For Those Who Died Today... Happy Deathday!

[satansaloser2005]

Looks like I missed number seven. Has it really been that long?

Time flies when you don't have a pulse, as they say. Mazel tov, young sir!

[Inziladun]

Another Deathday for me already? Fourteen years! It's amazing that as much as has changed for me in that time, this cozy old barrow is still here.

[Tar-Jêx]

Another Deathday for me already? Fourteen years! It's amazing that as much as has changed for me in that time, this cozy old barrow is still here.

Congratulations for being here for more years than rabbits live!

[satansaloser2005]

Another Deathday for me already? Fourteen years! It's amazing that as much as has changed for me in that time, this cozy old barrow is still here.

I keep forgetting how decomposed you truly are. :eek: Felicitations on another year of death, my friend!

[Inziladun]

Thanks much Tar-Jêx and Sally!

[Thinlómien]

I've been meaning to post on this thread all week -

guess what day it was on Monday?

My 10th deathday! :eek: :D

That's so strange, I mean I definitely remember thinking that my 10th anniversary will be in 2014 and being like "pfft... I will be so old then!" Great.

It does comfort me though that some people are even more decomposed than I am. *lumps lots of belated congrats at Inzil*

[Inziladun]

Congratulations, Lommy! And thanks for my decomposition wish! :D

[Galadriel55]

Very happy deathday to Lommy and Inzil, who are both remarkably more decomposed than I am. :)

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I have just noticed that the Downs was restored on my Death Day. How cool is that? 13 years among you clever and handsome sorts. Cheers. :smokin:

[Galadriel55]

I have just noticed that the Downs was restored on my Death Day. How cool is that? 13 years among you clever and handsome sorts. Cheers. :smokin:

Clearly, it was a deathday present for you. Feel special. :p

Happy bucketkickingday! :)

[Alkanoonion]

belated happy deadthday

[Galadriel55]

Happy deathday Guinevere!

[Mithalwen]

Not quite eleventy one but eleven years and one day since I joined the Downs. So glad it is still here

[Kuruharan]

Hooray Mithalwen! Happy Deathday!

[Galadriel55]

A decade and a year and a day! Woot!

Happy deathday, Mama Wolf!

[Guinevere]

Belated Happy Deathday to Mithalwen!
And thank you Galadriel for congratulating me on mine!! :)

[Morthoron]

Hey, I just noticed I have been dead for eight years as of last month. I've kept myself up remarkably well, obviously the effects of formaldehyde and Viagra. :D

[Galadriel55]

Congratulations, Morth, although they're a bit late. :)

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

It occurs to me that I have been dead eight years as of yesterday. I have been here for almost a decade. Where has the time gone!

[Galadriel55]

You're almost as dead as my siblings are old! :D Congrats! :)

[Pitchwife]

You're almost as dead as my siblings are old!
I adore this sentence and how it makes perfect sense on this forum, if nowhere else.

Happy deathday, TGEW! And Morth, too, with apologies for being two weeks late:o.

[HerenIstarion]

Actually, it's tomorrow, but I'm not sure about my net access tomorrow, so let it be today

So, 15 years (bar a day) ago yours truly joined this place

Admittedly, I've been somewhat idle for the latter half of that span, but verily active for the first half of it, and I used to know half of you that used to frequent the place back then much better than I know the other half of you frequenting the place now, but still, I'm thankful for the time spent here

And ya hey to Mr. Barrow-Wight, doubly so for establishing the place in the first half of my span here and for restoring it to life near the end of the my second half again

Not much of a bi...deathday speech, but at least I've tried to follow the lead of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, esquire, whose birthday we are also celebrating today

Cheers

[Inziladun]

Cheers indeed, sir! Happy Deathday!

[Galadriel55]

Hear hear! Congratulations, Heren!

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I seem to have missed my own 10 year anniversary... well done me!

[Inziladun]

Congratulations, Rune! Tempus fugit, eh?

