What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

[RingFinder]

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What does it maen to be a fan of the works of Tolkien? Is it just reading his books and liking it or does their have to be some other express. I would think that it would require some kind of express, in to so form.

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[Glorfindel]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

I think it is being a fan is the feeling you get, when other people cant talk about tolkien and you can have a very intellegent conversation about many things &quot;Tolkien.&quot;

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[Mithrandir]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

I dont think that there is an exact defination for a Tolkien fan, here we are all fans, but some more into it than others. I think that being a fan has to do with reading and becoming totally absorbed in tolkiens works and wanting to know more and keep learning about the world that he created in his writings. i think all that is needed to be a Tolkien fan is to have a passion for his writings.

The Road goes ever on and on </p>

[HerenIstarion]

It means nothing special but just reading his books and liking it

Tokien fandom is not a clan, nor friction.

[Odysseus819]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

<blockquote>Quote:<hr> tokien fandom is not a clan, nor friction <hr></blockquote>


Huh???

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[HerenIstarion]

Sorry, wrong word, my English is not flawless, I meant 'faction'

[The X Phial]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

To me, being a fan means more than just liking something, whatever you happen to be talking about at the time. For me it means wanting to know more about the subject, or feeling passionate about the subject. In other words, you might enjoy a football team, but you wouldn't be considered a fan of that particular team unless you held beliefs about that team being different or unique in some way. Ok, now I think I'm just rambling. I hope I made some sort of sense. <img src=wink.gif ALT=";)">

-*-The X Phial-*- You must believe in free will, you have no choice. Isaac Singer</p>

[Balin999]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

hm i dont like being called a tolkien &quot;fan&quot;
because when i hear the word fan i have to think of people who know just one writer/band/actor and only like him and dont accept any other works by any other actors/writers/bands, in other words, are intolerant.


Behold the King of Moria!</p>

[Samwise of the shire]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re:What does it mean to be a Tolkien fan?

&quot;Fan&quot;for me is an understatment,I'm a Tolkien Freak,I just have to wait until I can thourouly understand ALL of his works and not just LOTR,but until then I'm content with LOTR and finding websites on the net.
Balin &quot;Fan&quot;does'nt exactley mean that you like only one actor or only on author,it means you ADMIRE a certain actor/author/band,meaning you like the way they think,act,write, and sing,so you can like a certain band while liking their rivals at the same time.Did that make sense?
Sam

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[amyrlis]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

It is so different for everyone, but to me….


Being a Tolkien fan is standing at the edge the forest and hearing far off the song of the fair folk as they dance with the fireflies in their hidden glades. Feeling the rush of Manwe’s breath on your skin and hearing Ulmo’s sigh in the waves. Staring a little longer at the riverbed in hopes of finding your own ring of power or jewel of light. And your favorite time of day is that twilight moment when the sun’s light just fades over the western hills but the moon and the evening star sit high on the east horizon.

It is believing in a world and a race that may or may not have ever existed – but you dream with your heart that it had. And you muse that perhaps you are a descendant of the children of Fingolfin and your ancestors feasted at the fountains in Gondolin. You study a map of this world to find the traces of Middle-Earth and you swear you’ve found Amon Rudh in an unpopulated area just south of town.

It is wishing that you could dream things and write words such as his. Put things down on paper that tear another’s soul to pieces and make it soar at the same time. Or that you could draw, paint or sculpt –turn the world he’s built in your mind into something concrete, something tangible. The admiration is so great that you still marvel, as though caught unaware, at the beauty and anguish of a passage you’ve read thirteen times before and will read thirteen times again. And you may close the book when you have finished, but you never place it away on a shelf, no, it stays close to you, on your night stand with the others, waiting until next time….


Forgive me for being so dramatic (do I sound like a head case?!?) – this stuff just moves me! Not to mention that I’m reading the Sil again and just finished the part where Finrod dies in the pit at Tol-in-Gauroth. Oh the sweet sorrow!


-amyrlis <Br>These are indeed strange days. Dreams and legends spring to life out of the grass. -Eomer</p>

[the Lorien wanderer]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

That was utterly beautiful. It moved me in a way that I'm sure you understand.

What if - what if this is as good as it gets?</p>

[The X Phial]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it mean to be a tolkien Fan?

I too was moved by this description. I lose the sense of wonder in the world sometimes, and just the thought of a time and place where elves dance at twilight and commune with the stars is enough to break me out of my funk.

