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This news bears some import and worth mentioning here. Are these tidings of Gandalf Stormcrow, or of a merrier bent similar to a Long Expected Party?

We are calling this 'news' although he actually retired more than two months ago, in August. Not a criticism, just an observation.

I guess that the importance of the resigning is that we're seeing the consequences of it right now, in the form of the agreement for a TV Series.

The box of Pandora of Middle-earth as a cash machine has been opened for real. I don't feel it has to be an issue: certain products will be good, and certain others will be bad. As fans of Tolkien, we'll simply have more offer to pick from. Only for collectors will this probably become a nightmare!

All in all, whatever is made of the Middle-earth brand in the future, nothing will take away the fact that the wonderful books are already written, and they'll be forever ours to enjoy as they were envisioned by the Professor. Everything else will be optional. And I'm sure some very good and creative things will also come out of it (see The One Ring or some boardgames, for instance ).

Endless variations of explaining, "That's not in the books..."

Dark tidings indeed. Problem with more cinematic variations going on in Middle Earth is that the secondary products also start to take these variations as their base. Such as many video games that took the looks of the movies instead of the books. One of the only examples I can think of for the opposite is the FFG's LOTR card game which has amazing art work that is based on the books.

I for one am not in a panic about this. My take on it is: There will be a lot more stuff. That will mean a lot more bad stuff that dilutes the canon, but we already have bad stuff that dilutes the canon (Shadows of War, anyone?) and I already know how to avoid it. Yes, that means more players who don't know the canon; whatever new bad stuff comes out might be a gateway to the good stuff for some of them, but not most. Just like the bad stuff already out now.

But it could also mean more good stuff. Obviously, TOR is at the top of that list. Cubicle 7, and other adapters that love and respect the source material, could have access to a lot more of it now. They will still have to satisfy very strict adherence to canon because they know we are watching, and most likely, because they know they're watching themselves. At least they won't also have to worry about the legalistic fiddly-bits about which bit of canon comes from which source, with an army of combative, litigious Uruk-Lawyers hovering over their shoulders, too.

Ultimately, no one is coming to take away my books. Just be ready to do the same sorting-out of good from bad you already do, and everything's going to be fine.

This opens the door to a Game of Thrones style multi-season series of (parts of) The Silmarillion. One can only dream.

Yes! Even more opportunities for me to pour condescension upon the pop culture masses! I’m giddy with anticipation.

Oops. Freudian slip.