Tolkien Estate Forced TSR Renamings

In 1977, Elan Merchandising, acting on behalf of the Tolkien Estate, threatened Dungeons and Dragons publisher TSR with $500,000 in damages. The demand targeted TSR's Battle of the Five Armies board game and its use of dragon, dwarf, elf, ent, goblin, hobbit, orc, balrog, and warg. TSR dropped the board game and changed hobbits to halflings, ents to treants, and balrogs to balors, while retaining generic names such as dragons, dwarves, elves, goblins, and orcs. The parties settled out of court, so no judge formally ruled the remaining words public domain.

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