-*-The X Phial-*- "Yet more fair is the living land of Lorien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth!"</p>

[Gilthalion]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it mean to be a tolkien Fan?

I can't add a lot to what has been written here. Obviously, anyone who goes to the trouble of posting to Tolkien message boards is a fan!

Fan is short for FANatic.

While one need not like Tolkien works to the exclusion of other author's efforts, fandom means that the appreciation for Tolkien's work is greater.

In fact, the more I read of other authors, the greater I do appreciate Tolkien's work!

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[Mithrandir]

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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: What does it maen to be a tolkien Fan?

Very well said, amyrlia. Sometimes I can catch a glimpse of ME in the world today, but as soon as I see it, it is gone. But still, its the hoping thats the greatest part.

The Road goes ever on and on </p>

[Estelyn Telcontar]

As a newcomer, I just discovered this thread and Amyrlis' definition - poetic, beautiful and touching! Thanks!

[amyrlis]

Thank you all for the kudos! It's a rare moment when creative juices are flowing in me and I feel I got a bit carried away up there. But, having just finished re-reading The Hobbit last night, I know that my love of Tolkien's works runs deep in my heart. I love having a place to share it!

[Eowyn of Ithilien]

amyrlis...thankyou smilies/smile.gif that was beautiful, n it's how I feel too

[Maltagaerion]

I know what you mean about just catching a glimpse of something belonging to Middle Earth out of the corner of your eye, but when you look its gone. I was hiking in the mountains near my town the other weekend and I kept thinking about the Nine Walkers on their journey after leaving Rivendell, kind of imagining I was one of them. If felt great smilies/smile.gif

Tolkien Fandom can exist on so many levels though. One can just barely scratch the surface and be rather content with that or be a Tolkien lore-master like Telchar (that guy amazes me with his knowledge of Tolkien lore).

I don't, however believe there is a certain criteria one has to meet to be a 'fan'

[Aralaithiel]

Amyrlis---that was the most exquisite prose I have ever laid eyes & mind on! smilies/smile.gif I am glad to know there are others who feel as I do about these works of Tolkien! Alas, my hubby thinks I have gone mad, but he doesn't care for anything of Tolkien's genre. smilies/frown.gif That's OK though. He did go see the movie with me! smilies/smile.gif

[Thingol]

Like Tolkien's works themselves, being a fan is different for every person. I think that this is why some people will get so caught up and even angry when discussing Tolkien's works. People do not want their own image of Tolkien's works to be infringed upon; everyone views Middle Earth in their own way, and this view of Middle Earth is very, very, very, very personal. For me, being a Tolkien fan means yearning to go to Middle Earth. A day does not go by where I do not think about traveling to Middle Earth to fight alongside the elves against Morgoth and Sauron, to walk in the forest and meadows of Lothlorien and Rivendell, or to gaze upon the white walls of Minas Tirith and Gondolin. I know that if there were some magic portal that could take me to Middle Earth I would not hesitate to leave everything behind and step in.

[Daisy Sandybanks]

Originally posted by RingFinder:
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What does it maen to be a fan of the works of Tolkien? </p></STRONG>

Originally posted by RingFinder:
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What does it maen to be a fan of the works of Tolkien?
</p></STRONG>

Actually I do have to admit that I wasn't a fan of Tolkien's work untill the movie came out(like most newbies are). But after I saw the movie I HAD to read the books. I liked the movie, but I found myself realy caught up in the books. I LOVE them, I love everything about his books! From the style in which he writes them to the detailed personalities every character has.
Ever since I saw the movie and finished reading the books(along with The Hobbit), I haven't been able to go one day without mentoning something(wheater it be little or big) about the characters or the way he puts so much detail into the simplest things.
I think i'm driving all my friends mad, because none of them seem to share the same feelings that have over these books(and none of thm have read all three LOTR books aong with The Hobbit).
Well, thats my reason, or meaning, for being a fan... smilies/biggrin.gif

[SilofUSDA]

omg, amyrlis, that ruled!!, I wish I were more like that @>@, I've read the lord of the rings and the hobbit twice, I've started the silmarillion twice but summer reading always stops it half way through :/
I concider myself a fan because I love it and want to learn elvish(wont happen sadly)
and none of my friends give a flip for it, but I LOVE IT!!!
sil

[goldwine]

I think that a Tolkien fan is someone who enjoys his works, and in varying degrees lives in Middle Earth! I guess, as the 'Bible and the trilogy' posts prove, you can relate so many aspects of the stories to your life and beliefs. The stories hold wonderful elements of truth with are so in tune with real life.
Being a fan is why we meet on the net like this - only other fans enjoy chatting about Tolkien - it spares our friends and families all that extra boredom when they just don't get it!!!!!!!

[Balefalathiel]

For me it's almost a lifestyle.. smilies/biggrin.gif

[Gorothlammothiel]

To be a fan of Tolkien is not something that is definitve, when you call yourself a fan, you are a fan. It doesn't take any special achievement to be a fan, just appreciation of J.R.R. Tolkien's work....

[DeadSexyFireElf]

I would say that being a Tolkien fan is....
wishing more then anything that it was real. You live more in Middle Earth then in the real world. You dream of being there, you think of being there. Its when you would rather read The Fellowship for the tenth time then go out with your friends. It is when you know what Frodo would say if he was talking to you. Its when you love every aspect of the work, the good and the evil. Its when you yearn for more and when you are never content with all you know but strive to know more. Its when you labor over maps, painings, sculptures, short stories and sketches just trying to make the image in your head real. You hope that someday you can have a garden like Sam's, A little piece of Lorien, your own little middle earth. Not too much to ask for is it?

[Eärendil]

Amyrlis, could you send an e-mail, want to speak to you about something... smilies/smile.gif This can affect my schoolwork too, so...
My e-mail is enbulle_nr2@hotmail.com

[Lush]

Actually, to be considered for the cult of True Tolkien Fandom, you must get branded with a hot iron in the shape of a symbol of your choice. Mine is the beer mug, of course. It's located on my...nevermind. smilies/biggrin.gif

[amyrlis]

Alas, if I didn't already have two tattoos, I would certainly get one of my name in elvish runes!

[twinkle]

it means to have come into contact with tolkien's work and to have loved it.....
it means the desire to visit his world as often as possible....to learn all there is to know and more.....
it means to appreciate the gift that tolkien has bestowed upon all of us and revel in it....

this is what it means to me....

-twinkle

[Ilúvatar]

In my opinion, it is that you really think Tolkien is good and you get kind of a "special" feeling or something like that, when you read the books/watch the movie(s) etc. I dont think it has anything to do with how much you know, it's the feeling.

[Jessica Jade]

I totally agree with you, Elven Chika! You know you're a true Tolkien fan when you'd rather live in Middle Earth than our world. At times I have felt that way...that i'd give up my life and everything in it...my industrialized 21-st century world with fast cars, computers, cell phones...sometimes i think i'd like to give it all up, in a second, if i could only go and live in Middle Earth forever. I`d want to live in the sacred, timeless, golden wood of Lothlorien, or in peaceful Rivendell. I think i'd honestly would rather live in a world like that than in this place and time. Reading Tolkien has made me sick of our industrialized stressful lives in the 2000s. I long for an escape into heroism and adventure, full of entralling grandeur and peaceful beauty.Middle Earth is not exactly a Utopia, yet it IS a perfectly harmonious world. Who wouldn't love to be transported there, to such a timeless, melodious place?

[Jessica Jade]

Being a Tolkien fan is standing at the edge the forest and hearing far off the song of the fair folk as they dance with the fireflies in their hidden glades. Feeling the rush of Manwe’s breath on your skin and hearing Ulmo’s sigh in the waves. Staring a little longer at the riverbed in hopes of finding your own ring of power or jewel of light. And your favorite time of day is that twilight moment when the sun’s light just fades over the western hills but the moon and the evening star sit high on the east horizon.

It is believing in a world and a race that may or may not have ever existed – but you dream with your heart that it had. And you muse that perhaps you are a descendant of the children of Fingolfin and your ancestors feasted at the fountains in Gondolin. You study a map of this world to find the traces of Middle-Earth and you swear you’ve found Amon Rudh in an unpopulated area just south of town.

It is wishing that you could dream things and write words such as his. Put things down on paper that tear another’s soul to pieces and make it soar at the same time. Or that you could draw, paint or sculpt –turn the world he’s built in your mind into something concrete, something tangible. The admiration is so great that you still marvel, as though caught unaware, at the beauty and anguish of a passage you’ve read thirteen times before and will read thirteen times again. And you may close the book when you have finished, but you never place it away on a shelf, no, it stays close to you, on your night stand with the others, waiting until next time….


I wanted to add that what you wrote was beautiful, Amyrlis!!(that is, if you still come here...you did post that almost a year ago) smilies/biggrin.gif No one could have captured the essence of what it's like being a TOlkien fan better than you did. smilies/biggrin.gif I really enjoyed that post! And noo it's def. not over dramatic ..i'm sure all of us feel the same way, just couldn't put it into words the way you did. smilies/biggrin.gif

[Glenethor]

I shouldn't write this stuff at 3:00 AM, but...

I revere Tolkien's work, and I can't say that about a lot of 20th century art. It has influenced my perception of the world from the moment I first opened the LoTR 25 years ago.
I've always referenced LoTR against the 'real world' (without getting too allegorical) and now is no exception. 'A new Power is rising,' according to Saruman, and we have had many people since 9/11/01 say that 'the world is changed.' So, when the first words in the movie were 'I amar prestar aen' I was shaken to my core. We don't know how it is all going to end. As the books say, the Shadow may retreat for a period, and then reappear in different guise. And so it has. The battle between Good and Evil. I have studied Evil, on both a macro and micro level ( I know, beware of looking into the abyss. It ensnared Saruman) and so as events in the 'real world' unfold against the backdrop of LoTR, I have this bedrock of Faith there...that Evil cannot prevail. So too, the books reawakened me to the Good, the Beautiful, the Noble which are more powerful than Evil and morbidity. In essence, it brings me closer to God. So, ME is 'real' to me, insofar as I filter my worlds (internal and external) through Tolkien's vision.

And that was beautiful, Amyrlis!

[ March 15, 2002: Message edited by: Glenethor ]

[VanimaEdhel]

I think being a Tolkien fan is appreciating his work. Just loving his work and how he wrote...everything like that. You do not have to be an expert on all of his work and languages, for I am far from that...I just love reading his works. I am only 14, so I have my whole life to read his books, and I intend to, because I am a fan!

[Lush]

It's funny you should say, or rather post, that, Glenethor, because LotR definitely struck me as a book that could read as a warning for the world. It pierced my heart because I related it to Russia as well, and all that once was, and the terror that came. It also awakened in me a newfound fear of globalization, which I equate with the coming of the Antichrist (no, really, I'm not insane, the voices just like to speak to me smilies/wink.gif ); particularly the phrase, "ONE ring to rule them all..."
*Brrr* I have lived with a sense of impeding doom in my heart, it's a quiet feeling without all the rushes of paranoia, yet it is steadfast. This is why LotR affected me in such a strong fashion, and this is part of why I am a newfound Tolkien fan.

[Glenethor]

That is an interesting reply, Lush. Which is the Light, and which is the Dark?
smilies/smile.gif

PM me anytime you'd like to discuss your views on this stuff. My door, so to speak, is open!
smilies/smile.gif

[Thalionyulma]

What makes one a JRRT fan? Its many things actually, depending on how you approach his works. Tolkien has been my favorite because his works are like a journey/quest in life.

GLEN & Lush,
U both got interesting, uummm can I say, "interpretation" of his works.
smilies/smile.gif

[Glenethor]

It is more the other way around: Tolkien's work influences my 'interpretation' of the 'real world.' As I said, I don't even attempt to try to fit Tolkien's writing too closely to the 'real world,' if by that you mean attempt to correlate historical events and personalities in a direct way. It is a matter of universal themes and archetypes,really, coupled with his scholarship, that resonate so strongly with me.

[ March 17, 2002: Message edited by: Glenethor ]

[Lush]

Yep. Uh huh. What he said!
I am thoroughly un-eloquent today, I'm afraid. Thank God there is Glenethor to speak for me.

[amyrlis]

*blushes and bows*

I'm still here! But I'm more of a silent lurker than a chatter. Thank you Jessica Jade and Glenethor for the compliments on my old post! Glenethor, I really liked what you wrote at 3 am on March 15th! "..Evil cannot prevail.." -I got chills when I read that!

[pennhothwen]

amyrlis - I too was touched by your description of what it means to be a fan of Tolkien. The evening at dusk is indeed my favorite time of day. As for the rest... I cannot hope to be so eloquent, but I feel just exactly that way. smilies/smile.gif
Might I add also that I agree with everyone else who said that if there was a way to get to Middle Earth right now, I would have not a moment's indecision about leaving all behind and going there forever, just as I am, although I'd much rather find myself transformed into an elf smilies/wink.gif. Truthfully, now: would any of us rather stay here, in this pain-infested world, if there were the choice instead of going to reside amid the matchless beauty and harmony of Middle Earth? I think not.

