Furry Lord of the Rings

[Spectral Anomaly]

Not surprisingly, it seems someone already went down the muppet path. Way down...

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

No, no -- hear me out.

Imagine Middle Earth along the lines of Redwall. Disney has acquired the LotR License gasp horror -- FOCUS HERE PEOPLE! -- and you need to cast the various characters and races with appropriate anthropomorphic animals. What do you choose and why?

Here's one: Elves are squirrels. It explains all the tree-hugging.

It depends on how closely we want to keep to Tolkien. If we want to keep the strictest closeness, then Canines would be the best bet with Elves as Wolves, Humans as Dogs, Hobbits as Small Dogs, and Dwarves as Painted Dogs (which can't interbreed with Wolves/Dogs but look similar enough). Orcs/Goblins would be vaguely Canine in shape but without a specific species (and without using the poor Hyenas).

If we're being different, then:
Elves as Cervine
Humans as Canines
Hobbits as Rabbits
Dwarves as Badgers
Orcs/Goblins as Pigs/Boars

If we're being really different:
Elves as Corvids
Humans as Rats
Hobbits as Mice
Dwarves as Goats
Orcs/Goblins as Felines

Either way, all wizards must either look like Nicodemus or the Great Owl from The Secret of NIMH.

 

[Dioltach]

Wasn't there already a meme with Miss Peggy as Eowyn? "But moi is not a man. Hiyaa!"

 

[Dausuul]

I agree with voles or mice for the hobbits, and foxes for the wizards.
Deer for the Elves.
Badgers for the Dwarves.
Men in general are dog breeds -- pugs or bulldogs in Bree, greyhounds in Rohan, Rottweilers or something in Gondor.
Aragorn and the Dunedain are cats. (Yes, this is inconsistent with most Men being dogs.)
Orcs are hyenas and/or weasels.
The Nazgul are snakes.
Trolls are bears.
Ents are... well, I'd probably leave them unchanged, but if I have to pick an animal, then elephants.
The Balrog is a saber-toothed tiger, to emphasize its "primeval" nature.
The Eagles are eagles.
Sauron does not appear on screen but is hinted to be a tyrannosaur.

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

For a Furry Lord of the Rings, what would the Lore be like? In Tolkien it's a mythic history of our Earth, but here it's simply not going to be. I've been playing around with ideas for had the setting not been Earth but it's not going to resemble Middle Earth except in the broadest way.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

... and Shelob, as herself.

 

[MarkB]

For a Furry Lord of the Rings, what would the Lore be like? In Tolkien it's a mythic history of our Earth, but here it's simply not going to be. I've been playing around with ideas for had the setting not been Earth but it's not going to resemble Middle Earth except in the broadest way.

What needs to change, except the species?

...Although, talking of species, if, say, Elves are deer and Men are dogs, what does that make Elrond Half-Elven?

 

[Dausuul]

What needs to change, except the species?

...Although, talking of species, if, say, Elves are deer and Men are dogs, what does that make Elrond Half-Elven?

Something thematically in between dogs and deer. Maybe a goat?

 

[MarkB]

Something thematically in between dogs and deer. Maybe a goat?

Great, now I've got an image of Hugo Weaving bleating "Ga-a-a-a-andalf!"

 

[Indagare Nogitsune]

What needs to change, except the species?

...Although, talking of species, if, say, Elves are deer and Men are dogs, what does that make Elrond Half-Elven?

Well, besides that, the Elves are Fading for many reasons in terms of original lore, but mostly it is a way to get from the magical past to the mundane present where we just don't encounter that sort of thing anymore. If it's not our Earth then there's no particular reason the Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and so on need to vanish. They can stick around and the world can stay fairly magical.