Rendering Tolkien's Reality

Fanfic authors often dedicate a lot of attention to their use of Tolkien’s characters in their own fics, and rightly so. Failure to render a theme source character properly will ruin a fanfic. Moreover, the appearance of OFC’s alongside those misrepresented source characters will more than likely earn the fic the “Mary Sue” label. Obviously, accuracy of characterization is essential to a properly written fic.

What authors will often forget, however, is the importance of accuracy with regard to their rendition of Tolkien’s world at large. Given that the world itself and its functions tend to shape the characters (what, after all, makes a hobbit belong in Hobbiton, and what makes Hobbiton a hobbit’s home – how are they matched?), changes in the ambiance and the backstory of the cultures and races themselves tend to make the fics themselves deviate from Tolkien’s universe until the tales become chimaerae that don’t exactly fit any particular category and, as such, don’t fit into any category’s top fic lists.

That said, here are a few observations from fics I’ve seen, here written for the purpose of inciting authors to expend a little bit of energy to maintain the integrity of the omnipresent cultural and racial backdrops for Tolkien fic.