*Laughs* Just imagine elves without Music. That's like cake without sugar and butter. No point :p

I think for Tolkien fans reading LotR, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion is a basic necessity. You can't understand anything otherwise! :D

That's quite evident from your display picture ;) And it's okay, you're not alone. *meekly raises hand and admits to being a Maedhros-addict*

I completely agree with the delicious comparison you used :p haha, every time I eat a piece of cake now I'll think of Fingon and his harp!

The Hobbit and Silmarillion are definite necessities to read beforehand. I read everything completely backwards (the trilogy first, then the hobbit and Sil.) the first time around and was so confused, it wasn't even funny!

Oh god I can identify with that. I should have read The Hobbit first, and THEN the Silmarillion and THEN Lord of the Rings...but I read LotR first (at the nagging of my mother for which I am terribly grateful and for which she regrets her words) and then The Hobbit and then the Sil. Tragedy, really. I would have enjoyed it so much more like that.

I see your point, Galadriel, but I think that the proper way to read it is backwards. I've talked to people who've read TH before LOTR, and neither of them got passed The Fellowship of the Ring. They say its just a repetition of TH, just with different characters and a little more detailed and a lot more complicated. I've read LOTR before TH, and I found the "repetition" quite all right, because I've read the more detailed version first and I already know what and where everything is.
I think that LOTR is the summit of Tolkien's works. TH is very simple compared to it; The Sil is very good, but it's just too much information to put in a separate book - there has to be either a separation or a continuation if it would be written out the "proper way". Tolkien did that with Narn i Hin Hurin, but again, it can't be a separate book. Moreover, he'd probably have to make a separate book for every one of the 6 battles of Beleriand...

My favourite character is probably Finrod, although I have many others. You can call me weird if you want to, but my favourite female character is Morwen, not Luthien.

I believe it's 'got past', my dear :p You have a point, but I was being idealistic. IF the Silmarillion was an easy read, I should think I'd read it first. And IF I wouldn't get bored in FotR, I'd read The Hobbit before.

Oh trust me, Galadriel55, that's not weird at all. I despise Lúthien. And Arwen. They're both so...unrealistic. And idealized. And the guys who love them are more or less shallow, since they both went, "Ohhh you're prettyyyy...We should be in LOVE."

Do you see?

I see what you mean, but I rather like Aragorn and Beren. I don't think much of their love life, but I like the characters otherwise. I mean, their "love life" is quite interesting at certain times, but by itself it's really a bore. I like the moment in Lothlorien when Aragorn gets all dreamy about Arwen, and I live the interesting things that Beren's love did (especially how he said goodbye to Luthien because he loved her). But I agree with you, Galadriel, that they are shallow when it comes to love. I find Eowyn's romance way more interesting.

My favourite characters are definitly Melkor and Sauron...
...Do not ask me why...I simply seem to have a thing for bad guys...:D

I have a thing for seriously evil people, but for some reason that doesn't apply to Tolkien's works.

True that. But you know what? The romances that really intrigue me are the unknown ones. Like the one with Maglor and his wife, or Curufin and his wife. We don't know who they are, or where they come from, and it seems to me that although people tend to write about their wives a lot, no one has actually sketched them, which is a bit strange if you ask me. It's a sort of...facelessness (that's a scary word), if you see what I mean.

I don't have a thing for seriously evil people. I have a thing for those 'villains' who are not really evil, but grey. Like inspector Javert in Les Misérables, or Tom Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss. They're complete jerks, and extremists, not to mention obsessed with something or the other they feel is 'right' (which is actually wrong), but you cannot call them 'evil'.

I don't fancy jerks much. However, in LOTR, TH, The Sil, or Narn, I don't like any evil character.
Well, you know, if you consider Turin a jerk, that doesn't apply either.

He wasn't a jerk. He was just one of those masochistic, arrogant males :p

And Luthien's just to forward for her own good. She does all the work, and Beren gets all the credit.
As for Turin, personally, I don't think he's a jerk. Seriously. I said that cause I noticed that many people here think he is cause sometimes he's VERY annoying.

I sort of like Beren, but I liked him better before I read The Sil. :p

*sigh* Such is life...
I once handled all the props and costume design for a school play, and not only did someone else get the credit for it, but my name appeared last in the credits.

I never did like Beren. Frankly, I never liked any of the romantic characters in Tolkien's mythology. Except perhaps Finrod and Amarie, Curufin and his unknown wife and Maglor and his unknown wife. Beren was so...ugh T_T And Tuor...don't even get me started on how much of a Gary Stu he is.

But I like Earendil and Elwing. It's true, though, that all these humans marrying elves are just soooooo.........
I don't really mind Tuor, except for the marriage part. His heart was turned to Idril, and hers was turned to him, and such was Tuor's favor of the King, that he permitted the wedding, etc etc. Such rubbish! I'd much prefer it if Tuor and Idril would run off just after the fall of Gondolin, it would be more real.

Oh well, each to his own. I actually like Beren quite a lot– reminds me of one of my brothers, actually. Tuor is a bit of a Gary Stu, though, I agree.

By the way, I'm not sure Maglor and Curufin's unknown wives actually count as "romantic characters", or indeed characters at all. Isn't the first more of an HoME-footnote type of deal, anyway?

True. Forgive me, I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was that most romantic couples were just so idealistic they were annoying. Maglor and Curufin though...
Their wives must have had more than a bit of trouble with them. I just find that more interesting.

I thought about some things recently, and I've read a few fanfics. And I realized that I have a new favourite character. One word: Nienor.

I like her too, but my most favorite female character is Morwen. :)

I think I've just found a new favorite...Daeron, the loremaster and minstrel to king Thingol. I guess it's just because he never could get the girl and I empathized with him, haha. Not to mention I also love music too. ;)

Just wondering...why Nienor?