The LOTR Project would probably take longer to complete than it took J.R.R Tolkien to actually write the books. Emil Johansson has attempted to place every single character from Middle-Earth into one gigantic family tree. This means that he would have to go through the extensive J.R.R. Tolkien collections and mark down which characters are related to each other.
This isn't just the Lord of the Rings trilogy by the way; this is every single piece of middle earth lore known to man. The family tree is gigantic with connections going all sorts of directions with long lines of kings, sons, elves and hobbits.
This may be the greatest undertaking since the United States put a man on the moon. The LOTR Project will hopefully be made into a poster so nerds everywhere can hang it on their wall.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Massive Family Tree Collections
- More comprehensive collections of family trees for fictional universes could be created for widespread consumption by fans.
- Nostalgic Fan Merchandise
- Creating posters or other memorabilia for fan groups that have an emotional connection to a particular story universe could be a great business venture.
- Data-mining for Story Continuity
- Developing tools and software that mines data from long-established franchises could be crucial for maintaining continuity and avoiding plot holes.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Media Entertainment
- Media companies that hold the rights to popular fictional universes could easily expand their product line by creating similar family tree collections for their own intellectual properties.
- Fan-based Print Merchandise
- Print and merchandise companies that cater to popular fandoms could expand their offerings to include detailed family trees or other data that appeals to avid fan communities.
- Story Universe Analysis Tools
- Developing software that analyzes and collects data from sprawling story universes could offer researchers and story creators opportunities to create new content or streamline inconsistencies.