[Galadriel55]

I seem to have missed my own 10 year anniversary... well done me!

Oh my! Congratulations! Dead in the double digits! :D

...And I just realized that I missed my 5th anniversary last month. :rolleyes: Somehow I think that the deader I get the less anniversaries I actually remember. :o

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Congratulations, Rune! Tempus fugit, eh?
Yeah, Sic semper tyrannis.
Sorry I don't know much latin.

Oh my! Congratulations! Dead in the double digits! :D

...And I just realized that I missed my 5th anniversary last month. :rolleyes: Somehow I think that the deader I get the less anniversaries I actually remember. :o

It all becomes routine with time.

[satansaloser2005]

Dead eight years today and loving it! It's been so lovely getting to know all of you fabulous nerds. :) I wouldn't change a thing. Well, almost. *waggles eyebrows*

[Galadriel55]

Happy deathday, sally! You might be the only one in several years to actually remember your deathday on your deathday. :D

[Formendacil]

A year ago today, the Barrow-downs had been down for about two days--I know that because it was the very beginning of what would be a four-to-five month hiatus for the site, a hiatus that would leave many of us fearful whether it would come back or not, and the reason I know it started a couple days before Jan. 6th last year was that I was waiting to celebrate my 10 year Death Date, and the site had just gone down. I was peeved that what I thought would be a three or four day outage would be timed just so as to obscure my one decade mark.

Well, it ended up obscuring quite a few Death Dates last year, but, happily, the community rallied together to fund a revival and the Barrow-downs is back. The past eleven years would not have been the same for me without it.

[Encaitare]

Eleven years? Psh, come back when it's eleventy-one. ;)

[Galadriel55]

Well, as a palindrome, 11 may even be a better number to celebrate than ten. It's also prime. It's just more interesting. So happy 11th! ;)

[Mithalwen]

Twelve years dead today and I am afraid I have become treeish for various reasons. Hopefully Merry and Pippin will be along shortly to stir my stumps.

[Inziladun]

Twelve years dead today and I am afraid I have become treeish for various reasons.

Happy D-Day!

Hopefully Merry and Pippin will be along shortly to stir my stumps.

They can handle it. ;)

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7600000/Pippin-and-Merry-merry-and-pippin-7669658-682-404.jpg

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I have been rotting here for nine years today. Happy deathday to me!

[Mithalwen]

Raise a glass or a teacup and remember Tolkien on the anniversary of his death.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Raise a glass or a teacup and remember Tolkien on the anniversary of his death.

One day late, but here's to you, Professor!

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I believe I have managed to miss my own deathday again.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I believe I have managed to miss my own deathday again.

I hate it when that happens!

[Aganzir]

My dear people! My dear Wights and Animated Skeletons, and my dear Shades of Carn Dûm and Piles O'Bones, and Haunting Spirits, and Ghost Princes of Cardolan, and Newly Deceaseds.

("Newly Deceased!")

Today is my tenth deathday: I am ten years dead today!

I am immensely fond of you all, and ten years is too short a time to be dead among such excellent and admirable corpses. ♥

I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT. I'm going to celebrate these ten years tonight (say, between 6-9 pm GMT) on skype, and you're all welcome to join me. We could do a Tolkien reading (or rather, I challenge you to read your favourite dwarf-related passage :D) or play Cards Against Humanity (http://pretendyoure.xyz/zy/), or both! While it's more fun that way, you don't necessarily need skype to play CAH, just in case you non-Europeans stuck at work would like to join. ;) But in any case, my skype is scavengerlikeme, feel free to add me!

[Galadriel55]

Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu!

Congratulations, Agan! :)

[Inziladun]

Huzzah, Agan! Here's to the next ten! :cool:

[Aganzir]

Thank you! :)

If you'd like to join Lommy and me for a game of Cards Against Humanity (with a strong Tolkien twist), here's the link: http://pyx-1.pretendyoure.xyz/zy/game.jsp#game=13 (password: bagginshield). We'll start when we have a few more people.

