But for now, let's just sit back, grab a pint of ale, and watch this legal drama play out. While this description might not sound like it, the Mellon Chronicles were entirely nonsexual"no slash, no smut," as the saying went. However, many of these similarities just serve to underscore how closely the fan-fiction work hews to Tolkien's original works. Both say they lurk in fandomsand both look back on their Mellon Chronicle days with fondness. 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. 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. It was more than twice as long as War and Peace or Infinite Jest; longer than the entire Harry Potter series, and two and a half times as long as The Lord of the Rings, the series on which it was based. /// Copyright / DMCA Notice A very long holiday. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. Basically, we just kept going as long as the inspiration held," Cassia said. Crazy Bad Trailer for Crime Thriller JOHNNY & CLYDE Featuring Megan Fox, Season 2 of Ryan Murphy's MONSTER Anthology Series Will Focus On Erik and Lyle Menendez, FAST X Featurette Puts Spotlight on Jason Momoas Villain Dante Reyes, Pixar's ELEMENTAL Footage Reaction Video - CinemaCon 2023. ", The ending of the Mellon Chronicles coincided with the beginning of the stories' disappearance. Cassia and Sio started the Yahoo Groups list completely by accident. 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. I spent half the day writing in between work duties and keeping up with the [Yahoo Groups] List.". This was Cassia's first online fandom, which she joined at around 18, and Sio's second, after the TV show The Sentinel. Legolas had fallen to the back of the line of men on the third night of their . All names, trademarks and images are copyright their respective owners. Spectacular Full Trailer for SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE! "I don't think it was until we were halfway through writing the story that came after that, 'Exile,' that we realized this was going to be a series, since by then we realized that 'Exile' was going to have to end with something pretty drastic happening, that would then need to be fixed in the following story, 'Return.' They didn't realize that Yahoo had an automatic Group Mailing List set up with the website, so when they started getting emails about stories they were totally surprised. One entity that may take an interest in this lawsuit is Embracer Group, the investment firm that purchased the rights to The Lord of the Rings outright and might not take kindly to unauthorized works being published. 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 . The group members were so close that Cassia and Sio sent them Christmas presents each yearonce, it was homemade bookmarks; another time, it was keychains. "We actually both 'knew' that our time with the MC had come to an end and would end in July 2005. 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. Cassia set up the website to host the stories so they had an archive. 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. 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. Cookie Declaration /// Privacy Policy 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. "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. Recently, I found Cassia and Sio's old AOL and Hotmail email addresses linked on a late '90s fanfiction website, valarguild.org, and found that one still workedSio's. "Sure, go ahead and shoot me," He said quietly, "You can go, and I'll leave." Slowly I lowered my bow, but keeping . The Mellon Chronicles is a 1.2 million word epic fanfiction series. 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. 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. A series of unfortunate events leads to Legolas being deadly wounded while hunting orcs. Stunning Trailer for STAR WARS: AHSOKA Teases the Heir to the Empire! 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. And we don't expect we shall return. ", Neither Cassia nor Sio ever published any more fanfiction, though Cassia now writes original fiction and Sio paints and draws. "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. That's rightthis 1.2 million word epic is a Lord of the Rings fanfiction series. "We decided to let it go, thinking we'd only get like a couple of people actually reading," Sio said. 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. ", "It was a wonderful and humbling feeling to see it take on a life of its own like that.". But that led to us co-writing our first story, which was actually a Star Wars fic called 'The Hunted. 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. The plaintiff, Demetrious Polychron, has filed a lawsuit against Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos, Jennifer Salke (the head of Amazon Studios), Simon . 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). When I was 12 years old, I became obsessed with an epic literary series. Eleanore was 12 when she started reading the Mellon Chronicles in 2002, and when the Hobbit movies came out a few years ago, she wanted to reread them, but found the original site gone. I struggled against his grip, but he was strong for a drunkard. Links monetized by VigLinkCustom Code and Design by, Free Reyes. Stories took from a few months to over a year to completeand were a considerable amount of work. But when darkness encroaches from within and without, they learn refuge can become a deadly trap. '", When the first Lord of the Rings movie came out in late 2001, both Cassia and Sio wrote their own fanfictionseparately. "We really didn't think people were reading the stories anymore. People are nuts. First, in 2002, Cassia wrote a dark short story called "Captive of Darkness," about a very young Legolas getting captured and tortured (including an implied rape) by evil humans before being rescued by Elrond. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. "I could easily spend between four to eight hours a day writing," Cassia said. 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. "I was totally in awe of her, which we still laugh about now. In early 2005, fanfiction.net removed the series completely due to new rules about using song lyricsthe Mellon Chronicles often used a song lyrics as an epigraph before a chapter or as a pagebreak between sections. Copyright 2008-2021, GeekTyrant Industries, LLC. "It was a wonderful and humbling feeling to see it take on a life of its own like that.". 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. "One Christmas there was something like 13 different countries we sent Christmas gifts to," Sio says. I'm blessed to have met her. Injured and alone, Legolas and Aragorn are forced to take refuge in a wintry foreign land. He only grinned. 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. "Friendship with her was the best thing that came out of the MC.". Sio says that it was simply time for the series to end. 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. ", "We tease that we're twins who were separated by a space/time warp event!" 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. Inspiration held for three years, from 2002 until 2005. Even then, we had no idea how long the series would become. 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. 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'd been hunting a rouge band of orcs, left over from the great war. Sio says. "She had written this super cool Star Wars story and I contacted her about it," Sio said. Copyright 2008-2021, GeekTyrant Industries, LLC. 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. Taking its name from the Elvish word for "friend," the Mellon Chronicles follows the misadventures of a young Aragorn and Legolas. The book even includes a dedication to Tolkien and his son before immediately using characters created by the legendary author. Now, she gets comments from readers both old and new. The story of the Mellon Chronicles begins in another fandom. We talk all the time. They set Lord of the Rings fanfiction tropes that other fanfic writers faithfully followed. He'd be out with Gimli and a few of Aragorn's men. "Friendship with her was the best thing that came out of the MC. Then, Sio wrote a short story about Aragorn and Legolas' first encounter called "First Meetings," giving Legolas the history that Cassia wrote for him. 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. In fact, we mean not to.". 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. "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. 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. 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;}. ", Cassia says that she and Sio "remain best of friends. It's called the Mellon Chronicles. This lawsuit is about as likely to succeed as Legolas missing his mark. Wicked Awesome New Trailer and Posters For DC Studios' THE FLASH! Cassia and Sioboth pen namesconnected while writing Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice fanfiction around 1999. After apparently taking a wrong turn in a mysterious forest, something happens to Legolas. After that, Cassia and Sio began collaborating on a story taking place immediately after "First Meetings. Sio added, "I was actually a horrible employee while we had the MC. It was a mutual thing and it was the right time," she says. 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. 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.