The translations of The Lord of the Rings into Swedish have been the subject of controversy. In particular, Tolkien took issue with the version made by the first Swedish translator, Åke Ohlmarks, where he detected numerous errors. That translation was superseded in 2005 by a new translation by Erik Andersson.
Ohlmarks' translation
was a prolific translator, who during his career published Swedish versions of Shakespeare, Dante and the Qur'an. His translation of The Lord of the Rings, however, was intensely disliked by author J. R. R. Tolkien, more so even than Shuchart's Dutch translation, as is evident from a 1957 letter to Rayner Unwin: Examples singled out by Tolkien in the same letter: Other dubious translations include Vattnadal "Water-dale" for Rivendell, apparently by way of taking riven for river. Snigelöv "Snail-leavings" for Esgaroth, apparently by association with French escargot "snail". The Ent Quickbeam becomes Snabba solstrålen "Swift Sunbeam", apparently taking beam in the sense of "beam of light" in spite of all Ents having "arboreal" names. Ohlmarks also appears to have forgotten what choices he had already made, and renders Isengard variously as Isengard, Isengård, Isendor or Isendal. In terms of style, Ohlmark's prose is hyperbolic and laden with poetic archaisms, where the original uses simple or even laconic language. The translation also contains numerous factual errors, straightforward mistranslations of idiomatic expressions and non-sequiturs, such as Ohlmarks' translation remained the only one available in Swedish for forty years, and until his death in 1984, Ohlmarks remained impervious to the numerous complaints and calls for revision from readers. After The Silmarillion was published in 1977, Christopher Tolkien consented to a Swedish translation only on the condition that Ohlmarks have nothing to do with it. After a fire in his home in 1982, Ohlmarks incoherently charged Tolkien fans with arson. He subsequently published a book connecting Tolkien with "black magic" and Nazism, including fanciful constructions such as deriving the name Saruman from "SA man" with an interposed Ruhm "glory", and conspiracy theories surrounding the Tolkien Society.
2005 translation
Ohlmarks' translation has only been superseded in 2005 by a new translation by Erik Andersson with poems interpreted by Lotta Olsson. This translation is considered much closer to the original, and abides by Tolkien's instructions. In the translation process, Andersson had access to a team of Tolkien fans as advisors. In 2007, Andersson together with John Swedenmark translated The Hobbit, making it the third Swedish translation of this book, but the first time that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were available in Swedish from the same translator. The translation project attracted great interest from both Tolkien fans and Swedish media in general. In 2007 Andersson published a book called Översättarens anmärkningar based on his diary during the project.