[Mithalwen]

Happy Deathday

[Aganzir]

Thanks Mith! :)

[Galadriel55]

Happy deathday sallycakes!

And I completely forgot mine this year. Ich.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Ha! I see, happy deathday to sally. And belatedly to you, G55, and also to Nerwen, as I just noticed!

[Galadriel55]

Thank'ee!

And seconded, happy deathday to Nerwen!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I vaguely remember the time when I was imagining what it would be like once I have been on the 'Downs for ten years. Back then, even the oldest members were not that old.

But here it is. It's been ten years. And the 'Downs, and you Downers, have had such a significant impact on my life, that... probably half of you don't know half as much how much, and more than half of you will never even know. I at least hope I have been able to return the favour in some way.

If I may be allowed to recount a bit of that ancient history, I believe I haven't mentioned to very many of you how exactly did I end up here. The undisputable fact is, that I am here I owe to the Holy Spirit. That is an absolute claim I can make with certainty.

Here is how it went: About a month before my actual Death, I had heard somewhere about the idea that the "Flame of Anor" (mentioned by Gandalf in The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm) was supposed to be a reference to the Holy Spirit. I thought it to be a fairly daring claim, which could probably be successfully defended, nonetheless obviously not something that would be the primal intention of the author.

However, out of curiosity, I googled something along the lines of "Flame of Anor - Holy Spirit". The first thing that came up was the 'Downs. I started reading a thread, then another. The interesting thing is I didn't register at that point. Only much later, when I had a different question of my own, I started thinking whom to ask - and remembered the Barrow-Downs. That question became my very first post, already showing some of my signature traits - namely, it was fairly long, and I got several reps for it in that sense (but positive). You would be able to look it up fairly easily, I believe, it was the very first thread I ever started and it concerned my favourite character, Saruman.

Ten years later, here I am. And the small act of joining the Barrow-Downs that long time ago has influenced my life in such a profound way that, if I should leave here some memento for future generations of 'Downers, it would be this:
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, making a post. You thank for a rep, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."

[Inziladun]

Cheers, Legate! You are an excellent representative of the spirit of the Downs that has kept me coming here for longer than I ever would have expected from an internet forum.

Here's to another 10. :)

[Galadriel55]

Seconded! Congratulations on the double digits!
It's weird to think that I've been dead longer than you were when I first joined. It seemed like everyone has been around so much longer.

And I wonder what it says about me that I also found the Downs through an unrelated Google search, and had to stick my not too well thought out opinion into the first thread I saw. :D Your story is way better, and as you say, you can always blame the Holy Spirit. ;)

[Pitchwife]

Thirded! Happy deathday, Legate, rest in peace and may the Fff-, er, Flame of Anor always be with you! Thank you for the story of your first visit to the Downs - the subject of your query strikes me as characteristic of both yourself and the forum, which has always been a good place to explore the spiritual and philosophical ramifications of Tolkien's legendarium. I also took the time to dig up your old trhead about Saruman's interest in the Shire and couldn't help smiling at the discussion of Saruman's smoking habit, which reminded me of my own first post here, answering a riddle of yours about this very subject.

Belated condolences also to G55, sally, Nerwen and Agan (how could I have missed this:mad:?)!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Thank you all for the warm, ee, cold wishes :) It has been truly a gift to be in such a company.

I also took the time to dig up your old trhead about Saruman's interest in the Shire and couldn't help smiling at the discussion of Saruman's smoking habit, which reminded me of my own first post here, answering a riddle of yours about this very subject.

Now you made me look it up, and I got sort of stuck reading the surrounding couple of pages. What fun! What a thread! And what an entry from you :)

[Thinlómien]

Well, I'm very glad you decided to join. :):Merisu::smokin:

[Kuruharan]

Three cheers for Legate!


