thanks_chief said:
I suppose what I'm asking is something like this - for those who read these works before seeing adaptations, could any adaptation do them justice?
If we're talking purely about adaptations, and them improving on the source material two shows come to mind.
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First is Netflix' Shadow and Bone, I've not read the book(s) and not completed the show so can't comment on it really, just wanted to throw it out there because the general opinion seems to be that it's somehow improved on the book which rarely happens.
Secondly is HBO's Watchmen. I've read the comic, I've read the follow up comic series as well (Doomsday Clock). I watched Snyder's movie quite a lot of times and actually love it, but Damon Lindelof's take on it really just elevates the source material.
It serves as more of a sequel to the original comic (though not in the way Doomsday Clock does). It also takes quite a lot of liberties, by any means Lindelof's spin on it resembles the source material less than Snyder's version and yet I think is infinitely better. So for the sake of the argument I do think straying from the source material can make it better, sadly enough not everyone is gifted enough to do so.
So answer would be yes, I think there's someone out there that could do it justice, or even more than.
Then again I would also say no however because with the amount of people out there a lot are gonna be unhappy with it somehow.
As for the last part, I have no clue what
Tolkien was like, so I don't know if he would've liked any of his adaptations.