Bored of the Rings

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Bored of the Rings is the title of a paperback parody of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien; the title was subsequently used for a game based on the novel, and by Mad Magazine.

This short novel was written by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney. It was published in 1969 by Signet for the Harvard Lampoon.

The parody follows the general plot of The Lord of the Rings, including the preface, the prologue, poetry, and songs, while making light of all that Tolkien made serious (e.g., "He would have finished him off then and there, but pity stayed his hand. It's a pity I've run out of bullets, he thought, as he went back up the tunnel. . . "). Names and words in the various languages are parodied with brand names which mimic their sounds. There are many topical references, some of which, like some of the brand names, are now dated. Regardless, it has the unusual distinction for a parody of having been continuously in print for the decades since it was first published (as of 2007).

The book cannily includes five features which would be illegitimate in a non-humorous publication:

A laudatory back cover review, which on inspection was written at Harvard, possibly by the authors themselves.
Inside cover reviews which are entirely contrived, concluding with a quote by someone affiliated with a publication, Our Loosely Enforced Libel Laws.
A list of other books in the "series", none of which exist.
A double page map which has almost nothing to do with the events in the text.
The first text a browsing reader is liable to see purports to be a salacious sample from the book, but the episode never happens in the main text, nor does anything else of that tone: the book has no explicit sexual content.

The Signet first edition cover, a parody of the 1965 paperback cover by Barbara Remington [1], was drawn by Michael K. Frith. Current publications have different artwork, since the paperback cover art for Lord of the Rings prevalent in the 60s is now obscure to the point of being unknown. William S. Donnell drew the parody mapof Lower Middle Earth.

An oddity is the German translation called Herr der Augenringe (literally "Lord of the Eye Circles") which was done by Margaret Carroux († 1991). She is respected by the German Lord of the Rings fans for her 1969/1970 translation of the Tolkien novel.

1 Characters
2 Fergus McNeill adventure game
3 MAD Magazine series
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Characters

Notable characters from Lower Middle Earth
BOTR	Allusion	LOTR
Goodgulf Greyteeth, the good wizard	Good Gulf, a brand name used by Gulf Oil. Goodgulf was also "a discredited Rosicrucian" and "a 32nd Degree Mason and Honorary Shriner" (A philanthropic organization).	Gandalf Greyhame
Boggies	From bog or boggart or boogie.	Hobbits
Dildo Bugger of Bag Eye	Dildo; bugger.	Bilbo Baggins of Bag End
Frito Bugger	Fritos, a brand of corn chips.	Frodo Baggins
Spam Gangree	SPAM, a brand of processed, canned meat; gangrene.	Samwise Gamgee
Moxie Dingleberry	Moxie, a soft drink brand; see also dingleberry.	Merry
Pepsi Dingleberry	Pepsi, a soft drink.	Pippin
Stomper, or Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt	Arrowroot, a kind of starch used, for example, in bland biscuits for babies and the elderly; Arrowshirt Arrow, a brand of men's dress shirts, or the cartoon tradition of putting prisoners in clothing with arrows on.	Strider or Aragorn, son of Arathorn
Gimlet, son of Groin	A tool or cocktail gimlet; groin.	Gimli, son of Glóin
Legolam	Leg of lamb.	Legolas
Orlon	Orlon, a brand of acrylic fiber.	Elrond
Garfinkel	Garfinckel's, a department store chain.	Glorfindel
Bromosel	Bromo-Seltzer, an indigestion-relief product.	Boromir
Farahslax	Farah, the company making "action slacks".	Faramir
Benelux	Benelux, the union of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.	Denethor
Eörache, daughter of Eörlobe	"Earache"; Earlobe.	Combining Éowyn, daughter of Éomund, and elements of Arwen
Tim Benzedrine	Benzedrine, a stimulant drug popular during the 1960s, notably with Harvard professor Timothy Leary.	Tom Bombadil
Hashberry, wife of Tim Benzedrine	Hashish or the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.	Goldberry
Goddam	God damn, a common oath.	Gollum
Karsh, Narc of the fighting Otto-wah Goulash, Narc of the Ohma-hah	Yousuf Karsh, Canadian portrait photographer, Ottawa (tribe). Goulash, Omaha (tribe), Narc (Narcotics).	Uglúk, Grishnákh, Orcs, Uruk-hai
Cellophane and Lavalier	Cellophane, an inexpensive cellulose product; Lavalier, a jewelled pendant.	Celeborn and Galadriel
Birdseye of the Vee-Ates	Birds Eye, a company selling frozen vegetables (also obliquely references their competitor's trademark the jolly Green Giant). V8 (beverage), a vegetable drink.	Treebeard of the Ents
Sorhed, the evil wizard, ruler of Fordor	"Sore head"; four door, describing a style of car.	Sauron, ruler of Mordor
Serutan the wizard of Isinglass	Serutan is a laxative ("Natures" spelled backward); Isinglass, a fish by-product used clarifying wine, or isinglass (mineral), a transparent mica.	Saruman, the wizard of Isengard
Gwanho the Windlord, an eagle	Guano, bird or bat droppings.	Gwaihir
Wormcast	Worm castings.	Gríma Wormtongue
Schlob	Slob or schlub.	Shelob
Ballhog	Ball hog, a sports team member who consistently and inappropriately keeps the ball during play.	Balrog
Narc	Narc, an undercover narcotics agent.	Orcs

[edit] Fergus McNeill adventure game

Bored of the Rings is an adventure game, written by Fergus McNeill. It was first released by Delta 4 in 1985, and later re-released by Silversoft. It was inspired by, but not based upon, the Harvard Lampoon version. In these games, Frodo and Bilbo Baggins were renamed Fordo and Bimbo Faggins. The game is in three parts and was written using The Quill and The Illustrator. It was later followed with the prequel The Boggit.

[edit] MAD Magazine series

Bored of the Rings is the running title of MAD Magazine's parodies of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. All three parodies were illustrated by Hermann Mejia and written by Desmond Devlin.

MAD Magazine parodies of LOTR films
Film subtitle	MAD Magazine subtitle	First appeared
The Fellowship of the Ring	The Feeble Shtick of Ka-Ching!	April 2002
The Two Towers	The Two+ Hours	April 2003
The Return of the King	Rehash of the Thing	April 2004

While a few of the characters have the same parodied names as listed above or similar ones (notably Legolamb, Sorehead, and Spam Gangrene), the rest have different names. Other characters in these parodies include: Dodo Gaggings, Billboard Gaggings, Gandoof the Gray (or Gandoof the White), Argon, Gimmicki, Golfclub (aka Cheeseball or Jar-Jar Jr.), Baggybuns, Pimple, Peppercorn, Aspercreme, and the Slobbits. The parodies emphasize the films' tortured or illogical plot points and sometimes glacial pacing:

Billboard Gaggings: "Dodo, I want you to have this. It's magic Slobbit chain mail that will protect you from harm!"

Dodo Gaggings: "Nice timing! The only way this gift could matter more to me is if I'd gotten it back in the Shire! You know, like before I got stabbed?"