\o/ \o/ \o/ Huzzah! \o/ \o/ \o/


\o/ \o/ \o/ Huzzah! \o/ \o/ \o/


\o/ \o/ \o/ Huzzah! \o/ \o/ \o/

[Galadriel55]

Three cheers for Legate!


\o/ \o/ \o/ Huzzah! \o/ \o/ \o/


\o/ \o/ \o/ Huzzah! \o/ \o/ \o/


\o/ \o/ \o/ Huzzah! \o/ \o/ \o/

For some reason this reminded me of the scene in Macbeth where the three witches make their prophecies.

Hail Legate, the guest of Galadriel in Lothlorien.

Hail Legate, who passes beneath the Argonath.

Hail Legate, who shall be... I don't know what's the next reputation level, and couldn't find it anywhere. Well, that wasn't a very good prophecy, was it?

[Kuruharan]

Hail Legate, who shall be... I don't know what's the next reputation level, and couldn't find it anywhere. Well, that wasn't a very good prophecy, was it?

We'll just have to give him more rep until we find out...

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Thank ye, dear fellow wights. Much appreciated.

As for reps, I believe there is something about being lost at Emyn Muil, but maybe that comes only later or I am just making it up. :)

[Galadriel55]

As for reps, I believe there is something about being lost at Emyn Muil, but maybe that comes only later or I am just making it up. :)

I guess no one has gotten lost yet. :)

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Dear me, I have become so treeish here that I completely missed my 15th death day last month! I may neglect this site, life being what it is, but I will never forget it and the role it has played in my life. Why, right now I am writing a chapter for an upcoming book on Middle-earth and music!

Without the Downs, I would never have made so many friends in real life, both Downers and other fans with whom I came into contact because it all started here. I would not be a published author (non-fiction) and I would certainly not have learned so much about the internet and how to use at least some of it! My book shelves would be emptier and so would have been many delightful hours I spent discovering new aspects of Tolkien and his works. And I would not have travelled to some of the wonderful places I have seen, either visiting friends or seeing Middle-earthian sights.

So here's to the Downs, which will be 17 years old soon - almost of age in modern human terms. May it live - oops! - moulder in peace for many years to come!

[Inziladun]

Happy D-Day, Esty! You really should come around more often (said the pot to the kettle). ;)

[Morthoron]

Ten years here.

How appropriate they refer to it as a "death day", because obviously I don't have a life. :D

And it's true my death day was actually 6-4-17, but it has been said by many that I would be late for my own funeral.

[Inziladun]

Ten years here.

How appropriate they refer to it as a "death day", because obviously I don't have a life. :D

Of course not. It is the Barrow-downs, after all. ;)

Happy D-Day, sir.

[Galadriel55]

Happy anniversary, Morth!

[Brinniel]

So, I did miss my death day by a month...but I realized today that though my activity on the Barrow Downs has been spotty, I still nevertheless have officially been a member of the forum for over 15 years now. Which means I have been "undead" for longer than I had been alive when I initially joined. Whoa. :eek:

[Galadriel55]

So, I did miss my death day by a month...but I realized today that though my activity on the Barrow Downs has been spotty, I still nevertheless have officially been a member of the forum for over 15 years now. Which means I have been "undead" for longer than I had been alive when I initially joined. Whoa. :eek:

Yeah. Whoa.

And happy deathday!

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I awaited August 2 with excitement, because that day marked my 10th (10th!) deathday. One decade on the Downs, the anniversary to which I had looked so forward to celebrating. The day just passed by without me noticing, and next thing I knew, the 2nd had come and gone. Anyway, here's to the Downs, here's to another decade!

[Inziladun]

Happy D-day, TGEW!

[Galadriel55]

Happy anniversary, TeaGEW!

[satansaloser2005]

Ten years ago today, and likely at about this time, a skinny fowl temptress convinced me to join some silly Tolkien website she'd been lurking on for a while.

"It's fun," she said.

"You'll like it," she said.

"Have you heard my one hour summary of the Silm?" she said.

That's probably when I tuned her out, but two and a half hours later, she was still talking, and I had joined my first Werewolf game. I don't regret a moment of it. (Well, maybe the phantom. :Merisu:)

Cheers to all of you fine people! I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, but I've killed some of you exactly as much as you deserve. :smokin:

Here's to ten years of being dead, and hopefully to many more!

[Galadriel55]

Happy Downsniversary Sally!

[Galadriel55]

it just struck me today that the oldest members of the forum (and in fact the forum itself) are turning 18 this year, a sort of Downer Coming of Age. Now we have a LOTR coming of age thread for becoming "mature" readers of Tolkien, but not really a way to recognize the coming of age of Downers. And of course it's more difficult to judge that. The Downs has many members who drop off never to return again, many of them barely making a couple posts before disappearing; it's easy to have made an account 18 years ago, it takes a bit more effort to actually be present for 18 years. And like in Fangorn Forest, some once active Downers become more and more treeish, but also some former lurkers become active posters. People come in and out as the currents take them. And sometimes you think that a Downer has become sleepier than Bilbo in ROTK and you're just about ready to give up on having a conversation with them, when out of the blue they wake up and make a Red Book-worthy post or score a record on the Fun and Games subforums.

So here's to all the Downers who are coming of age in their undead lives this year!


https://discourse-cdn-sjc2.com/standard10/uploads/kirstinmaldonado/original/2X/0/0676b28aef0f67dec6dd18006e8c2da5531d2504.gif

[Inziladun]

Cheers, indeed!

I don't know which is more amazing: that an internet Tolkien forum has lasted so long, or that I still check it every day after all that time. ;)

I really miss a lot of the old members, and the ones who predate my joining have nearly all been absent a long time. It's strange to think how much has changed in my own life since. I actually remember exactly the circumstances of how I stumbled upon the Downs, and my tentative first posts.

If someone had said back then I'd still be posting well into my forties, I'd have thought it as unlikely as a tree-man walking in the Northfarthing. :D

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

It really is rather remarkable.

I only remember to check the forum once or twice a month, but it still matters so much to my identity and how I perceive my self.

These days I mainly listen to lotr as audio-books, put on the Tolkien ensemble and occasionally play a bit lotro... but I miss being truly nerdy about this wonderful fantasy world.

[Mithalwen]

Fifteen years ago I joined the Downs. I may not have been so active but this place remains precious to me and so are many of the people.

[Inziladun]

Fifteen years ago I joined the Downs. I may not have been so active but this place remains precious to me and so are many of the people.

Congrats! I've been a bit less active myself, due to work and various issues, but I still come here every day. ;)

[Galadriel55]

Fifteen years ago I joined the Downs. I may not have been so active but this place remains precious to me and so are many of the people.

Happy birthday MummyMith! What would the Downs be without you? :) I wish you'd post more on the Downs, I get happy when I see the occasional post from you. :)

[Mithalwen]

I will try to be less treeish and post more. I have been reading a lot of John Buchan and want to post about the parallels between him and Tolkien. I just suffered from being separated from my books so long.

[Mithalwen]

I will try to be less treeish and post more. I have been reading a lot of John Buchan and want to post about the parallels between him and Tolkien. I just suffered from being separated from my books so long.

Bit of a fail on that front. Maybe when I am no longer an unlikely keyworker. Only managing work’ basic personal maintenance and sleep just now.

[Galadriel55]

Bit of a fail on that front. Maybe when I am no longer an unlikely keyworker. Only managing work’ basic personal maintenance and sleep just now.

Oh man! I hope things get better! But personal maintenance and sleep are important. We can wait. :)

[Brinniel]

Today is my 18th Deathday.

My Barrow Downs persona has now reached adulthood. :smokin:

[Thinlómien]

Today is my 18th Deathday.

My Barrow Downs persona has now reached adulthood. :smokin:Awwwwww, happy deathday! :)

[Inziladun]

Seconded!

[Galadriel55]

Somewhere between the WW refreshings this post got lost in my cookies and was marked as read without me seeing it. Happy belated deathday Brin! :D

[Pitchwife]

Happy deathday, Brinn! You're a properly hung & dried corpse now!

[Kuruharan]

Raving ego-mania drives me to note that I have now slipped past (without even noting it on the actual day) twenty years as a member of this forum.

I, in a way, draw some satisfaction that my posts per day stat sits squarely at .50.

A nice tidy number.

[Inziladun]

Happy Deathday, Kuru!

[Galadriel55]

Happy deathday, Kuru! May your shadow grow ever longer!

Ah yes, the average post per day stats. I wonder if they are accurate - I feel that they are skewed to the early days of prolific posting. Or, the posting was just that prolific. :D

[Formendacil]

Helped, perhaps, by Facebook memories in these latter years, the occasion of the great feast of the Epiphany never passes without me remembering my own, smaller, "epiphany," eighteen years ago today.

Not only has my Downs account come of age, since I was seventeen on the cusp of eighteen when I joined, this means I have now spent MORE of my life as a member of this forum--nay, this community--than I spent before joining it. I have rehearsed before that I probably would not live where I do, have married as I have, have the children I do, if it were not for the decision to sign up and participate here.

Though it probably isn't the sort of thing one articulates in most settings, it'd probably be ACCURATE to say that "Barrow-downer" is one of my most fundamental identities, even my truest citizenship, and perhaps it is permissible for me to say as much in this venue on this date.

[Galadriel55]

Happy deathday, Form, and many happy returns! I feel like the expression carries more literal sense here than in the birthday context - no matter where life takes you, I wish you many returns back to this old place, and may they be happy and numerous. There was a thread buried somewhere for the Tolkien Coming of Age Club; you make a point that now that the Downs has been around long enough that there is a fair handful of active Downers who could form a Downs Coming Of Age Club. :eek: I can also completely relate to the awe and discombobulation of realizing half your life has been spent on the Downs; having joined at a relatively young age, I will be hitting that point in the near future (or already hit it on my last birthday, depending on how you round), and find the thought absolutely baffling. Here's to the first 18, and - shall we say that now at last you are a fully fledged Downer in your own right, and your BD "career" is just dawning? ;)

[Lindolirian]

I love that this forum still exists. Sad how it has dwindled as social media took over on other sites (and life got busier for some of us). This was my first experience of online community back in the early 2000s and it was truly a great time to be discussing Tolkien online before and as the movies came out in theaters.

[Mithadan]

Good to see you Lindolorien!

[Galadriel55]

Ditto! :) Good to see you back!

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I love that this forum still exists. Sad how it has dwindled as social media took over on other sites (and life got busier for some of us). This was my first experience of online community back in the early 2000s and it was truly a great time to be discussing Tolkien online before and as the movies came out in theaters.

A pity in deed.

My mind cannot comprehend how I can strugle to sign in even once a month, when I use to do so several times daily.

[Suldaledhel]

It is shocking how quickly time flies! Every now and again I'll stop in to see if any familiar names pop up in the threads that are still active and subsequently reminisce about the past. Imagine my surprise when I log in after so many months (or has it been years this time? :eek: ) to find that it's my Deathday! How fortuitous! Of course, this was only surpassed by my surprise at seeing that twenty-four years have passed since logging into the Barrow-Downs for the first time! :eek::eek:

So a Happy Deathday to me, and a belated one to all the other wights who still haunt these forums! And thank you to the admins who keep the lights on after all this time!

[Mithadan]

Good to see you. It is amazing how time has passed.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Just popped in to wish my self a happy deathday... :D:smokin: