Bored of the Rings
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Bored of the Rings (BOTR) is the shared title of various independent parodies of The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), a novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.
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Bored of the Rings is a short novel by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney that parodies Lord of the Rings. 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 the various languages are parodied by using brand names of products which mimic their sounds. There are many topical references which, like the brand names, are now dated.
The Signet first edition cover, which parodies the (1965) LOTR paperback cover by artist Barbara Remington [1], was drawn by Michael K. Frith. William S. Donnell's parody map of Lower Middle Earth substitutes Tüdør for Gondor and Fördør for Mordor.
| BOTR | Allusion | LOTR |
|---|---|---|
| Goodgulf Greyteeth, the good wizard | "a discredited Rosicrucian" and "a 32nd Degree Mason and Honorary Shriner" (Brand name of a Gulf Oil product) | Gandalf Greyhame |
| Boggies | (not for the faint of heart) | Hobbits |
| Dildo Bugger of Bag Eye | Dildo; bugger | Bilbo Baggins of Bag End |
| Frito Bugger | Fritos, a corn chips brand | Frodo Baggins |
| Spam Gangree | SPAM, a food brand; gangrene | Samwise Gamgee |
| Moxie Dingleberry | Moxie, a soft drink brand; see also dingleberry | Merry |
| Pepsi Dingleberry | Pepsi, a soft drink brand | Pippin |
| Stomper, or Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt | Arrowroot, a brand of bland biscuits for babies and the elderly, and
Arrow shirt, a brand of men's dress shirt |
Strider or Aragorn, son of Arathorn |
| Gimlet, son of Groin | the tool or cocktail gimlet, groin | Gimli, son of Glóin |
| Legolam | "leg of lamb" | Legolas |
| Orlon | Orlon, an acrylic fiber | Elrond |
| Garfinkel | Garfinckel's, a chain of department stores | Glorfindel |
| Bromosel | Bromo-Seltzer, an indigestion-relief product | Boromir |
| Farahslax | Farah (company), producer of "action slacks" | Faramir |
| Benelux | Benelux, an economic union of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg | Denethor |
| Eörache, daughter of Eörlobe | "ear ache", Earlobe | Éowyn/Arwen |
| Tim Benzedrine | Benzedrine - a stimulant drug popular during the 1960s - and former Harvard professor Timothy Leary | Tom Bombadil |
| Hashberry, wife of Tim Benzedrine | Hashish, Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco | Goldberry |
| Goddam | "God damn" | Gollum |
| Karsh, Narc of the fighting Otto-wah
Goulash, Narc of the Ohma-hah |
Yousuf Karsh, Canadian portrait photographer. Ottawa (tribe), | Uglúk |
| Cellophane and Lavalier, Elves | Cellophane, a polymer of processed cellulose; Lavalier, a jewelled pendant | Celeborn and Galadriel |
| Birdseye of the Vee-Ates | Birds Eye, a company producing frozen vegetables
V8 (beverage), a vegetable juice drink |
Treebeard of the Ents |
| Sorhed, the evil wizard, ruler of Fordor | "Sore head";
"four door," evil kingdom opposed to "Two-dor" (Tudor) |
Sauron, ruler of Mordor |
| Serutan the wizard of Isinglass | Serutan is the name of a laxative product, the name of which is "Natures" spelled backwards;
Isinglass, a substance used in clarifying wine. |
Saruman, the wizard of Isengard |
| Gwanho the Windlord, an eagle | Guano, the collected droppings of birds | Gwaihir |
| Wormcast | Worm castings | Gríma Wormtongue |
| Schlob | "slob" | Shelob |
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 up with the prequel The Boggit.
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.
| 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 (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?"
- Amethyst Angel's Bored of the Rings Webpage
- Richard F. Drushel's parody of the LOTR Appendices in the style of BOTR
- Richard F. Drushel's parody of "The Scouring of the Shire" in the style of BOTR
- Review of BOTR with cover art
- Wilderness Poster
- Bored of the rings radio plays
- Adventure game: information and screen shots