Honestly, that's just them being themselves, consistent as always.
The villain there is those from Tolkien's estate who literally didn't even let his son's body get cold before selling the IP out to those people, whose track record was on display for all.
His own kin committed a betrayal against the man who assured their entire tree will never need to work again, and they did it shamelessly as that.
who assured their entire tree will never need to work again
On average, generational wealth disappears after 3 generations. Some "old money" certainly exists, but if it does so, it is entirely due to the efforts of the new generation, which may have had a leg up in education or networking, for sure, but they do still need to work again.
Most generational wealths aren't also reinvesting their original inheritance into a Movie Trilogy so big it basically increased the value of the original by a multiplicative amount.
Its probably true the book money would have run out after the next generation (as we are currently on gen 3 with his son just recently dying), but the media franchise is fresh and far more lucrative than it ever was prior to the year 2000.
Honestly, that's just them being themselves, consistent as always.
The villain there is those from Tolkien's estate who literally didn't even let his son's body get cold before selling the IP out to those people, whose track record was on display for all.
His own kin committed a betrayal against the man who assured their entire tree will never need to work again, and they did it shamelessly as that.
All true, but the Tolkien estate doesn't have shareholders.
On average, generational wealth disappears after 3 generations. Some "old money" certainly exists, but if it does so, it is entirely due to the efforts of the new generation, which may have had a leg up in education or networking, for sure, but they do still need to work again.
Most generational wealths aren't also reinvesting their original inheritance into a Movie Trilogy so big it basically increased the value of the original by a multiplicative amount.
Its probably true the book money would have run out after the next generation (as we are currently on gen 3 with his son just recently dying), but the media franchise is fresh and far more lucrative than it ever was prior to the year 2000.