Ace Books tried to steal his work, with their own paperback release, and the founders were just fans who discovered this fact after Tolkien told them about it, in responses to their fanmail. Ace got fucking clowned by the mob of angry fans, and ironically helped him in the end, as the official release gained traction. Then one day, a bitch showed up and started pontificating on how evil it was that "Eowyn was told to stay at home, because she was a girl, and girls have cooties and don't belong in war." Also something something orcs are coded black, all because Peter Jackson didn't actually read the goddamn novel.