Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings Film Will Corrupt Tolkien's Moral Vision

Source: John Daniel Davidson. "Hollywood Is Still Trying To Corrupt J. R. R. Tolkien’s Work." March 27, 2026. thefederalist.com

The Gist

Davidson argues that Stephen Colbert's new Lord of the Rings movie will ruin Tolkien's work because Colbert gets basic story facts wrong and completely misses the deeper Catholic themes about sacrifice and peace. He thinks turning Sam's daughter into an action hero goes against everything the original story was trying to say about the heroes' sacrifices creating a peaceful world.

Conclusion

Stephen Colbert's upcoming Lord of the Rings spinoff will corrupt Tolkien's work and reduce it to pop culture slop because it fundamentally misunderstands Tolkien's moral and religious themes

Premises

1. Colbert's script contains factual errors about Tolkien's story, claiming Frodo 'passed away' when he actually departed to the Undying Lands
2. The plot makes Elanor, Sam's daughter, an adventure protagonist, which contradicts her symbolic role as the peaceful fruit of Frodo and Sam's sacrifice
3. Elanor represents the blessed generation born after the War of the Ring, symbolizing the peace and domestic bliss that the heroes' sacrifices made possible
4. Tolkien's work is anchored by a deeply moral Catholic vision where some sacrifices can only be ameliorated by divine grace
5. The proposed plot about discovering 'long-buried secrets' about the Ring betrays misunderstanding of what Frodo and Sam accomplished by destroying it
6. Anyone who doesn't understand these basic themes has no business writing a Lord of the Rings film

Assumptions

• Faithfulness to source material requires understanding the author's deeper moral and religious themes, not just plot details
• Popular culture adaptations tend to corrupt serious literary works when creators lack proper understanding
• Tolkien's Catholic worldview is essential to understanding his work correctly
• Commercial Hollywood productions prioritize entertainment over preserving artistic integrity

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