Christopher Tolkien spent nearly four decades of his life excavating, editing, and publishing his father’s unpublished works. He gave the world The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth. He was the literary executor of J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate, the guardian of a mythology that had consumed both father and son for generations.
And he despised Peter Jackson’s films with a passion that never diminished.
In 2012, Christopher Tolkien gave a rare interview to Le Monde, his first press interview in 40 years. He was 87 years old, living in quiet retirement in the south of France, still working on his father’s manuscripts. When asked about the Jackson films, his response was unequivocal:
