Bored of the Rings (BOTR) is a short satirical novel by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney based on The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), a long, non-satirical novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was first published in 1969 by Signet for the Harvard Lampoon.
The novel is a fairly close parody in terms of its general plot, but is filled with cheap gags (e.g. the Palantír as a Magic 8-Ball etc.), a lot of bad punning (especially for names), unsympathetic and cowardly characters and dated 1960s references.
The Signet first edition cover, which parodies elements of the LOTR paperback cover by artist Barbara Remington [1], was drawn by Michael K. Frith. William S. Donnell's parody parody map of Lower Middle Earth subsitutes Tüdor for Gondor and Fordor with Mordor.
Notable characters from Lower Middle Earth (Middle-earth) include:
- Goodgulf Greyteeth, the good wizard; "a discredited Rosicrucian" and "a 32nd Degree Mason and Honorary Shriner" (Gulf Oil slogan) (Gandalf Greyhame)
- Boggies (Hobbits)
- Stomper, or Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt (Arrowshirt, a brand of men's dress shirt) (Strider or Aragorn, son of Arathorn)
- Gimlet, son of Groin (Gimlet cocktail and Groin) (Gimli, son of Glóin)
- Legolam' ("leg of lamb") (Legolas)
- 'Bromosel (Used to be an indigestion relief product) (Boromir)
- Eorache ("ear ache")
- Tim Benzedrine (Benzedrine, a stimulant drug popular during the 1960s) - referencing both Tom Bombadil and former Harvard professor Timothy Leary. (Tom Bombadil)
- Goddam ("God damn") (Gollum)
- Sorhed, the evil wizard, ruler of Fordor. ("Sore head", "four door") (Sauron)
- Serutan the wizard of Isinglass - (Serutan was the name of a laxative product; the product name is simply "Natures" spelled backwards
- Isinglass, a substance used in clarifying wine (see Isinglass). (Saruman, the wizard of Isengard)
External links
- Amethyst Angel's Bored of the Rings Webpage
- Richard F. Drushel's parody of the LOTR Appendices in the style of BOTR
- review of BOTR with cover art
- Wilderness Poster
Bored of the Rings is also the title of a video game, an adventure game, written by Fergus McNeill and first released by Delta 4 Software in 1985 and then later re-released by Silversoft. The game is a parody, but isn't based on the book with the same title. The game is in three parts and was written using The Quill and The Illustrator. It was later followed up with the prequel The Boggit.