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: pennhothwen ]

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: pennhothwen ]

[Midgardsormen]

Hi everyone, I have not posted here before, but I would just like to give my view. I think that many of us were 'Tolkien fans' for years without doing much about it...I read the books every couple of years and they have always been among my favourite...and then the movie came!! It did not so much change my perception of the books, although I now have a much clearer 'face' to put on the characters...what the movie did (besides create lots of new fans) was make us long-time fans realise that we were not alone, and that there were people out there we could discuss our passion with!! smilies/smile.gif

[lathspell]

amyrlis - you should become a poet (or you might be one already smilies/biggrin.gif). It's a great description of being a Tolkien-fan, no way I can put down such words.

[amyrlis]

Me - a poet!?! Wow! You guys are all so nice! I love poetry, and wouldn't it be wonderful to sit by a stream and create verse all the time? Alas, I am a desk-ridden and quite uncreative Enginerd. Not sure where I got the inspiration for that post - well, actually I guess I got the inspiration from Tolkien - his writing is one of the few things that moves me is such ways! smilies/biggrin.gif

pennhothwen - glad to see that you too seek that elusive "wardrobe" into Middle Earth!

[genna]

I do not know what it means to be a fan, but seeing how engrossed and at peace you guys are i cant wait to be one poperly. It truly is magical and can perhaps lead me to a better place.
(I sound insane) smilies/wink.gif help me to become 1

[Neferchoirwen]

Becoming an admirer of Tolkien's work is to allow yourself to be lost in his world. His ability to create new worlds is passed on to us, his readers, as we imagine them.
Though I have not read much (as I have said for God knows how many times), I have yet to be lost in.

[ April 18, 2002: Message edited by: Neferchoirwen ]

[The Noldor Hobbit]

"`Some, Galdor,' said Gandalf, `would think the tidings of Glóin, and the
pursuit of Frodo, proof enough that the halfling's trove is a thing of great
worth to the Enemy. Yet it is a ring. What then? The Nine the Nazgûl keep. The
Seven are taken or destroyed.' At this Glóin stirred, but did not speak. `The
Three we know of. What then is this one that he desires so much?"

--Gandalf, At the Council of Elrond

[Lanniae of the Axe]

Whoa.

Being a Tolkien fan?

That is one of the questions of life. smilies/wink.gif

It's when you pour over the Books night and day, when you compare addicting drugs to the One Ring, when you start to look for the qualities of your favorite LOTR characters in people you choose to date, when you get all the little Burger King action figures even though you're too old to play with them, when you have pics from the movie all over your wall, when you have two copies of the Books (one for highliting and dog-earing and one you almost never take down it is so, well, PRECIOUS to you), when you spend half of your day on theonering.net and the other half on the barrowdowns, when you write fanfiction up the wahzoo, when you, well, when you get the Tshirt off the onering.net that has the "Top Ten Signs You Are a Tolkien Fan" on it (including such sayings as 'applying rogaine to your feet to appear more hobbitish' and 'changing your name to Strider and hang around taverns pestering short people').

Wow, that was a long sentance! Go me, guys!

Being a Tolkien fan is just well...

It's more than obsession.

It's more than lust. smilies/biggrin.gif

It's more than just plain sick.

It's just, well, being a Tolkien fan!

*Speaking of this, today in school we had to do an English excersize that was all about JRR Tolkien and LOTR! It was a lovely experiance, although now I look back on it, people were probably laughing at me, gasping for air as I was amidst the verbs and adjectives!* smilies/tongue.gif

[Midgardsormen]

LOL Lanniae!!
That was a very good reply!! smilies/biggrin.gif
The problem with being a fan is that noone really understands you except the other fans smilies/smile.gif And most jobs/schools only seem to harbour one fan of your discription...my job only has me!! Oh,it has people who enjoyed the film and that have read the book (but only once)....but they do not start laughing and recollecting scenes every time someone says something remotely similar to the book or the movie!! And instead of envying you for having seen the movie 6.7,8 times they calculate how much money you have spent smilies/tongue.gif
Oh well, at least we have boards like this so that we can 'meet' other fans - Yeah!! smilies/biggrin.gif