The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Company names inspired by Tolkien

This is an (incomplete) list of companies inspired by Tolkien's Legendarium. Some are fun, some odd, and a few downright evil. 

Companies that were

Gandalf Airlines (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 

Yes, they would have the answer to the perennial question Why didn't they fly to Mordor? Well, they went broke a few years after their foundation would have been my answer but then this Italian airline even flew into Germany. I could have flown with Gandalf, damn it!

Middle-earth Furniture

You already have an article (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on this one :)

Rohan Nutrition (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 

Yes, things for the horsies. This Argentinian product seems to have been available for a couple of years, until rather recently.

Steinberg & Tolkien

Now, this used to be one of the most well-known vintage fashion stores (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in London, world-famously so. And the reason for the name is very much Tolkien - Tracy Tolkien, to be exact, wife of Simon Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Iron Crown Enterprises (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 

The name surely is a give-away: ICE used to be one of the most innovative and successful roleplaying and trading card game inventors. Well, it still is because the company is still there but they used to be very much Tolkienian. MERP and MECCG were amazing games, no doubt, and if you ask people knowledgeable how and why they were 'forced' (?) into bankruptcy around 2000 - there were films coming out, what a coincidence - we might never quite truly know (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

MERP: Middle-earth Roleplaying Game (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

MECCG: Middle-earth Collectible Card Game (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Nota bene: Fans are still playing the game as LURE (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).

Companies that are

Quite a few of the companies you will find in this Patreon post of mine (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - as official licensees - have Tolkien-inspired names. Middle-earth Honey, Water & Wine or the Rivendell Bicycle Works obviously took the names to better sell their products. My  favourite is the longest-standing owner of a Tolkien license (afaik!), Mithril Miniatures (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - made of metal, just like the Dwarves were working with mithril!

I would like to mention one company that has seriously floored me with their product.: ORCRIST OVERDRIVE. Yes, you can also get ASLAN GOOD OVERDRIVE. Wrought Iron Leather and Effects (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) do guitar & bass effects pedals and all fantasy is metal, right? 

Orcrist Overdrive (c) Wrought Iron Leather and Effects

J.R. Tolkien & Loth Loriën (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 

Now, this is a bit of a cheat because the company's name is Van der Rest Sail Charter but their two ships certainly are Tolkien-inspired. Rumours have it the bungled naming is due to the trademark issues and because the company did not want to pay a license fee - but those are only rumours, of course. If I ever have too much money to spend I'll certainly invite 31 friends to spend a weekend or so, maybe travel over from Hamburg to Bournemouth!

J.R. Tolkien & Loth Loriën (c) Van der Rest Sail Charter

Frodo's Pizza (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 

Yes, the name is trademarked, yes, it is official. Why not Pippin & Merry's Pizza? I don't know. Go to South Carolina, find out and let me know :)

The Paypal Mafia - and worse (?)

If you have never heard of the Paypal Mafia let me tell you that there is something like a 100% chance they have touched your life in some way or other. Basically, founders and/ or employees of PayPal like Elon Musk (Tesla), Reid Hoffmann (LinkedIn), Russell Simmons (Yelp), Jawed Karim (Youtube) have co-founded and/or financed some of the most influential tech companies of our times. 

And Peter Thiel.

He has founded Palantir Technologies, on several 'most evil companies on the planet' lists always with the Top 5 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and the Seeing Stones become the spectres of permanent surveillance as Sauron used them. For a full list of these companies see: The hidden logic of Peter Thiel’s “Lord of the Rings”-inspired company names (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). 

One of the most recent additions to Tolkien-inspired names is Narya Capital by J D Vance (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), a venture capitalist Republican, supported by Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt (former Google/Alphabet CEO) and Marc Andreessen (wrote MOSAIC and co-founded Netscape.)

So, if you are into tech in the US - often a billionaire - there is a certain chance you will be a danger to freedom and democracy everywhere - and love The Lord of the Rings.

Honorary Mentions

Rohan (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 

In 1972 Rohan was founded by Paul and Sarah Howcroft and was born in Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK and have been making world class technical clothing for over forty-five years. 

I would simply call it outdoor fashion and accessoires but then who am I to judge? Rohan would lend itself, of course, you know, with nature and all but the most famous claim to faim?

Messner and Haberer wore the WINDLORD GWALHIR JACKET for their first ascent without oxygen to the Everest.

Possibly a Tolkien link but rather tenous. Possibly just a joke ;)

Windlord Gwalhir Jacket, worn by Messner, Haberer 1978 (c) Rohan 

Bree (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 

Fashionable bags and such, has fallen victim to the pandemic (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). Founded in Hannover in 1970. 

No Tolkien link - the founder's name is Wolf Peter Bree.

Additional work to be done

SirionLabs

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This post was originally published (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on April 30th, 2021.
It has been made public for my move to Steady.