the Mellon Chronicles, written by the mysterious Cassia and Siobhan, or Sio, were the most popular of all. This was Cassia's first online fandom, which she joined at around 18, and Sio's second, after the TV show The Sentinel. Cassia set up the website to host the stories so they had an archive. Both say they lurk in fandomsand both look back on their Mellon Chronicle days with fondness. After that, Cassia and Sio began collaborating on a story taking place immediately after "First Meetings. Like romance novels, Westerns, and Sherlock Holmes, the Mellon Chronicles follow a formula: most of the 36 stories begin with Aragorn and/or Legolas traveling somewhere; then one of them gets captured and usually tortured; and then the other one rescues him. ", Neither Cassia nor Sio ever published any more fanfiction, though Cassia now writes original fiction and Sio paints and draws. "We decided to let it go because it had been so long since we'd done anything to it we really didn't think people were reading the stories anymore," Sio said. The Most Popular 'Lord of the Rings' Fanfiction You've - Vice Amazon secured the rights to The Lord of the Rings story through extensive collaboration with The Tolkien Estate, and this legal wrangling seems more like a publicity stunt than a genuine legal challenge. The author claims to have registered the book with the US Copyright Office back in 2017 and even attempted to reach out to The Tolkien Estate for collaboration to no avail.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,600],'geektyrant_com-leader-1','ezslot_10',105,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-geektyrant_com-leader-1-0'); Undeterred, Polychron ended up hand-delivering a copy of his manuscript, but still received no response. "We actually both 'knew' that our time with the MC had come to an end and would end in July 2005. I think this whole thing is hilarious that a fan-fiction writer is suing the people who actually own the rights to the stories that hes building his fan-fiction off of. The Aragorn/Legolas friendship was a popular fanfiction genre when the three Peter Jackson-directed movies were coming out in the early 2000sprobably largely thanks to the fact that Aragorn and . At its peak around 2004, the Mellon Chronicles had an active Yahoo Groups list large enough that it was mentioned as one of the biggest fan communities in a book about Tolkien scholarship; fan-made audiobook readings, Photoshopped story art, and YouTube videos; their own fanfiction awards; and a fanlisting. A King's Ransom Chapter 1: Taken!, a lord of the rings fanfic | FanFiction He laughed horribly, and started to drag me through the woods, but I threw him off, immediately grabbing my bow and aiming an arrow at his forehead. Sio added, "I was actually a horrible employee while we had the MC. But that led to us co-writing our first story, which was actually a Star Wars fic called 'The Hunted. Copyright 2008-2021, GeekTyrant Industries, LLC. At its peak around 2004, the Mellon Chronicles had an active Yahoo Groups list large enough that it was mentioned as one of the biggest fan communities in a book about Tolkien scholarship. All names, trademarks and images are copyright their respective owners. A series of unfortunate events leads to Legolas being deadly wounded while hunting orcs. Their group had been no more than a three days journey from Gondor, where Aragorn had only recently been crowned as King, and Arwen as his Queen. LORD OF THE RINGS Fan Fiction Author is Suing Amazon Studios Over THE We talk all the time. "Friendship with her was the best thing that came out of the MC. Stories took from a few months to over a year to completeand were a considerable amount of work. Sio says. I struggled against his grip, but he was strong for a drunkard. I'm blessed to have met her. The Mellon Chronicles is a 1.2 million word epic fanfiction series. ", The ending of the Mellon Chronicles coincided with the beginning of the stories' disappearance. Giger, Red-Band Trailer For THE WRATH OF BECKY Sees Lulu Wilson on Another Ultra-Violent Adventure, Trailer for Comedian Hannah Gadsby's New Netflix Special HANNAH GADSBY: SOMETHING SPECIAL, LEGO Announces Plans for STAR WARS Day Celebrations, CALL OF DUTY Comes to Your Table Next Year with a Board Game, Trailer For THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Mark Hamill and His Return of the Jedi Prop Lightsaber Reunite in Pop Culture Quest Clip. After apparently taking a wrong turn in a mysterious forest, something happens to Legolas. However, many of these similarities just serve to underscore how closely the fan-fiction work hews to Tolkien's original works. Copyright 2008-2021, GeekTyrant Industries, LLC. The plaintiff, Demetrious Polychron, has filed a lawsuit against Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos, Jennifer Salke (the head of Amazon Studios), Simon . People are nuts. A couple of people soon turned into a couple hundred, then a couple thousandand many loved the Mellon Chronicles so much that they wanted to write stories for it as well. "I think the first time I realized how much others were enjoying the world we'd created was when people started requesting to use our original characters and sometimes the backdrop of the MC world as a whole in their own stories," Cassia says. And we don't expect we shall return. The story of the Mellon Chronicles begins in another fandom. Cassia and Sio started the Yahoo Groups list completely by accident. '", When the first Lord of the Rings movie came out in late 2001, both Cassia and Sio wrote their own fanfictionseparately. She is one of those rare, special people that you can share anything with, and who you know will be a part of your life forever. Wicked Awesome New Trailer and Posters For DC Studios' THE FLASH! Then, Sio wrote a short story about Aragorn and Legolas' first encounter called "First Meetings," giving Legolas the history that Cassia wrote for him. In a move that was either incredibly bold or incredibly naive, the author then sent a letter asking for his manuscript back and declared his intention to publish it anyway (along with sequels). After the fanfiction.net takedown, Cassia and Sio continued posting the Mellon Chronicles on their own website, aragorn-legolas.5u.com, and in the Yahoo Group, but in summer 2005, they posted their final storyand with it, an announcement that, "To paraphrase Bilbo slightly, we need a holiday. Trailer For Marvel's SECRET INVASION - The Great Nick Fury is Back For "One Last Fight", Gaming Hardware News Round-Up April 2023 Part 2, Trailer For The Absurd and Cheesy 1988 Sci-Fi Horror Film THE BRAIN, Frank Herbert's DUNE Imagined in The Style of ALIEN Designer H.R. Links monetized by VigLinkCustom Code and Design by, Free Reyes. "It was a wonderful and humbling feeling to see it take on a life of its own like that.". Even then, we had no idea how long the series would become. According to the court documents filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Polychron alleges that Amazon's new TV series, which is based on Tolkien's extensive universe and the appendices he wrote, ripped off his own published novel, which is, in turn, derived from Tolkien's work. /// Copyright / DMCA Notice Now, she gets comments from readers both old and new. Eleanore began posting the stories to AO3, mostly for herself, and was surprised to find there was an audience"I started getting messages asking when I was going to post the rest, which made me realise that other people were re-reading them too," she said. This lawsuit is about as likely to succeed as Legolas missing his mark. "Sure, go ahead and shoot me," He said quietly, "You can go, and I'll leave." Slowly I lowered my bow, but keeping . "I do think that there was a certain enthusiasm and joy of discovery and exploration in those early days that perhaps is not so present now," she says. Aragorn-legolas.5u.com stayed up for years, becoming a sort of digital ghost town, the Photoshopped story banners getting more and more dateduntil the website abruptly vanished when the credit card that Sio had set up with auto-pay was stolen. Spectacular Full Trailer for SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE! But when darkness encroaches from within and without, they learn refuge can become a deadly trap. It was a mutual thing and it was the right time," she says. That's rightthis 1.2 million word epic is a Lord of the Rings fanfiction series. Basically, we just kept going as long as the inspiration held," Cassia said. In fact, we mean not to.". Lord Elrond is the only hope to save Thranduil's son of an early passing to the Undying Lands, and as the Lord uses everything in his power to heal the prince, a strong and somewhat inevitable bond happens between them. By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content. Cookie Declaration /// Privacy Policy All rights reserved. The book even includes a dedication to Tolkien and his son before immediately using characters created by the legendary author. "I was totally in awe of her, which we still laugh about now. When the Mellon Chronicles ended in 2005, Cassia and Sio mailed a CD with the text of the entire series on it to every reader who wanted one. They were wrongshortly after aragorn-legolas.5u.com's disappearance, the Mellon Chronicles started appearing on the popular fanfiction website Archive Of Our Own, moved by an English fan, Eleanore, 26. "We decided to let it go, thinking we'd only get like a couple of people actually reading," Sio said. He published the novel on September 30, 2022, which also happened to be the same day that the fifth episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiered on Prime Video.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'geektyrant_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_7',106,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-geektyrant_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'geektyrant_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_8',106,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-geektyrant_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_1'); .large-mobile-banner-1-multi-106{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:7px !important;margin-left:auto !important;margin-right:auto !important;margin-top:7px !important;max-width:100% !important;min-height:250px;padding:0;text-align:center !important;}. And that's not all even The Tolkien Estate has been dragged into this legal maelstrom.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'geektyrant_com-banner-1','ezslot_4',104,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-geektyrant_com-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'geektyrant_com-banner-1','ezslot_5',104,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-geektyrant_com-banner-1-0_1'); .banner-1-multi-104{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:7px !important;margin-left:auto !important;margin-right:auto !important;margin-top:7px !important;max-width:100% !important;min-height:250px;padding:0;text-align:center !important;}. A very long holiday. Cassia and Sio wrote collaboratively, coming up with ideas and outlines in "a flurry of emails back and forth," and then each writer would choose sections to work on. She looped in Cassia, and the three of us had a long email interview about the Mellon Chronicles and the early days of Lord of the Rings online fandom. In today's edition of "lawsuits that are as likely to succeed as Frodo making it to Mordor without Sam," a Lord of the Rings fan-fiction author is taking on Amazon Studios over their smash-hit series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,100],'geektyrant_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_6',109,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-geektyrant_com-medrectangle-4-0'); if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'geektyrant_com-box-4','ezslot_2',113,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-geektyrant_com-box-4-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'geektyrant_com-box-4','ezslot_3',113,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-geektyrant_com-box-4-0_1'); .box-4-multi-113{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:7px !important;margin-left:auto !important;margin-right:auto !important;margin-top:7px !important;max-width:100% !important;min-height:250px;padding:0;text-align:center !important;}The plaintiff, Demetrious Polychron, has filed a lawsuit against Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos, Jennifer Salke (the head of Amazon Studios), Simon Tolkien (grandson of JRR Tolkien himself), and the showrunners for The Rings of Power, Patrick McKay and John D Payne.